Balancing Demand and Sustainability
Palm oil is a versatile product filled with many beneficial properties extracted from the oil palm tree, it is commonly used in food products, detergents, cosmetics, and even biofuels. Its low production cost and diversity have driven global demand, making it the world's most produced, consumed, and traded vegetable oil! Despite the benefits of palm oil, what we have failed to recognize is the environmental impact of production, creating serious concerns that must be addressed.
Palm Oil’s Relation to Cosmetics
One of the many benefits of palm oil is its cosmetic properties. When added to makeup, shampoos, and conditioners, it enhances the overall features of the products, leading to a more moisturizing, foaming, and softening outcome.
The Environmental Impact of Palm Oil Production
The production of palm oil has led to a significant number of environmental impacts. According to a Greenpeace analysis, leading palm oil suppliers removed 500 square miles of Southeast Asian rainforest between 2015 and 2018. As an outcome of deforestation, Indonesia is the eighth-largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world. The transformation of carbon-rich peatlands into plantations, which release more than 2 billion tons of carbon annually, adds to the situation.
The extraction of palm oil has also resulted in a dramatic decline in animal species, with orangutans suffering the most. The International Union for Conservation of Nature estimates that this industry is endangering 193 internationally sensitive species.
The industry has also been criticized for its social effects, including uprooting populations dependent on trees. As a result, there are major risks to biodiversity, climate stability, and human rights from unsustainable palm oil practices.
Alternatives to Palm Oil
The answer is not as simple as removing palm oil from products. Due to their affordability and benefits for skin, hair, palm, and palm kernels, compounds are frequently utilized in cosmetics. Since coconut and soybean oils take more land to generate the same produce, replacing them with alternatives could cause greater deforestation and threaten other species. Additionally, substituting these oils could cause social and environmental problems to arise elsewhere. Using the most sustainable and traceable palm oil available should be the main priority, rather than imposing a ban.
Only those palm oils that meet strict sustainability requirements, including RSPO, SAN, RSB, or UEBT certification, are permitted to be used in organic cosmetics. There are new European regulations set to take effect in 2024 that will require proof that palm oil products sold in the EU are not linked to deforestation.
While palm oils offer clear benefits in many of our products, we must consider the environmental footprint it leaves behind. Fortunately, more sustainable production methods have been established and can be applied. It is now up to us to embrace these options, protect our ecosystems, and correct the damage we've done.