SAP, Unilever pilot blockchain technology for palm oil supply chain

The work with GreenToken enhances Unilever’s ongoing and industry-leading efforts to gain full visibility of its supply chain

SAP and Unilever have announced a pilot of the GreenToken by SAP solution to further increase traceability and transparency in Unilever’s global palm oil supply chain.

Raw materials like palm oil are often mixed with physically identical raw materials from verified sustainable and nonverified sources after the “first mile” of the supply chain, causing the origin information to be either hidden or lost.

In a successful proof of concept in Indonesia, Unilever applied GreenToken to source more than 188,000 tons of oil palm fruit. The solution enabled Golden Agri-Resources and other suppliers from whom Unilever sources to create tokens that mirror the material flow of the palm oil throughout the supply chain and capture the unique attributes linked to the oil’s origin.

“With GreenToken, we want to bring the same traceability and supply chain transparency to bulk raw materials that you get from scanning a bar or QR code on any consumer product,” said Nitin Jain, co-founder and general manager of the GreenToken by SAP solution, SAP. “Our solution allows companies to tell what percentage of palm oil products they purchased from a sustainable origin and track it to the end consumer product.”