Neste sets ambitious PFAD targets: 100% traceable in 2020

Neste Corporation
News
20 April 2017

Neste sets ambitious PFAD targets: 100% traceable in 2020

As the first company in the world, Neste sets ambitious public targets to develop traceability of the palm oil based processing residue Palm Fatty Acid Distillate (PFAD) it uses as one of its renewable raw materials.

Neste's goals for PFAD traceability:

• In 2017, all PFAD that Neste uses will be 100% traceable to palm oil mills
• In 2020, all PFAD that Neste uses will be 100% traceable to palm oil plantations

To achieve these targets, Neste engages in close cooperation with PFAD suppliers, environmental organizations, and other experts in Southeast Asia, such as Consortium of Resource Experts (CORE), an organization combining experts from Daemeter, Proforest, and the Rainforest Alliance.

Proven track record in developing traceability and transparency

All the Crude Palm Oil (CPO) Neste uses has been fully traceable to the plantation level since 2007, and 100% certified since 2013. Neste was the first of the larger palm oil using companies to make its palm oil supply chain fully transparent in 2016. In April 2017, Neste published its renewed CPO Dashboard offering even more comprehensive information about the company's CPO supply chain, such as certifications and maps of mill locations.

Now the company aims at becoming the first in the world to achieve similar level of transparency and traceability with the PFAD the company uses as raw material. The task at hand is, however, very complicated because palm oil production process yields only 4-5% of PFAD as a processing residue, and the larger volumes need to be gathered from a large number of sources.

What makes the task even more challenging is that the industries such as food and chemical industries using the vast majority of palm oil globally are not required by law to know precise origins of their raw materials. This is where these industries differ from the biofuels industry which within EU, among many other markets, is required to know the exact origin of its raw materials. In the case of waste and residues, this requirement applies to the place where each residue or waste is generated.

'In order to trace back PFAD, we need to develop full traceability for the the primary product, the palm oil refined for food industry uses. The PFAD in one cargo ship may have been collected from 100 to 300 mills, handling fruit from 600 to 1,000 oil palm plantations. In order to overcome such complexity, we are inviting ambitious and forward-looking food industry actors to join forces with us, and to have a big positive impact on overall sustainability in the palm oil sector,' Johan Lunabba, Sustainability Director at Neste explains.

PFAD is one of over 10 different renewable raw materials that Neste uses for refining its renewable products. Waste and residues currently account for nearly 80% of the company's renewable raw material usage. All of the raw materials meet the sustainability and traceability requirements set by the international and local regulations. Neste's renewable diesel based on PFAD and other waste and residues helps replace crude oil based diesel in transportation, and enables all diesel-powered vehicles to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 90 percent compared to conventional diesel.

Neste Corporation

Kaisa Lipponen
Director, Corporate Communications

Further information: Johan Lunabba, Director, Sustainability, tel +358 50 458 0795, johan.lunabba(@)neste.com
Simo Honkanen, Senior Vice President, Sustainability and Public Affairs,
tel. +358 10 458 4170, simo.honkanen(@)neste.com

More about PFAD as a raw material
Neste shows leading transparency with its site on crude palm oil supply chain

Neste in brief

Neste (NESTE, Nasdaq Helsinki) creates sustainable choices for the needs of transport, businesses and consumers. Our global range of products and services allows customers to lower their carbon footprint by combining high-quality renewable products and oil products to tailor-made service solutions. We are the world's largest producer of renewable diesel refined from waste and residues, and we are also bringing renewable solutions to the aviation and plastics industries. We want to be a reliable partner, whose expertise, R&D and sustainable practices are widely respected. In 2016, Neste's net sales stood at EUR 11.7 billion, and we were on the Global 100 list of the 100 most sustainable companies in the world. Read more: neste.com