Blood Forest: How Palm Oil Is Destroying Indonesia's Rainforests and Driving Orangutans to Extinction

Key Statistics:

• 261,575 hectares (646,366 acres) of Indonesian forests were lost in 2024 alone—an area four times the size of Jakarta news.mongabay+1

• Palm oil expansion has caused one-third of Indonesia's old-growth forest loss over the past 20 years—approximately 3 million hectares pnas+1

• 97% of deforestation now occurs within legal concessions, showing corporate complicity news.mongabay

• Between 1,000 to 5,000 orangutans are killed every year in palm oil concessions orangutan

• Fewer than 80,000 orangutans survive today, and experts estimate they could face extinction in 10-15 years at current rates worldwildlife+1

• Half of Bornean rainforests have been cleared for palm oil savetheorangutan

• 2.4 million hectares of intact forest still remains within palm oil concessions—at risk of being cleared sei

• The industry is responsible for 220 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually—nearly 20% of Indonesia's total emissions koltiva

Human Rights Horror:

• An estimated 1.01 million children in Indonesia engaged in child labor in 2023, many in palm oil plantations humanium

• Children as young as 8 years old harvest palm fruits without protective equipment humanium

• Workers exposed to hazardous chemicals, forced labor, below minimum-wage payments, and suppression of unions news.mongabay

• Indigenous communities face systematic displacement and land grabs without consent

The Hidden Truth: Your Cleaning Products Run on Palm Oil

Every time you wash dishes, clean counters, or do laundry, you're likely using products made from palm oil and coconut oil derivatives. Here's what the cleaning industry doesn't want you to know:

27% of global palm oil—nearly one-third—goes into industrial applications including soaps, detergents, cosmetics, and cleaning products ourworldindata+1

18% of worldwide palm oil consumption is used by personal care and cleaning products industries ethicalconsumer+1

20-24% of the global surfactants market (the active cleaning ingredients) is made from palm oil feedstock locusingredients

What Are Palm Oil Derivatives in Cleaning Products?

60% of palm oil consumed globally is in the form of derivatives—oleochemicals that form the foundation of nearly every cleaning product palmoilfreecertification

Palm oil is chemically broken down into five basic oleochemicals used in cleaning products: palmoilfreecertification

• Fatty acids

• Fatty alcohols

• Fatty methyl esters

• Fatty nitrogen compounds

• Glycerine

These substances "often represent the structural ingredients in these products, and so make up the bulk of the formulations" palmoilfreecertification

The Surfactants Destroying Rainforests

Surfactants are "the basis of almost all products used for personal cleansing, laundering, dishwashing and household cleaning"—and they're made from palm oil and coconut oil. palmoilfreecertification

The most common palm/coconut-derived surfactants in your cleaning products include: cvskinlabs+3

Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) – Found in dish soaps, laundry detergents, all-purpose cleaners, hand soaps

• Chemically derived from coconut oil or palm oil elchemy

• Used in carpet cleaners, engine degreasers, car wash liquids, machine wash detergents cvskinlabs

Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLES) – Primary ingredient in dishwashing liquids, laundry detergents, shampoos

• Derived from palm oil fatty alcohols yeserchem

• "Crucial component of household cleaning products" yeserchem

Cocamidopropyl Betaine (CAPB) – Made from coconut oil, found in "gentle" and "natural" cleaners yeserchem

Fatty Alcohols – Used to make surfactants in nearly all cleaning products palmoilfreecertification

The Devastating Numbers

261,575 hectares (646,366 acres) of Indonesian forests were lost in 2024 alone—an area four times the size of Jakarta news.mongabay+1

Palm oil expansion has caused one-third of Indonesia's old-growth forest loss over the past 20 years—approximately 3 million hectares pnas+1

97% of deforestation now occurs within legal concessions, showing corporate complicity news.mongabay

Half of Bornean rainforests have been cleared for palm oil savetheorangutan

2.4 million hectares of intact forest still remains within palm oil concessions—at risk of being cleared to meet cleaning industry demand sei

The industry is responsible for 220 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually—nearly 20% of Indonesia's total emissions koltiva

The Extinction Crisis

Between 1,000 to 5,000 orangutans are killed every year in palm oil concessions orangutan

Fewer than 80,000 orangutans survive today, and experts estimate they could face extinction in 10-15 years at current rates worldwildlife+1

Orangutans have lost 90% of their habitat due to palm oil plantations locusingredients

The World Wildlife Fund confirms that palm oil threatens endangered species including:

• Bornean orangutans

• Sumatran orangutans

• Pygmy elephants

• Sumatran rhinos

• Sumatran tigers worldwildlife

The Cleaning Industry's Role in Mass Destruction

The global palm oil market is worth $57.19 billion in 2024 and projected to reach $77.54 billion by 2033 imarcgroup+1

Rising demand from cleaning products manufacturers is a "major factor" driving palm oil demand imarcgroup

"The growing adoption of palm-based oleochemicals in personal care and home care formulations is further expanding market scope" imarcgroup

Translation: The more cleaning products we buy, the more rainforests are destroyed.

