By Alice Grahame
When technology expert Ben Wilding wanted a name for his sustainable cooking oil company, he thought hard about why the company’s mission was so important.
They named it Sun Bear Bioworks after the world’s smallest bear, an animal endangered by deforestation because of palm oil plantations.
“We wanted something to keep us laser-focused on the reason we’re doing this,” Wilding explains.
“90 per cent of palm oil is produced in Malaysia and Indonesia. It has had a massive impact on biodiversity, resulting in there being fewer than 1000 sun bears left in the wild. Every time we say the name, it’s a memory jog as to why we’re here.”
Palm oil is a $70 billion industry (€80 billion) and is expected to grow to $100 billion (€114 billion) by 2030. Wilding believes that in many ways palm oil is a superfood.
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