The atmosphere was electric. Twenty thousand young people chanting in unison, desperate for their voices to be heard.
As the Palm Oil Investigations Youth Ambassador, I was at the School Strike 4 Climate (SS4C) march in Melbourne on Friday March 15. It was estimated that the SS4C march attracted more than one million students internationally, in 125 countries, attending over 2000 gatherings. We were protesting to save the environment and our future. In Melbourne, there were students from different schools all around the state, as well as adults who didn’t necessarily have kids there!
We were peacefully but firmly protesting about three main things:

1. 100% renewable energy by 2030.
2. No to the Adani coal mine in central Queensland.
3. No new coal or gas projects.

I made a banner and it had a powerful but simple message which was PALM OIL = CLIMATE CHANGE. Palm oil is one of the causes of climate change because when we cut down our beautiful forests for oil palm plantations, greenhouse gases are created which warm the earth. As I cannot vote for another seven years, my banner was a powerful way to highlight palm oil and its relationship with climate change.
I have been inspired to do this by three people: Dr Jane Goodall (the 84-year-old activist who has dedicated her life to conservation, and she is my personal mentor); Lorinda Jane (Founder of Palm Oil Investigations); and Greta Thunberg (the 16-year-old activist from Sweden). I am a very proud member of Dr Jane Goodall’s Roots and Shoots international program for young citizens, which aims to place the “power and responsibility for creating solutions to big challenges in the hands of the young people”. My mentor Dr Jane has always said there is hope for the environment, and through Roots and Shoots, I have learnt that the young generation are the ones who can save it. Dr Jane proudly calls herself an activist and once said “I went to that conference as a scientist … and left as an activist.”
I strongly believe that activism is an important part of learning and that even young people have a voice and the power to make change happen. My teacher, Helen Stearman from Virtual School Victoria (formerly the Distance Education Centre of Victoria), has taught me that: “The role of a teacher is to teach students how to learn and how to think, not what to learn or what to think”.
In my opinion, climate change is an extremely important environmental issue for the younger generation and I feel it is up to us to do everything we can before it is too late. We are currently living through the sixth mass extinction of plant and animal species, which is happening at a rate 100 to 1000 times faster than expected. I agree with Greta Thunberg who says “I need you to panic!”. Not enough is being done, so now the youth of today are taking matters into their own hands and demanding their voices be heard.
“The one thing we need more than hope is action. Once we start to act, hope is everywhere.” (Greta Thunberg, 2018.) 

For the last 6 years, POI have contacted thousands of brands about their ingredients and palm oil use.  During this time, every singe brand we have made contact with, or consumers have contacted, all get a response stating they are using RSPO certified palm oil.  

The RSPO accounts for 19% of global palm oil supply.  So if everyone is using certified palm oil like they say they are, who is purchasing the remaining 81%?  

We would like to share with you all how to check if claims are true, I am using The Cheesecake Shop as one example who made claim of being RSPO certified last night on Instagram. 

These types of claims are misleading & untrue.  It is important to note:  To make any type of  RSPO certified palm oil claim, the brand MUST be an RSPO member to start with. 
So lets search The Cheesecake Shop in the RSPO database. Go to  https://www.rspo.org/ Then click on the membership tab, then the sub tab Find Members.

After selecting the find members tab.  Type the company name into the  field then click search.

 Here is the result for The Cheesecake Shop. 

Is The Cheesecake shop using 100% RSPO certified palm oil as claimed?  NO THEY ARE NOT. 
As they are not RSPO members, this means they have not been audited by an approved RSPO supply chain auditor confirming chain of custody.  
We come across these false claims constantly and it's not only infuriating, but extremely misleading to consumers who ask the question, only to be told bare faced lies. 
This type of rot needs to stop and consumers deserve to be told the truth.
We ask you all to start using the RSPO database and help put an end to these false claims.

PLEASE:  Take screenshots of any claims made by brands stating they are using RSPO certified palm oil.  If the RSPO database shows no result, take a screenshot and lodge a complaint with the ACCC (Link here) or regulatory consumer body in your country.  Keep doing this with every false claim you come across until they take this seriously and take action.  

If your search returns a result and the brand are members of the RSPO.  You need to check if they are in fact using certified palm oil.  Membership is just membership, it does not mean they are using certified palm oil. 
There are various palm oil supply chains and specific claims that can, and cannot be made with each one.
Only Segregated (SG) and Identity Preserved (IP) supply chains can make claim of using certified sustainable palm oil.
The other supply chains can only make claim that the supply contributes to the production of sustainable palm oil.  The claims must NOT imply that the physical oil used in the products is certified or sustainable.
We will use Snack Brands Australia as an example of CERTIFIED palm oil.  
​As you can see below, the search returned a result.

You need to now check that Snack Brands and Snack Foods Limited are the same company.  Click on Snack foods Limited to view their membership and then open their ACOP file highlighted in orange.

Once the file has opened. Scroll down to page 3 and view the volume of supply and supply chain used.  In Snack Brands Australia's case you can see they are using 7,033.00 tonne of Segregated palm oil.  This is 100% certified supply.

Follow the process as per above.  Search the member then view their membership page.  Open their ACOP report.  We have used Mondelez International (owners of Cadbury) as an example.

As you can see above.  Only a small portion of the palm oil is certified segregated supply.  This means that the company cannot make any claim that the palm oil they use is sustainable or certified sustainable, because they are also using the other supply chains which are not certified.  The only claim that the company can make is that their supply supports the production of sustainable palm oil.  We have seen so many statements made by Cadbury claiming that their palm oil use is 100% certified sustainable.  This is false and untrue. 

We ask you now to please use these tools we have given you. Start checking on brands and start calling brands out on false claims. Show them that you can check their claims.  Show them that you know what they can and cannot claim.  Don't let them mislead you and pull the wool over your eyes.  Pull brands up if you see them telling other consumers that their palm oil is RSPO certified when you know it isn't.

I hope this helps you all.  It will certainly help regulate this industry if you take action and follow the instructions above.