LAUNCH OF THE FRENCH ALLIANCE FOR SUSTAINABLE PALM OIL

6 companies and 3 trade organizations have joined forces in France to accelerate transformation towards 100% sustainable and traceable palm oil.

6 French companies (Cérélia, CSM, Ferrero, Nestlé, Unilever and Vandemoortele) and 3 trade organizations (ANIA, Alliance 7 and FNCG) launched on the 2nd of September the French Alliance for Sustainable Palm Oil.
The ambition of the French Alliance is in the following years to promote the use of palm oil which is deforestation free, meaning that the oil is:

• Being produced in respect of high conservation value forest, high carbon stock forest and all peatlands
• Respectful of environment and local populations
• Providing fair revenues to smallholders

The objective of the Alliance is twofold :

• Bring together all the stakeholders in need of palm oil so as to raise awareness in the upstream sector
• Develop in France and in Europe a palm oil market which reconciles the growth of the demand and the protection of natural resources, biodiversity and local communities.

“RSPO is a first step. This is why our members have committed to work towards sourcing 100% sustainable RSPO-certified palm oil in France by 2015. But we need to go further towards a 100% sustainable and traceable palm oil. Traceability is indeed a key tool to prevent deforestation and protect high carbon stock forest and peatlands ”, said Guillaume Réveilhac, Chairman of the French Alliance for Sustainable Palm Oil.

The French Alliance for Sustainable Palm Oil has also launched a website: www.huiledepalmedurable.org, which covers all aspects of the palm oil topic: health, technology, environment, local communities protection. Elaborated with top French experts, this website will answer all the consumers’ questions on palm oil. You can also follow the Alliance on Twitter https://twitter.com/palmedurable.