PalmOil Scan 12+

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo Palm Oil Scanner

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo Palm Oil Scanner app has been quite useful in helping me decide products to buy. I’ve even stopped buying some items learning that the manufacturer doesn’t care about the environment nor animals nor the rain forest. If we don’t start caring, who will?

Wonderful resource!

This app is wonderful & easy-to-use resource for those environmental stewards who wish to make a tangible difference in thus world. It shows us how easy it is for ANYONE to make a difference, as well! However, as a matter of even more convenience, I do wish that it was easier to view a list of the individual RSPO products w/o having to hit the back button to return to the "ABC menu." Other than that, PLEASE share this cool tool with everyone you meet! Please & thank you!

Inaccurate

I like the purpose of this app, but it labels may to many companies as “Excellent”. It is largely based on companies commitments, but not actually what they are doing. It is also largely based of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). This may sound good, but it is actually not. For starters, RSPO fails to enforce its own regulations. For example, one company is a member of RSPO, yet it is linked to intense destruction of natural wildlife habitat and severe human rights violations. Actually many companies in RSPO are like that. Also, RSPO is dominated by businesses and they are making all of the decisions now. Companies can use many different certification types. Identity-Preserved: This is the best form of certification. It is 100% sustainable and traceable to the mill. This may sound good but remember RSPO doesn’t enforce whether or not the producer is actually obeying rules and regulations. Segregated: 100% sustainable but from a variety of different sources, not traceable. Mass Balance: Most companies use a lot of this. It is a mix of certified and uncertified palm oil, but nobody really knows how much. The company is free to call ALL of it sustainable, though. Book and Claim: All the company has to do is support sustainable palm oil, not actually use it! RSPO is heavily criticized by environmental organizations. RSPO is not driving necessary change. Don’t trust this app. You should boycott all palm oil or just use palm oil certified by Palm Done Right, the palm oil strictest certification system.

Developer Response ,

Thank you for your review. We are always happy to receive feedback on how we can improve our app. From our research and field experience, we believe that boycotting palm oil is not the right choice, and in fact, sustainable palm oil can be the best edible oil for the environment. Oil palms are 4-10x more productive than other edible oil crops, and use significantly less fertilizer, pesticides, water input, and energy input. This means that palm oil, when grown according to the RSPO's rigorous standards, has less environmental impact than other oils like soy, sunflower, coconut, rapeseed, etc. Additionally, boycotting palm oil would put millions of people at risk of poverty, as it is the main source of income for many people in Malaysia, Indonesia, and other tropical countries with little to no other means.

To address your concern about too many companies being rated as "Excellent," we have developed a comprehensive formula that we use to rate every company based on these components: membership to the RSPO, completion of an Annual Communication of Progress to the RSPO to transparently report their palm oil activity, RSPO-certified sustainable palm oil (CSPO) usage out of a company's total palm oil usage, and whether or not they have a public statement declaring a goal to use 100% certified sustainable palm oil within the next five years. We recognize that IP and Segregated supply chains are the best for the environment, and that buying credits is not the same as buying CSPO, so our formula weights those differently. If you would like to discuss any further concerns, please email palmoilscan@cmzoo.org.