The Universal Mill List (UML) is a collection of palm oil mill locations across the world based on data contributed from processors, traders and consumer goods manufacturers, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), and FoodReg. It currently encompasses more than 2,000 mills worldwide. The UML is used across the palm industry and has become a trusted reference to identify mills as part of supply chain mapping and traceability. It has helped to increase the accuracy of mill information globally, thereby addressing reporting challenges and facilitating efficient follow-up efforts with mills.
The resulting data set is not a complete representation of all palm oil mills globally, but provides a robust and rigorously verified collection of mills in major supply chains. Each mill in the UML has been manually verified according to a standardized methodology using high-resolution satellite imagery. This verification protocol has been developed by the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the Rainforest Alliance and uses various criteria and confidence levels to identify that a mill is a mill. Criteria include mill-like infrastructures, settling ponds, and nearby palm oil plantations. Duplicate mills are identified and removed according to a duplicate analysis to identify exact and nearby GPS locations.
Verified, unique mill locations are assigned “universal PO IDs” and added to the UML. Mill name and parent company information are based on the best available data but may still have inaccuracies. RSPO certification statuses are updated every day, so current statuses may be different than the ones listed in the attribute table. Please check for up-to-date mill certification status at the RSPO website.
At the Rainforest Alliance, our work on the Universal Mill List is closely aligned with our wider work to drive sustainability in the palm oil sector, including supply chain mapping through the Palm Industry Platform, landscape initiatives and corporate advisory.
The UML is published in two different places and two different formats:
- WRI incorporates the UML in its Global Forest Watch online platform and updates that roughly every 6 months.
- The Rainforest Alliance hosts the Excel file with the most up-to-date UML. This version of the UML is updated on a monthly basis.
If you have any questions regarding the UML or you have new mills that are not appearing in the current version of the UML, please do not hesitate to contact our team at: palmoil_traceability@ra.org.
If you would like to report any inaccuracies or errors found in the Universal Mill List database, please use the online form below. Our team will be contacting you in the next 14 working days or less.
Universal Mill List Reporting System
You can use this form to report any inaccuracy or errors found in the Universal Mill List database. Please provide your name, institution, as well as any supporting documents/files to support your report. Our team will be contacting you in the next 14 working days or less.
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