Palm oil, widely used in everyday products, contributes to deforestation and species loss. To mitigate its harmful effects, check product labels, educate others, and support companies committed to ethical sourcing or skip products that use it.

What is palm oil, and why does it matter? Palm oil from palm kernel (fruit of a specific palm tree) is involved in the production of a huge number of packaged consumer goods we take for granted. This includes foods like bread, ice cream, and chocolate; cosmetics and personal hygiene products, such as shampoo, make-up, and soap; and cleaning products like household detergent. Its production has quadrupled since the turn of the millennium.

The problem is that the palm industry is causing massive amounts of forest to be cut down for new plantations, which in turn is helping to overheat our planet as the carbon from them gets released into the atmosphere. For example, palm oil is to blame for almost 40 percent of forest loss in Borneo. This also leads to the decline of many species, including the orangutan, pygmy elephant, and Sumatran rhino.

So what to do? Some organizations support only buying sustainable palm oil, which has been RSPO-certified. The logic is that because palm oil is so efficient, not using it would cause more land usage for other types of vegetable oils that are less efficient to grow.

Others are skeptical that palm oil can ever be sustainable as deforestation continues. They choose to avoid it as much as possible. Be aware of the harm that palm oil is causing and figure out the approach that makes the most sense to you.