FAQ

Palm oil is a tropical vegetable oil made from the flesh of the oil palm fruit. Two different oils can be obtained from the oil palm fruit: palm oil from the flesh, and so-called palm kernel oil from the kernels of the fruit. To extract palm oil, the fruits are sterilized to deactivate enzymes and thus prevent spoilage, and then pressed. This produces crude palm oil, known as CPO (Crude Palm Oil). The fruits and the crude oil have an orange-red color due to their high carotene content. To extract palm kernel oil, the kernels are dried, sometimes ground, and then pressed. At room temperature, palm kernel fat is solid.

It is important that environmental and social criteria—such as working conditions and compliance with land-use rights—are taken into account when cultivating oil palms and producing the oil, and that areas worthy of protection such as rainforest areas and peatlands are protected from uncontrolled expansion of oil palm plantations. This preserves existing biodiversity and ensures that no land has been converted, cleared, or drained for oil palm plantations. These areas are considered major CO2 stores.

Palm fat primarily ensures the spreadability of products, as required especially for margarine, chocolate spreads, or other bread spreads. In addition to coconut fat, palm fat is also the only vegetable fat that has a solid consistency at room temperature. This property makes it suitable for products that would otherwise require a hydrogenated fat. Compared with butter, for example, palm fat has a major advantage: it has a very long shelf life and therefore does not turn rancid as quickly. And: butter is of animal origin and is therefore not an option for an increasing number of consumers who follow a vegan diet. Another advantage of palm fat is that it has a neutral taste, unlike, for example, coconut oil, which usually has its own distinct flavor. Because palm fat is also particularly heat-stable, it is very well suited for baking, frying, and deep-frying.

The oil palm has the highest yield of all oil crops and produces two oils that are of interest to industry. Against the backdrop of a growing world population, economic growth in consumer countries—especially China and India—and rising demand for food, this high land-use efficiency is a key prerequisite for meeting global demand for vegetable oils. Promoting other vegetable oils, by contrast, would lead to displacement effects and thus to similar problems in other countries around the world—for example, rainforest clearance for soybean cultivation in Brazil. Even Europe’s most important vegetable oil, rapeseed oil, could not meet the growing global demand for vegetable oils.

Independent, transparent certification systems verified/audited by third parties have developed rules, processes, and criteria for sustainable palm oil. These are intended to reduce—and in the long term completely prevent—rainforest clearance, slash-and-burn practices, or human rights violations in palm oil cultivation. In addition to the strict criteria of the certification systems as well as company policies and risk analyses, EU legislation (EUDR/Regulation on deforestation-free products and LkSG/Supply Chain Due Diligence Act) is now intended to ensure that the fundamental rights of Indigenous landowners, local communities, employees in cultivation operations, smallholders, and their families are respected and fully taken into account. However, rainforest clearance cannot be stopped by certification systems alone. It is the responsibility of governments in the respective producer countries to apply and further improve legislation for sustainable commodity production. In addition, producer countries must be supported in building the necessary capacities.

According to the FAO, regenerative agriculture is an agricultural approach that aims to close the carbon cycle and strengthen soil health, plant resilience, and nutrient density. It focuses on cultivation and grazing practices that reverse climate change by restoring organic matter in the soil and regenerating damaged soil biodiversity, which leads both to carbon sequestration and to improvements in the water cycle. The approach is dynamic and holistic and includes permaculture as well as organic farming methods, including conservation tillage, cover crops, crop rotation, composting, mobile animal shelters, and rotational grazing, while excluding the use of synthetic fertilizers, growth hormones, pesticides, and genetically modified organisms.

Agroforestry refers to an agricultural production system that combines elements of arable farming and livestock husbandry with those of forestry in the soil and across different growth zones and heights (layers). This also includes diversification, i.e., additional sources of income through, for example, the use of native tree and shrub species (coffee, candlenut tree), cultivation of food for local markets, production of soaps, fragrances, or cosmetics, as well as services in the non-food sector.

Lower-carbon production in palm oil landscapes aims to drastically reduce the extremely high greenhouse gas emissions of conventional palm oil cultivation through holistic landscape approaches, halting deforestation, and regenerative practices. While the clearing of primary forests and the drainage of peat soils release enormous amounts of CO₂, modern approaches enable a drastic reduction in emissions and, ideally, even turn plantations into carbon sinks. https://www.musimmas.com/resources/blogs/why-a-landscape-based-approach-is-the-way-forward-for-sustainable-palm-oil/

1. Holistic landscape approach (jurisdictional approach)
Instead of certifying only individual plantations, stakeholders such as the Forum for Sustainable Palm Oil or WWF view entire regions as mosaic landscapes:
Protection of High Carbon Stock (HCS): Top priority is preserving forests and peatlands with high carbon stores
Use of degraded land: New plantations are established CO₂-neutral or even carbon-negative on former treeless grazing land or fallow land
Integration of smallholders: Training gives local farmers access to certifications (e.g., to RSPO standards)

2. Climate-friendly cultivation and agricultural practices
Directly on plantations, optimized methods reduce emissions per tonne of palm oil:
Agroforestry systems & mixed cropping: Combining oil palms with native trees increases biodiversity and sequesters additional carbon without reducing yields.
Ground cover with legumes: Ground cover plants prevent erosion and naturally bind nitrogen in the soil.
Precision fertilization: Fertilizer is applied only after precise soil analysis to prevent the release of the highly climate-damaging nitrous oxide (N₂O).

3. Circular economy in oil mills
A large share of the operational CO₂ footprint arises during fruit processing:
Biogas use: Mill effluent (POME) is used in closed systems to generate methane instead of escaping uncontrolled into the atmosphere.
Biochar & mulching: Empty fruit bunches (EFB) are returned directly to the fields as organic fertilizer or processed into biochar, which binds carbon in the soil for centuries.

The EUDR ensures that certain commodities and products, such as palm oil, may only be sold in the EU or exported from it if they do not contribute to global deforestation.

December 30, 2026: Start date for larger companies.
June 30, 2027: Extended deadline for micro and small enterprises.

More information: BLE on the EUDR

What does deforestation-free mean under the EUDR requirements?
The commodities must not have been grown on land that was created through clearing after December 31, 2020.
Production must have taken place in accordance with the laws of the respective country of origin (for example, to protect land rights).
Due diligence statement: Before placing products on the market, companies must submit an electronic statement of evidence documenting the complete path of the supply chain.

More: BMLEH on deforestation-free supply chains

Human rights due diligence obligations are based on the United Nations’ UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. They require companies to identify human rights risks and negative impacts of their business activities at an early stage, prevent them, mitigate them, and provide remedy where necessary.
In Germany, these requirements are specified by the Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (LkSG). Among other things, companies must analyze risks, implement preventive and remedial measures, provide complaints mechanisms, and report on their activities. The aim is to prevent human rights violations along supply and value chains and to better protect affected persons.