El Niño may bring smog and a chance of redemption for palm oil

The arrival of El Niño and its potential to bring hotter, drier weather to Southeast Asia will be a crucial test for the global palm oil industry to prove it’s no longer at fault for causing forest fires and choking haze.

Haze is a recurring problem in the region, disrupting tourism and costing local economies billions of dollars. It originates from natural or man-made fires in Indonesia and Malaysia, such as when land is cleared for agriculture, and is often linked to palm oil as both countries are the world’s biggest producers.

That’s a perception the industry’s fighting to fix. Palm oil is found in half of supermarket products around the world, but its association with deforestation has fuelled consumer campaigns calling for its boycott. The European Union has also come up with regulations that reduce market access for palm oil.

The El Niño weather pattern is set to return this year, bringing drier conditions and increasing the risk of forest fires in Southeast Asia. This will be a test for the industry as it tries to repair its image, said Joseph D’Cruz, chief executive officer of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, a certification body.

“Either we prove that the improvements that have been made over the last few years have allowed us to become more responsible stewards of the lands and environment that we have been entrusted with — or we simply prove our critics and our detractors correct in saying this industry hasn’t changed and all the efforts around sustainability are a facade,” he said in an interview.