Iceland ad: Why is Palm Oil so bad for the environment?

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Social media is buzzing about the consequences of using palm oil following the release of an environmentally conscious Christmas advert.

The commercial, banned from television after being deemed ‘too political’, features an orangutan displaced after his forest was destroyed to make room for a palm oil plantation. Greenpeace initially created the campaign, The Independent reported.

Despite not appearing on TV, the advert has been widely viewed. Stars like James Cordon have shared it.

Christmas ad: Iceland’s anti-palm oil message should come as no surprise to shoppers

The Late Late Show with James Cordon host said: ‘This commercial was banned from TV for being too political. I think everyone should see it x.’

His tweet has been viewed more than 200,000 times.

Iceland’s anti-palm oil message should come as no surprise to shoppers. The grocery shop announced that they would be completely banning palm oil from their products by the end of 2018.

They told Evening Standard they decided to make an ‘orangutan friendly Christmas’ ad because of the ‘harmful environmental impact’ of palm oil.

So, why is palm oil so bad for the environment and how can we help? Here’s what you need to know.

Iceland Christmas ad banned

Iceland supermarket chain’s 2018 Christmas ad has been deemed ‘too political’. The ad, created in partnership with Greenpeace, features an orangutan displaced due to deforestation.

His forest home was replaced by a palm oil plantation.

While the advert wasn’t shown on TV, it made its rounds on social media. It was shared by prominent figures like James Cordon.

While regulators felt the Iceland ad was too political, many supporters felt it was merely a fair and real representation of the environmental consequences of using palm oil.

Iceland ad petition

A petition has been created to ‘release Iceland’s banned Christmas advert on TV’.

The page reads: ‘The ad holds an important message — one that is emotional, touching and helps to spread a message about saving the environment and so must be broadcasted.’

It has more than 800,000 signatures. Check it out here.

What is palm oil?

Palm oil is a type of vegetable oil that is extracted from the fruit and seeds of the oil palm. The oil palm is native to parts of West Africa, though the majority of palm oil comes from plantations in Indonesia and Malaysia.

Those two countries currently produce more than 85 per cent of the world’s palm oil supply.

According to The Independent, close to 66 tons of palm oil are produced each year. The substance is thought to be found in roughly half of all packaged goods on supermarket shelves in the United Kingdom.

Other names for palm oil

Palm Oil may be in more products than you know. The Rainforest Action Network noted on their website that the vegetable oil tends to appear under other names.

In fact, per the organization, palm oil is in roughly 50 per cent of all packaged goods. It often appears in cookies, peanut butter, cereals, cleaning products, laundry detergent, lipstick and lotions.

• Palm Kernel Oil (PKO)
• PKO fractionations: Palm Kernel Stearin (PKs), Palm Kernel Olein (PKOo)
• Partially hydrogenated Palm Oil (PHPKO)
• Fractionated Palm Oil (FP(K)O)
• Organic Palm Kernel Oil (POKO)
• Palmitate — Vitamin A or Asorbyl Palmitate
• Palmate
• Sodium Laureth Sulphate
• Sodium Lauryl Sulphates
• Sodium dodecyl Sulphate
• Elaeis Guineensis
• Glyceryl Stearate
• Stearic Acid
• Chemicals which contain palm oil
• Steareth – 2
• Steareth – 20
• Sodium lauryl sulfoacetate
• Hydrated palm glycerides
• Sodium isostearoyl lactylaye
• Cetyl palmitate and octyl palmitate

Why is palm oil harmful to the environment?

Oil palms typically grown in low-lying, tropical regions. The same areas are home to rainforests and peatlands, which host endangered species like orangutans, rhinos and tigers.

In many cases, forests are destroyed and replaced with palm oil plantations. This process, called deforestation, has led to ‘green deserts’.

Native animals and plants are unable to survive in ‘green deserts’.

Deforestation and the burning of forests pollutes the environment and increases greenhouse gas emissions.

Palm plantations officially cover more than 27 million hectares, according to The Independent.

How to help

While it can be difficult to avoid buying products containing palm oil, you can try your best to buy palm oil products that are sustainable. 

The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil certifies certain amounts of palm oil as sustainable as long as the production of it has been deemed conscious on both a social and environmental level.

If it has, consumers will find a label from the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil on the product. 

You are encouraged, however, to boycott all palm oil when possible.