08/23/2019

Palm Oil and the Blue Angel

Can the Blue Angel be awarded for lubricants or surfactants based on palm oil? These and similar questions had to be answered in this extensive UBA research project and the basic principles for awarding the Blue Angel to bio-based products had to be defined. Bioplastics, biolubricants, biotensides and -detergents were treated as concrete product groups. Together with the Öko-Institut e.V., ifeu comes to the conclusion that two conditions have to be met: Firstly, there must be a demanding certification of the origin and sustainability of the biogenic raw materials throughout the supply chain. Second, because this alone is not sufficient to rule out land use changes in the producer countries, proof must be provided that there is no significant expansion of agricultural land to the detriment of forests or other carbon-rich areas in the respective producer countries. The EU Commission will also use a similar approach to determine the risk of indirect land-use changes.