Elena Koshy of New Straits Times speaks to Sir Jonathon Porritt , a noted UK Environmentalist, who continues to champion sustainability and remains unapologetic about his desire to work with palm oil conglomerates to effect positive changes. “I remain a fierce critic of just how long it took for palm oil giants to sort out some of their legacy issues,” he insists. “But to go on demonising such a critically important industry makes no sense.”

Porritt spent 10 years as a teacher but he soon grew concerned about the quality of lives led by his students living in a rather degraded environment back in London. In 1984, Porritt gave up teaching to become the director of Friends of the Earth in Britain. In 1996, Porritt established Forum for the Future, UK’s leading sustainable development charity.

The Oxford graduate in modern languages is also an author with eight titles to his name, and is known as an eminent environmental thinker, having spent decades in the environmental field, covering activism, politics, public service, writing and taking on the role of an advisor. In fact he was the advisor to Prince Charles on green issues in his capacity as co-director of the Prince of Wales Business and Environmental Programme.