A group of Belgian food sector federations and oil manufacturers joined forces to achieve a common objective, that by the end of 2015 all palm oil present in food products destined for the Belgian market has to be sustainable.

The term ‘sustainable palm oil' means that the palm oil has been certified according to RSPO (RoundTable for Sustainable Palm Oil) principles and criteria and that the palm oil is being traded in conformity to one of the three RSPO-approved trading systems: ‘segregation', ‘mass balance' or ‘book & claim'.

The Belgian Alliance for Sustainable Palm Oil was officially launched on 20 january 2012.

The RSPO has commended the move.

"The establishment of the Belgian Alliance on Sustainable Palm Oil is a highly commendable and progressive initiative undertaken by organizations towards 100% sourcing of Certified Sustainable Palm Oil (CSPO) by 2015," said Darrel Weber, Secretary General of RSPO.

"The Belgian Alliance demonstrates strong commitment and leadership in promoting sustainability among European product manufacturers, continuing the positive trend initiated by the Dutch national industry commitment in 2010.

"It is an exemplary endeavour which we hope more
European consumer markets can typify and commit themselves in order increase the uptake of CSPO.

"Today RSPO CSPO represents 11% of all palm oil produced globally. To this end, RSPO looks forward to working closely with the Belgian Alliance on Sustainable Palm Oil and its members to raise consumer awareness of sustainable palm oil."