RSPO SECRETARY GENERAL MEETS WITH NEW YORK STATE COMPTROLLER’S OFFICE

Darrel Webber, Secretary General of RSPO, was in New York to speak at the 3rd ICIS World Surfactants Conference on 16 May 2013, where he had an opportunity to address the surfactants industry player on the importance of supporting and sourcing for Certified Sustainable Palm Oil.

Darrel had the opportunity to meet Pete Grannis, the First Deputy New York State Comptroller together with other key personnel of the New York State Comptroller’s Office, which were Patrick Doherty, Director of Corporate Governance, John Stouffer, Director of Environmental Policy, and Marjorie Tsang, Director of Strategic Research and Solutions – Division of Pension Investment and Cash Management. The result of the meeting was an offer by the New York State Comptroller’s Office to work with RSPO in several areas that included pushing companies in the state to source and use only Certified Sustainable Palm Oil (CSPO) in their ingredients as well as connecting RSPO to all the relevant US State Agencies such as CERES and the New York State Office of General Services to support and promote sustainable palm oil.

During his visit to US, he also managed to meet relevant parties interested in sustainable palm oil and the RSPO, which included Bloomberg, UBS, Rainforest Alliance, UN Global Compact and the Philadelphia Zoo. There was also a get-together over breakfast where Darrel had the opportunity to engage with RSPO Members in US.