Millions of people around the world depend on palm oil

Produced from the oil palm tree, palm oil is the highest yielding oilseed crop and primarily grown in Indonesia and Malaysia, which together account for about 80 percent of the world’s production. Palm oil is the world’s most widely used and versatile vegetable oil.

Cargill owns and operates five palm plantations — two in Indonesia and three in Papua New Guinea — as well as 12 palm oil refineries across the world which buy, refine, process, and market palm oil products from our own and other plantations. Learn about the first Cargill oil palm plantation to be certified sustainable by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).

Palm oil demand on the rise

The increase in demand for palm oil has also meant an increase in demand for more farm and plantation land. This has raised environmental and social concerns including forest and habitat conservation, peat land conversion, the need to protect waterways and the rights of indigenous communities.

We believe that palm should be produced sustainably. At each of our plantations, and as part of our commitment to conserve natural resources and biodiversity, we integrate responsible development into our operational plans and policies. Together with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and local communities, we monitor our impact on the environment and develop partnerships to conserve resources and biodiversity.

Explore the facets of sustainable and responsible palm oil

The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) We actively support the RSPO and the efforts of participants from the palm oil supply chain to establish and promote sustainable palm production. We will encourage our third party suppliers to join RSPO and attain certification. It is our hope that all oil palm plantations become RSPO certified. Supporting sustainable palm production on our own plantations We have committed not to plant on high conservation value forests (HCVF) and not develop new plantations on peat land. We have a strict no-burn policy for land preparation and are working to protect biodiversity.  Protecting endangered animal species and natural habitats We are committed to responsible environmental stewardship by ensuring sound environmental management on our own plantations to preserve biodiversity and protect populations and habitats of orangutans, the world’s largest butterfly as well as freshwater systems. Palm and biofuels High crude oil prices and government subsidies and policies have driven the increased global demand for using palm oil to create biofuels. We believe biofuels can play a role in meeting global energy needs but should be balanced with the critical needs of providing food for a growing global population.