Sustainability Shift – Episode 8: Who is responsible for sustainable palm oil?

Palm oil is everywhere — from your morning shampoo to your favorite snack. It’s one of the world’s most widely used plant-based ingredients, connecting rainforests, farmers, factories, and consumers across the globe. But with this global reach comes responsibility.

In this episode of Sustainability Shift, we explore what it takes to make palm oil sourcing truly sustainable — and how companies across the value chain are working together to turn commitments into measurable progress. As one of the key raw materials driving the bioeconomy, palm oil and its derivatives pose a complex challenge: how to ensure transparency, traceability, and transformation across supply chains that can span more than a dozen intermediaries between plantation and product.

Our experts unpack how collaboration and data-driven partnerships are helping to reshape sourcing practices for one of the most difficult commodities to trace, and why the journey toward sustainable palm oil is far from over.

What you'll hear about in this episode

Discover how Clariant integrates sustainability into procurement and why palm-based ingredients play a crucial role in advancing the bioeconomy. Learn about the company’s three-pillar approach — transparency, verification, and transformation — and how collaboration with initiatives like ASD drives traceability and impact on the ground.

Our guests share how collective action is helping to achieve 97% supply chain coverage and improving transparency to plantation level, while meeting growing customer and regulatory expectations such as the EU Deforestation Regulation. Together, they reflect on the lessons learned so far — and why true progress in sustainable sourcing depends on persistence, data sharing, and cooperation across the value chain.

Key Terms

Palm Derivatives: Processed forms of palm oil and palm kernel oil, such as fatty acids and alcohols, used across chemical, cosmetic, and industrial applications. These derivatives make traceability more complex compared to raw palm oil.

NDPE (No Deforestation, No Peat, No Exploitation): A sustainability commitment adopted by companies to eliminate deforestation, peatland destruction, and social exploitation from their supply chains.

EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR): A European Union regulation requiring companies to ensure that certain commodities, including palm oil, are deforestation-free and legally produced.

ASD (Action for Sustainable Derivatives): A global, multi-stakeholder initiative that brings together companies from various industries to improve traceability, risk management, and positive impact in palm derivative supply chains.

RSPO (Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil): A global certification system promoting sustainable palm oil production through standards addressing environmental and social impacts.

Bioeconomy: An economy based on renewable biological resources, such as crops, forests, and microorganisms, used to produce materials, chemicals, and energy sustainably.