Over $4m has been raised so far from the sale of GreenPalm certificates, since the start of the scheme 18 months ago, and there are plans for a European roll-out.

The $4m figure equates to the sale of 460,000 certificates, said Bob Norman, general manager  of Book&Claim, which operates the Green-Palm certificate trading platform, endorsed by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). This allows manufacturers and retailers to support sustainable palm oil production.

“That $4m is the actual payment that goes back to sustainable palm oil producers,” said Norman, at the Baking Industry Exhibition earlier this week. He told BB that the organisation is beginning to see interest from mainland Europe and plans to expand the GreenPalm scheme out across the continent soon.

The scheme is run by fats supplier AAK and certificates can be purchased for every tonne of palm oil used by a company. This premium is then paid to farmers producing an equivalent amount of sustainable palm oil.

Certificates cost around $8, while a tonne of palm oil is around $650. “A dollar from every certificate sold also goes to the RSPO,” explained Norman.

The scheme has attracted interest from a number of major brands. For example, in February this year, Burton’s Foods announced it was the first UK sweet biscuit manufacturer to acquire GreenPalm certificates for 100% of its palm oil usage.