This Report offers an examination of the landscape in major consumer markets – namely, Europe, China and India – in terms of their demand for sustainable palm oil and their major challenges. It draws on existing literature about palm oil and biofuels, as well as 52 interviews with a broad range of stakeholders including government officials, plantation companies, NGOs, financial institutions from China, Europe, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore conducted between July 2018 and February 2019.

It also incorporates key outcomes from a workshop, “Creating Demand and Supply Interventions for Greening Palm Oil Supply Chains”, jointly organised in Jakarta by the Singapore Institute of International Affairs (SIIA) and World Resources Institute Indonesia.

The Report begins by considering why defining sustainable palm oil is crucial yet challenging in practice. This is followed by an overview of key milestones and efforts by various stakeholders to achieve palm oil sustainability among the producing countries. The next section examines the baseline for the demand for sustainable palm oil in major consumer markets, before concluding with suggestions for next steps.