Not All Palm Oil is Created Equal – Mark Wong, SD Guthrie International
7 April 2026
48 mins 45 secs
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About this Episode
Welcome to the latest episode of the Sustainable Commodities Podcast! This week, hosts Barnaby Patchett and Judith Murdoch sit down with a true palm oil industry heavyweight: Mark Wong, Head of Downstream Sustainability at SD Guthrie International (formerly Sime Darby).
As the world's largest producer of certified sustainable palm oil, operating in over 90 countries, SD Guthrie is at the forefront of the industry's transformation. Mark takes us behind the curtain to explore the realities of driving sustainability at a massive global scale.
In this episode, we unpack:
- The Evolution of Palm Oil Sustainability: From pioneering zero-burning replanting techniques in 1985 to the RSPO and beyond.
- Tackling Forced Labor Allegations How SD Guthrie responded to the 2020 US Customs and Border Protection Withhold Release Order by completely overhauling their labor practices, including reimbursing recruitment fees and improving worker dialogue.
- EUDR: Why data management and sharing are the biggest hurdles to compliance, and how the regulation's strict requirements risk excluding vulnerable smallholder farmers.
- The Traceability Challenge: The crucial difference between direct and indirect smallholders and why mapping the full supply chain is so incredibly complex.
- The Future of the Industry: Why we need to stop treating palm oil as a uniform commodity, and how regenerative agriculture and science-based targets will shape the next decade of production.
If you work in forest-risk commodities or want to understand the reality of making palm oil sustainable, this is a must-listen.