Heeding critics of its use of animal fat, the Bank of England is considering another problematic ingredient for the new £20 note: palm oil.   

With reckless palm oil production destroying rainforests and driving orangutans towards extinction, the last thing we need is new markets for unsustainable palm oil. The industry is responsible for an incredible 8 percent of world deforestation since the 1990s.

That’s why environmental advocates are calling on Bank of England to commit to sourcing sustainable palm oil only. But it’s up to us to build the public pressure to hold the Bank accountable.

Call on the Bank of England to make its supply chain public and use only sustainable sourcing for the new £20 note.

We know the human and environmental costs to reckless palm oil production. From child labor and Indigenous displacement to the destruction of orangutan and elephant habitats, irresponsible palm oil policy threatens all of us.  

Bank of England might say it is committed to using sustainable levels of palm oil. But we know that companies publicly committed to sustainable palm oil are too often complicit in industry worst practices that drive rainforest destruction and human rights abuses.  

That’s why Bank of England must make its supply chain public and source only oil that has been certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil. If Bank of England is set on using palm oil, it’s going to take all of our voices to hold it accountable to transparent, sustainable sourcing.