Sustainable Palm Oil City

In 2012, Chester Zoo made a commitment to increasing demand for sustainable palm oil in the UK.  Their field partners in Malaysian Borneo, HUTAN, had seen the impact of unsustainable palm oil production first hand and they knew that there was a sense of urgency to develop real, practical and immediate change in the consumer behaviour of people in the UK. Using a social marketing approach, they worked with a range of partners and supporters across Chester, the UK and beyond to create a significant sustainable palm oil movement in the food service industry. As well as delivering a wide range of awareness-raising and outreach activities, they directly engaged with businesses in Chester including restaurants, hotels, visitor attractions, educational facilities, manufacturers and retailers in changing their supply chains and joining the zoo as Sustainable Palm Oil Champions. Chester Zoo supported their journey by providing resources, advice, and recognition of their achievements. Inspired by the Sustainable Fish Cities movement led by Sustain, the zoo developed criteria for becoming a Sustainable Palm Oil City, and in March 2019, they were able to announce that Chester had become the first Sustainable Palm Oil City in the world. They see this achievement as a huge step forward in achieving the UK government’s aim to ensure that 100% of palm oil supplied to the UK is certified sustainable by 2020. They entered the project into the BIAZA Sustainability Award category for 2019 and won a Gold.