Popular Brands Using Palm Oil

Major cleaning brands are complicit in rainforest destruction: thecommons

Mrs. Meyer's – Uses palm oil derivatives despite avoiding parabens and phthalates

Seventh Generation – Uses sodium lauryl sulfate "derived from coconut or palm kernel oil" seventhgeneration

Many "green" and "eco-friendly" brands – Still rely on palm-based surfactants while marketing themselves as environmentally responsible

"A lot of these brands also use uncertified palm oil, which leads to deforestation and habitat loss" thecommons

The Child Labor Nightmare

Your dish soap is made with the labor of enslaved children:

1.01 million children in Indonesia engaged in child labor in 2023, many in palm oil plantations humanium

Children as young as 8 years old harvest palm fruits without protective equipment humanium

2.1 million children in Ivory Coast and Ghana work in hazardous conditions growing cocoa for cleaning product fragrances humanium

Workers exposed to hazardous chemicals, forced labor, below minimum-wage payments, and suppression of unions news.mongabay

Indigenous Communities Under Siege

Indigenous communities face systematic displacement and land grabs without consent rainforest-rescue+2

"When we lost the forest, we lost everything"—indigenous communities watch their ancestral lands bulldozed for palm plantations that supply the cleaning industry hrw

Palm oil expansion in West Papua is described as "greasing the wheels of colonialism" academic.oup

The Industry's Greenwashing Lie

The cleaning industry markets palm oil as a "sustainable alternative to petrochemicals" locusingredients

The truth: "The dark side of its meteoric rise links the palm oil industry to numerous serious environmental issues" locusingredients

"The environmental and social repercussions of this shift in usage, paralleled with the significant increase in oil palm plantations in Southeast Asia, have led to deforestation, climate change, habitat loss, and disruptions to local communities" palmoilfreecertification

Why Palm Oil? Industry Economics

The cleaning industry chose palm oil because: locusingredients

• High yield per acre compared to other oils

• Lower cost than petrochemical alternatives

• "Sustainable" marketing angle to appease environmentally conscious consumers

But this "argument dismisses the ecological impact of palm oil deforestation linked to its cultivation" locusingredients

The Accelerating Crisis

In the past decade, manufacturers and traders have shifted towards palm-derived oleochemicals and away from petrochemicals due to increased access to palm feedstocks palmoilfreecertification

This shift has directly accelerated: palmoilfreecertification

• Deforestation

• Climate change

• Habitat loss

• Disruptions to local communities

Rising palm oil prices due to increased cleaning industry demand have caused: yeserchem

• Price increases for SLES and SLS surfactants

• Greater pressure to clear more forests to meet demand

• Manufacturers considering cheaper alternatives—including potentially switching back to petroleum-based surfactants

The Scale of Destruction

Indonesia and Malaysia produce 92% of the world's palm oil savetheorangutan

85% of global palm oil currently comes from Indonesia and Malaysia, but new plantations are now springing up in Africa and Latin America—spreading the destruction globally ethicalconsumer

The food industry uses 72% of palm oil globally, while cosmetics and cleaning products use 18%—meaning nearly one-fifth of all rainforest destruction for palm oil is to make your cleaning products foam and clean ethicalconsumer

What They're Not Telling You

"Any material that is palm-based can be considered a palm oil derivative, and it is no easy feat to examine the true extent to which palm-based derivatives are embedded in our lives" palmoilfreecertification

Palm oil derivatives hide on ingredient labels under names like: palmoilfreecertification

• Sodium Lauryl Sulfate

• Sodium Laureth Sulfate

• Stearic Acid

• Glycerin

• Sodium Stearate

• Cetyl Alcohol

• Stearyl Alcohol

• And dozens more

You have no idea how much palm oil you're bringing into your home—and the cleaning industry wants to keep it that way.

The Industry Knows—And Doesn't Care

Palm oil is described by industry insiders as keeping "you clean"—positioning it as essential for hygiene and public health smart-tbk+1

During the COVID-19 pandemic, palm oil companies "worked around the clock" to increase production to meet surging demand for hand soaps and household cleaners goldenagri+1

The cleaning industry celebrated increased demand while forests burned and orangutans died.

Bottom Line

The $270 billion global cleaning industry has built its empire on the corpses of orangutans, the backs of child slaves, and the ashes of ancient rainforests.

Every bottle of conventional cleaning product contains palm oil or coconut oil derivatives that fund:

• Mass deforestation of 261,575+ hectares annually

• Extinction of orangutans within 10-15 years

• Enslavement of 1.01 million children

• Displacement of indigenous communities

• 220 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions yearly

The industry markets these products as "clean," "fresh," and even "green"—while systematically destroying the planet's lungs and driving endangered species to extinction.

Your cleaning products are soaked in blood and rainforest ash.

It's time to choose something different. Motherferment.