Western boycotts don't affect the palm oil market much because most of the world's palm oil is consumed by India where it is prized for its cheapness, and where sustainability concerns are dismissed as a western luxury.
Moreover, the same source lists that about 95% is used as edible oil. In a country with high poverty, to claim "sustainability concerns are dismissed as a western luxury" is just a statement of fact. If you don't know where your next meal is coming from, it is hard to care for orangutans dying in another country. This is not an excuse for apathy, it is just human nature.
[0] https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/aug/10...
Short answer is we don't know.
Long answer is I just write the software - ask the boss.
"Canola" is Canadian in origin. In fact, the "Can" in "canola" means Canada.
Ok I was wrong, India is 15%, and EU consumes a surprisingly high percentage at 12%. But still, subtracting the EU and US, 85% of the oil is consumed by developing countries that are too poor to worry about the environmental impacts.
That being said, it seems like India is working on adding duties to palm oil leading to an increase in domestic price. [0]
[0] https://www.crisil.com/content/dam/crisil/our-analysis/views...
Let's say 100 farmers around the world sell palm oil, for $100 a tub. About half wreck the environment, about half are very careful and replant what they harvest.
Western people come in and start to refuse to buy the "environment wrecking" Palm Oil. So they go to the environmental friendly sellers, and start paying $150 for ethical palm oil. On the other hand, people that don't care or places that can get away with it continue to use forest destroying palm oil. There is now a price difference ($100 for normal stuff, $150 for ethical stuff), so most non-western demand shifts to the cheap stuff.
End result: Still 100 farmers selling palm oil. 50 being ethical, and 50 not.
The 50 unethical farmers still make $100 per tub. The 50 ethical farmers now make $150 per tub.
The environment seems no different. The only difference is that $50 got transferred from the banks of wealthy westerners to the ethical palm oil farmers. Which is nice and all, but I am not seeing how it changed anything in the environment.
You would need almost EVERYONE to switch to the ethical route for it to do anything. That would cause surplus supply and price drops of unethical palm oil. Even 50% of users switching seems not nearly enough.
No, in my scenario only half the farmers were wrecking the forest anyway. That did not change.
> Additionally, there is now an incentive to become an ethical farmer for the remaining half.
Perhaps, but also higher costs. They may still be less ethical then the unethical farmers.
This is analogous to the situation in electricity n markets and hydro production btw. Old hydro dams built in the 50s produce power for customers paying extra for "green power" and the money doesn't go to investments in wind/solar.
if it's 50%.. and the current supply is 51%.. I don't think you change anything by the crusade except spend more money?
If a group can be loud and forceful, even if their numbers are small, they can create positive change to help orangutans
India, China, the EU, and Indonesia are among the largest global consumers of palm oil according to this: https://www.palmoilandfood.eu/en/palm-oil-consumption
Europe reducing their palm oil use at least makes an impact, and should be encouraged.
I'm figuring India, China, and Indonesia heavily use palm oil given their geographic proximity to the largest source of palm oil cultivation, which is why it's cheap. More pressure should be put on Malaysia and Indonesia to curb deforestation for the sake of planting oil palms. Further, more pressure should continue to be put on corporate supply chains to decrease their palm oil use. The farmers of these countries are slashing and burning forest land because palm oil is the crop that is in demand. The change has to flow from the top down in order to stop desperate and ignorant suppliers from burning away their own lands and contributing to deforestation and climate change for a few pennies on the dollar.