Malaysian tech company DiBiz has established Trustparent Marketplace, the world’s first online trading platform for certified sustainable palm oil (CSPO), as reported by Reuters on March 8.  The Trustparent Marketplace connects CSPO buyers with suppliers and has traceability measures in place to ensure the industry’s sustainable development. Currently, palm oil certified by the Roundtable of Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), which is the first organization established to promote the cultivation and use of sustainable palm oil, accounts for 19.3% of the global production at about 14.6m tonnes.

Since 1980, Indonesia and Malaysia have dominated global palm oil production, accounting for 84% of total supply in 2020. Land clearing for palm oil plantations has severely harmed forest ecosystems and produced large carbon emissions amid the rapid rise of worldwide demand for palm oil. As a result, the European Union modified its Renewable Energy Directive in 2018 to eliminate palm oil-based biodiesel by 2030. Indeed, since 2014, the RSPO certified sustainable palm oil has remained at 19% of total global output, mostly to fulfill demand from the European and American markets. Certified palm oil accounted for less than 2% of the total palm oil imports in the Chinese Mainland as of the end of April 2021.

Sources:

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/malaysian-firm-launches-first-online-market-sustainable-palm-oil-2022-03-08/

https://chinadialogue.net/zh/5/71892/

https://www.goldenagri.com.sg/cn/palm-oil-trends-in-2022/

https://chinadialogue.net/zh/4/44398/

https://chinadialogue.net/zh/5/65996/