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The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)’s latest Impact Report highlights over 550,000 hectares protected, nearly 3M tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions avoided and US$7.9M generated for smallholder farmers
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Aug. 4, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — In 2025, 16.2 million metric tonnes of RSPO Certified Sustainable Palm Oil (CSPO) were sold, representing 20% of the global palm oil supply. Unveiled in the RSPO Impact Report 2026, data shows that as CSPO supply is growing, the potential is even broader. RSPO Member growers now hold a total capacity of 31.4 million metric tonnes of CSPO.
The pipeline for global market transformation is strong, particularly in Latin America where RSPO Members account for nearly 75% of regional output, with 29.3% already RSPO Certified in 2024. Africa has seen a transformative 46.23% surge in supply. The growth trajectory indicates that CSPO supply could reach nearly 40% of global palm oil supply as members continue to certify their plantations against the RSPO Standard.
"With our grower members holding the capacity to supply nearly 40% of global demand, we have long moved past the question of whether sustainable palm oil is possible and are actively scaling across global markets. The report shows that sustainable palm oil has measurable and valuable impacts," said Joseph D’Cruz, CEO, RSPO.
RSPO Membership continues to grow with 6,280 members globally across 103 countries and territories. The most significant membership growth is seen in China, Indonesia and Japan, reflecting expanding market awareness in Asia and large palm oil-consuming countries.
Expanding Conservation and Climate Progress
Beyond market expansion, the report highlights significant progress across environmental protection.
RSPO Members conserve and protect 551,637 ha of critical land. While previous Impact data reported only High Conservation Value (HCV) areas, this total now includes High Carbon Stock (HCS) areas and peatlands. Stories from the ground bring to life what biodiversity protection looks like in practice, from species encountered on plantation edges, restored waterways and wildlife corridors. In West Kalimantan, Indonesia, Bumitama Agri Ltd, established a Biodiversity and Community Project, which worked to secure a legal decree to formally protect over 8,300 ha of conservation area.
RSPO continue to prove that climate commitments can be quantified, verified, and delivered in multiple ways, including peatland rehabilitation and cutting methane emissions through Palm Oil Mill Effluent capture. Cumulatively, 2.98 million tCO2e per year have been avoided in greenhouse gas emissions since 2015, equivalent to taking 694,512 cars off the road.
Empowering workers and smallholders
RSPO Certification continues to strengthen social standards across the supply chain. A total of 661,219 workers are directly employed within RSPO Certified operations under systems designed to safeguard their rights and freedom.
Independent smallholders generated US$7.9 million through credit sales in 2025. Long-term effectiveness depends on increasing and broadening the global demand for credits to sustain its value and ensure smallholders are meaningfully rewarded for their sustainability efforts. Smallholders continue to be supported through the Smallholder Training Academy and the RSPO Smallholder Support Fund that has benefited 44,796 smallholders since 2013.
Enhanced reporting
Complementing the new report is an enhanced RSPO Impact website, While the print report provides a concise, high-level overview of RSPO’s yearly progress, the interactive website serves as a comprehensive resource, offering expanded datasets, multi-year trends, additional indicators, and supporting information for stakeholders seeking deeper insights.
RSPO invites members, partners, media, and the public to gain a richer understanding of the collective progress towards a more sustainable palm oil sector.
- Download the RSPO Impact Report 2026
- Explore the RSPO Impact website
About RSPO:
The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) is a global partnership to make palm oil sustainable. Formed in 2004, the RSPO is a multi-stakeholder non-profit organisation that unites members from across the palm oil value chain, including oil palm producers, palm oil processors and traders, consumer goods manufacturers, retailers, banks and investors, environmental or nature conservation non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and social or developmental NGOs.
As a partnership for progress and positive impact, the RSPO facilitates global change to make the production and consumption of palm oil sustainable. To inspire change, we communicate the environmental and social benefits. To make progress, we catalyse collaboration. To provide assurance, we set the standards of certification.
The RSPO is registered as an international association in Zurich, Switzerland, with main offices in Malaysia and Indonesia, and offices in China, Colombia, Netherlands, United Kingdom and the United States.
This content was prepared by our news partner, Cision PR Newswire. The opinions and the content published on this page are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Siam News Network
