The world's largest producer of sustainable palm oil Sime Darby today made its million-dollar research into creating higher-yielding oil palm trees publicly available, in a move it said could help the industry slow deforestation.

Palm oil is the world's cheapest and most widely used vegetable oil, and is found in everything from cookies to lipstick.

Environmental groups have long accused the industry of widespread destruction of tropical rainforests, especially in top producers Indonesia and Malaysia, as companies expand...