Blog: Would banning palm oil really improve sustainability?
In spite of its widespread use, palm oil has a bad reputation. Several large food-processing companies have switched to other vegetable oils and use a ‘without palm oil’ label as a marketing tool, targeting sustainability-conscious consumers.
But would banning palm oil really improve global sustainability? The answer is a clear “no”, neither from an environmental perspective nor from a socioeconomic one, says Matin Qaim, Professor of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development at the University of Goettingen in Germany. In this blog post, he shares his scientific insights.