Palm Oil Policy
We are a member of the Dorset Sustainable Palm oil Community initiative. We are committed to ensuring all products sold and used in our business which contain palm oil or palm oil derivates come from a certified sustainable source. By doing so, we know that we are helping to support livelihoods and protect wildlife around the world from the impact of unsustainable agricultural practices.
At Coconut and Cotton we support the use of RSPO certified palm oil where it serves as the most effective or efficient oil in a product. Many of our products are palm oil free and we recognise the benefits in avoiding it when there are feasible oils and oil derivates produced in or close to the UK. Palm oil is the highest yeilding oil for land use, and we believe that in order to ensure sustainability and biodivesity in these plantations the use of sustainable palm oil should not be boycotted.
We aim to continually audit our products and on a formal annual basis to obtain evidence of palm oil or palm oil derivate use and get the RSPO certificates to authenticate the supply.
We aim to ensure all our suppliers use sustainable palm oil, or that they have a time bound plan to source 100% CSPO. However it is our intention to never sell products which contain uncertified palm oil. Unfortunately palm oil can be included in many derivates which can be harder to uncover. Before stocking a product we screen suppliers, and do our own checks on the ingredients.
RSPO Definition:
The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) is the major international stakeholder body which defines these criteria. They include:
1. No deforestation of high carbon stock (HCS) or high conservation value (HCV) forests and ecosystems
2. No development of peatland
3. Zero burning
4. Responsible labour practices and respect of the rights of local communities
CSPO = Certified Sustainable Palm Oil