Vegans eat palm oil, isn't that just as destructive?

The objection

“Vegans lecture about deforestation while pouring palm oil into everything. Orangutans die for your biscuits, you’re no better.”

The answer

The harm is real, and there’s no point pretending otherwise. Palm oil is the leading driver of deforestation across Indonesia and Malaysia, and it has gutted orangutan habitat. A vegan who shrugs at that is being inconsistent, and consistency is what this whole site is built on.

But three things keep the “just as bad” charge from landing. First, most palm oil goes into cosmetics, detergents and biofuel rather than food, so avoiding it in your shopping is straightforward once you read a label. Second, the “sustainable” certified version is shakier than its badge suggests: research in Science of the Total Environment found a large share of RSPO-certified land was orangutan forest or endangered-mammal habitat within recent decades [2]. So “certified” deserves scepticism, from everyone.

Third, and decisively: livestock dwarfs it. Animal agriculture uses around 77% of the world’s farmland and is the single largest driver of deforestation, including most Amazon clearing [3]. Boycotting palm oil while eating beef is straining at the smaller problem and swallowing the larger one.

The consistent position is to avoid destructive palm oil and the far bigger driver sitting next to it. Veganism never required palm oil in the first place, and palm oil’s sins do nothing to excuse the cow’s.

Pointing at the vegan’s biscuit is fair game. It just doesn’t get the steak off the hook.