Shiseido will only use RSPO certified palm oil by 2013

Shiseido has made a declaration to the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) that the total volume of palm oil used as a raw material in its cosmetic products will be RSPO certified by 2013.

Shiseido has been part of the non-profit organisation since 2010. At the RSPO General Assembly in March 2012 for ordinary members, the resolution was passed that all RSPO ordinary members be required to submit a time bound plan to produce, trade and process and/or purchase and use 100% certified sustainable palm oil prior to the next General Assembly, held on 1 November 2012.

Certification requires employing the Book&Claim system (a system for trading quantities of the output of palm oil and palm kernel oil produced at RSPO certified plantations as certified credits) as determined by the RSPO.

Palm oil is obtained from the flesh of the fruit of African oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) and palm kernel oil is obtained by pressing oil from the kernel, or seed, of the fruit. The impact of the development of large scale plantations to grow oil palm, a raw material of palm oil, is viewed as a problem with regard to illegal logging in rainforests, the endangerment of wildlife and global warming due to the decrease in forests.