Antwerp palm oil producer SIPEF is world's fourth most forest-friendly company
British innovative, non-governmental environmental organisation Global Canopy looks at the role companies play in deforestation. It ranks plantation holding company SIPEF from Antwerp fourth on its Forest 500 list of the world's most forest-friendly companies.
The list of food, personal care and cleaning products that contain palm oil is endless. It includes biscuits, pizza, ice cream, baby milk, spreads, lipstick, soap, shampoo, deodorant ... Often production also involves mountains of organic waste that is usually burned. Palm oil is thus responsible for enormous CO₂ emissions and contributes to climate disruption.
At SIPEF, the opposite is true. The Antwerp palm oil producer has made sustainability a spearhead of its policy. The company is already operating in full compliance with the planned European deforestation directive. It can already prove that its plantations are in areas that were deforested before 2020, it provides deforestation pledges for its high-risk products, monitors its suppliers, and submits reports if forests are cleared for its supply chains or in regions of provenance.
Compared to its previous assessment, SIPEF has risen from 55.9% to 65.9% in Global Canopy's rankings, or from place 18 to an excellent 4. It only sits behind one Swiss and two Brazilian companies.