By Rick LoBello

The other day I picked up a package of cassava chips made in Columbia using sustainable palm oil.  I don’t recall ever finding a product sold in a store here in El Paso using sustainable palm oil, so I was impressed, but I also started wondering just what kind of impact conservation efforts are having today in combatting the palm oil crisis. 

Here at the El Paso Zoo, we have been talking about the palm oil crisis for nearly 20 years.  If you are not aware of what it’s all about, palm oil has been and continues to be a major driver of deforestation of some of the world’s most biodiverse forests, destroying the habitat of already endangered species like the Sumatran orangutan that we have living at the Zoo. 

To help more people become informed consumers, Zoo educators and volunteers encourage guests here in El Paso to download the Palm Oil app that we helped to develop and is now being managed by the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.  

If something is not working, we need to do something different

The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) or Palm Oil Innovation Group (POIG), as of 2018, is required to be deforestation-free. Manufacturers, retailers and traders all over the world have made bold commitments to removing deforestation from their supply chains – some are making swifter progress than others towards meeting these commitments. For all kinds of legitimate and well thought out reasons many conservation organizations believe that the best way forward in combatting the palm oil crisis is to support the RSPO.  

Unfortunately, supporting the RSPO and using palm oil apps is not making a “significant difference” on a global scale in 2025. While apps like PalmOil Scan are valuable tools for conscious consumers and play a supporting role in the broader sustainability movement, they are far from a definitive solution to complex issues such as deforestation and supply chain transparency. The market for conventional palm oil remains dominant in 2025, and issues like greenwashing and labor abuses persist. 

In 2024, deforestation linked to single-crop palm oil plantations was still occurring, and researchers noted loopholes in regulations. A 2020 investigation found widespread labor abuses, including human trafficking and child labor, on palm oil plantations. These complex, systemic problems are not fully addressed by consumer-based apps alone.

While some consumers use palm oil apps, the vast majority of the market is still dominated by conventional palm oil, not the sustainably certified kind promoted by these apps. In 2024, conventional palm oil made up 91.2% of the market. For apps to have a significant impact, their usage would need to be widespread enough to create a major shift in consumer demand.

Critics argue that certifications like those used by apps are sometimes used for “greenwashing”—making companies appear environmentally friendly without making fundamental changes. Some investigations have revealed companies secretly circumventing sustainability initiatives to continue profiting from deforestation.

Tracing palm oil from a consumer product back to its source plantation is a notoriously difficult process, particularly when involving independent smallholder farmers. A 2021 report noted that existing monitoring efforts were “fragmented, expensive and uneven”. While new platforms like Palmoil.io are addressing this, the problem is far from solved.

Apps like PalmOil Scan can be effective tools for driving consumer awareness and demand for certified products. However, these apps are just one element of a much larger effort that includes satellite monitoring, partnerships with suppliers, and improved trading practices. 

What can you and I do

Contact your representatives in Congress

We as consumers can make a difference by supporting certified sustainable palm oil (CSPO), challenging companies on their sourcing, and using their purchasing power to demand change, but we need to do more.   What is really needed is sustainable production practices, such as moratoriums on deforestation and protecting natural habitats.   In addressing deforestation from expanding palm oil plantations in 2023  U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) and Mike Braun (R-Ind.) and U.S. Representatives Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) introduced the Fostering Overseas Rule of Law and Environmentally Sound Trade (FOREST) Act, bipartisan legislation that creates a framework for the federal government to deter commodity-driven illegal deforestation around the world. The FOREST Act restricts access to U.S. markets for commodities originating from illegally deforested land, reducing the incentive to sacrifice forests for agriculture use and using this market leverage to improve laws, monitoring, and enforcement in countries experiencing illegal deforestation. The United Kingdom and the European Union have enacted similar measures to fight deforestation.

The Fostering Overseas Rule of law and Environmentally Sound Trade (FOREST) Act is currently in the committee stage, with the Senate version (S. 3371) introduced in November 2023 and referred to the Senate Committee on Finance, and the House version (H.R. 6515) referred to multiple committees. The bill, which aims to stop the import of products made from illegally deforested land, has received bipartisan support, but its path to passage is uncertain due to being stalled in committees.  

Photos
by Rick LoBello
Cover showing deforestation by Kate Evans/CIFOR, Wikimedia Creative Commons