Under ideal conditions, high-yield oil palm cultivars can produce more than 25 times as much oil as soy can for the same area of farmland. Thus, ironically, a ban on palm oil would lead to a catastrophic increase in deforestation, as anything we replace it with will need much more land to grow on.
Why don't we just switch to an alternative vegetable oil? Palm oil is an incredibly efficient crop, producing more oil per land area than any other equivalent vegetable oil crop. Globally, palm oil supplies 40% of the world's vegetable oil demand on just under 6% of the land used to produce all vegetable oils.
Canola and sunflower seed oil
One of the most popular replacements for palm are canola and sunflower seed oils. However, while they don't have the same environmental impact in terms of deforestation, these crops still require a lot of land and water to produce. And they take longer to grow.
Palm oil: the cost-effective oil enabling population growth
Palm oil uses only 7% of the land worldwide to grow all vegetable oil crops but yields around a third of total vegetable oil production. It is a very efficient crop, making it cheaper to produce vs. other oils.
Conservation International recognizes that palm oil itself is not the enemy and that it can be produced sustainably. Yet despite progress, the negative impacts associated with palm oil persist.
The RSPO's definition of sustainable palm oil production limits clearance and prohibits slash and burn techniques during its cultivation within High Conservation Value (HCV) forest and High Carbon Stock (HCS) areas. Both are vital in sequestering the large amount of carbon we produce worldwide.
Discover our palm oil in a nutshell
The palm oil we use in Nutella® is 100% sustainable palm oil, traceable back to the mills.
It comes from the fruit of the African oil palm tree, and grows in the tropics -- flourishing in heat and rain. Around 87 per cent of palm oil is grown in Malaysia and Indonesia, and Australia imports approximately 130,000 tonnes of palm oil every year, according to the WWF.
Large-scale conversion of tropical forests to oil palm plantations has a devastating impact on a huge number of plant and animal species. Oil palm production also leads to an increase in human-wildlife conflict as populations of large animals are squeezed into increasingly isolated fragments of natural habitat.
Under ideal conditions, high-yield oil palm cultivars can produce more than 25 times as much oil as soy can for the same area of farmland. Thus, ironically, a ban on palm oil would lead to a catastrophic increase in deforestation, as anything we replace it with will need much more land to grow on.
According to Harvard nutrition experts, palm oil is clearly better than high–trans fat shortenings and probably a better choice than butter. But vegetable oils that are naturally liquid at room temperature, such as olive oil and canola oil, should still be your first choice.
Palm oil contains mainly saturated fats which raise cholesterol while olive oil contains mainly monounsaturated fats which improve the profile of blood cholesterol. Therefore, when olive oil replaces palm oil, blood cholesterol is reduced and this is good for health.
Preparations for the festivities caused an upsurge in the demand of cooking oil in Indonesia. For the first time in two years of COVID-19 restrictions, people were hosting extravagant feasts. It was within this context that the Indonesian government ultimately decided to ban the export of crude and refined palm oil.
The demand for palm oil is expected to increase in the coming years, but the industry is faced with a dilemma—how to meet global requirements without engaging in deforestation and the destruction of peatland to expand the size of oil palm plantations.
How does palm oil destroy the rainforests? Since oil palms need a rainforest climate – consistently high humidity and temperatures – and a lot of land, plantations are often established at the expense of rainforests.
The biggest producers of palm oil are Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Nigeria.
Top trading partners (import of "Palm oil and its fractions, whether or not refined, but not chemically modified") of Australia in 2022: Malaysia with a share of 96% (112 million US$) Singapore with a share of 2.24% (2.59 million US$)
Australia is already dependent on imports to meet the growth in demand for transport fuels (eg. demand for diesel and jet fuel exceeds total local refinery production) and Australia is a price taker on world markets.
What does Greenpeace do to stop dirty palm oil. Greenpeace and other organisations are fighting to ensure that palm oil is produced in a sustainable way, without forest destruction. Palm oil was once produced by local communities responsibly without massive scale forest destruction and burning.
Use less personal care products
For products you use daily, like toothpaste — which usually contains palm oil — try using a little bit less. For personal care products, such as these below, try skipping a day, especially if you are just hanging out at home. Many times we use products out of habit.
100% of the palm oil used in McDonald's restaurants and as an ingredient in McDonald's products supported the production of sustainable palm oil in 2021.
At Ferrero, palm oil plays an important role in achieving a balance between the different elements of our products. For example, palm oil is solid at room temperature which means that products like our Kinder Surprise, Ferrero Rocher or Nutella have the perfect consistency.
At Ferrero, we use palm oil to help us achieve the right consistency in our products, and since it is odourless and tasteless after the refining process, it does not interfere with the taste of our iconic recipes.