“Practicing what you preach” or “walking the talk” are expressions that have been around for some time. A variation, 'Walk the walk' is almost always said in combination with 'talk the talk', for example, "if you’re going to talk the talk, you’ve got to walk the walk", or "walk it like you talk it".

This is a 20th century American alternative to various old sayings which epitomize the notion that 'talk is cheap', for example 'actions speak louder than words' and 'practice what you preach'. The context for the use of any of these expressions is in response to what is seen as empty verbiage or to put it crudely, mere “hot air”.. People who are accused of such are said (in the USA) to 'talk a good game' or (in the UK) to be 'all mouth and no trousers'.

The disdain that unproductive and excessive verbiage is held in was carried a little further by no less authors than George Bernard Shaw and Shakespeare. They both implied that 'talking' was itself an ineffectual alternative to 'walking'.

In Man and Superman, 1903, George Bernard Shaw suggested that:
"He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches."

Shakespeare's Richard III, 1594, includes the character known simply as 'The First Murderer' - clearly not a man to be trifled with:

Fear not, my lord, we will not stand to prate;
Talkers are no good doers: be assured
We come to use our hands and not our tongues.

Benjamin Franklin is reputed to have coined the proverbial saying "Well done is better than well said".
Unfortunately, the environmental movement’s stance on palm oil – in particular that held by the likes of Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth (FOE) and the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) has degenerated into one large cacophony of verbal noise.

Alleging loudly that palm oil is causing massive deforestation and consequently threatening the extinction of the orang utan, these “environmental organizations” have been clamoring for palm oil to be cultivated in a sustainable way.

In response, multinational manufacturers like Unilever jumped on the bandwagon and together with planters and environmental organizations grouped together to form the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)

No sooner had the first shipment of RSPO certified palm oil been shipped when Malaysian producers of palm oil that have made the switch discovered that whilst EU lawmakers, environmental NGO’s and food manufacturers may clamor for green palm oil, they find it difficult to walk the talk when it comes time to dip into their pockets.

The price premium for palm oil certified as produced through sustainable plantation practices has been shrinking since the first eco-friendly palm oil was shipped to European markets last November, and producers say it may need to disappear if they are to regain business in the key European Union market.
Producers say the difficulty in selling higher-priced sustainable palm oils highlights the double standards of those who criticize the industry but buy the cheaper, uncertified oil that they say is harming the environment.

In an effort to respond to this poor uptake, the WWF International announced an initiative to encourage greater support for the green palm oil.

Called the Palm Oil Buyers’ Scorecard which is expected to be out in October, the WWF International Palm Oil Industry Engagement senior manager Darrel Webber says that it will initially rank 20 to 50 major global retailers, manufacturers and traders of palm oil and palm-based products on their commitment and actions in producing, procuring, utilising and promoting sustainable palm oil.

“We will score these buyers on a variety of criteria, including procurement practices, buying policy and targeted year for usage of 100% sustainable palm oil,” Webber said.

Since announcing the scorecard initiative two months ago, WWF International had been busy going through the companies’ public domains, annual reports and corporate social responsibility reports.

This will be followed with surveys as well as one-to-one interviews with the companies should certain facts be needed for further clarification, he added.

Webber, who is also RSPO executive board vice-president I, told StarBiz that the scorecard initiative came in the light of reports that there was some resistance among world palm oil buyers to taking up the higher premium RSPO-certified palm oil, given the current global economic crisis.

“We acknowledge that some oil palm producers in Malaysia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea have invested substantial resources to ensure that their commodity is sustainably produced via the RSPO certification.

“Now we need to see their commitments matched by buyers who are at the other end of the palm oil supply chain,” he said.

Currently, there were about 1.5 million tonnes of RSPO-certified palm oil in the world market, Webber said, adding that production was expected to increase further when more plantation companies gained their RSPO certification by year-end.

Interestingly, palm oil is believed to be the world’s first widely-traded commodity having credible sustainability standards that lead to certification.

Currently, the soybean industry is playing catch-up as it has only recently started a Roundtable for Responsible Soy to develop a standard for responsible production.

While some buyers are still reluctant to purchase sustainable palm oil, Webber said Unilever, a global manufacturer of food, homecare and personal products, had pledged to use a 100% certifiable palm oil in its products by 2015.

Major British retailer Marks & Spencer has also made a similar pledge to do so by 2012. Hypermarket operator Tesco and US-based chocolate manufacturing group Mars are joining the bandwagon.

In the view of Deforestation Watch, it remains to be seen whether the scheme will have any effect on uptake of sustainable palm oil or whether the horses have bolted the stable.  The jury is still out, but if the scheme fails the environmental movement stands indicted as talkers who are, as Shakespeare puts it, not good doers! THE END