Palm oil is one of the world’s most widely-used vegetable oils, but producing palm oil has caused deforestation and biodiversity loss across the globe. A new University of Michigan-led study, published online in the Journal of Environmental Management, analyzes environmental certification programs that label qualifying palm oil sources as “sustainable” and claims from critics that the certification is a greenwashing tool enabling multinational corporations to claim fully sustainable palm oil while continuing to sell products that fall far short of the deforestation-free goal.
