They look up to the big companies and expect them to set an example, to do their bit to support HCSA.”“It was based on concerns that any plantation grower member candidate should be in compliance with HCSA membership requirements to run,” she said.Singapore-listed agribusiness giant Wilmar International resigned April 2 from the steering group of the High Carbon Stock Approach (HCSA), a widely supported mechanism to distinguish forest areas that should be protected from degraded areas that can be developed. Now the firm’s commitment to sustainability is cast further into doubt. They look up to the big companies and expect them to set an example, to do their bit to support HCSA.”“It was based on concerns that any plantation grower member candidate should be in compliance with HCSA membership requirements to run,” she said.Singapore-listed agribusiness giant Wilmar International resigned April 2 from the steering group of the High Carbon Stock Approach (HCSA), a widely supported mechanism to distinguish forest areas that should be protected from degraded areas that can be developed. Wilmar became the first palm oil company to peg the interest rate of a loan to our performance in a comprehensive range of environmental, social and governance metrics. WWF is also a member of the HCSA Steering Group.“It’s time to support organizations like HCSA more,” Aida told Mongabay, “to implement transparency, to ensure that no deforestation is being upheld across our supply chain, to support smallholders, to conserve and restore forests. It said the company had failed to provide evidence to the HCSA that it was actively implementing the principle of “no deforestation, peat, exploitation” (NDPE) throughout its supply chains, and thus quit to avoid responsibility, according to Grant Rosoman, senior adviser of global forests solutions for Greenpeace International.“More importantly, we hope that our commitments to HCSA and sustainability as a whole will not be used to question or blindside our concerns surrounding the governance of the HCSA as an organization,” he said.“So these suppliers won’t be covered by RSPO obligations,” he said.Rodrigues said that HCSA membership requirements clearly stated that company members must actively implement the HCSA in their supply chains or have a moratorium in place “To demonstrate they are doing this requires evidence,” she said.Wilmar’s exit could also deal a blow to small farmers, whom Aida represents on the HCSA Steering Group through the SPKS farmers’ union. “As a young initiative, [the HCSA] continues to strengthen its governance procedures including for grievances and membership, but [it] does not have any critical governance issues,” she told Mongabay.Rosoman, who is an executive committee member of the HCSA, said being a member meant Wilmar would be subjected to monitoring to ensure adherence to its conservation pledges.Wilmar said Greenpeace’s objection wasn’t raised as a grievance at the HCSA and thus “didn’t follow due process.” The company also said Greenpeace’s demand had grown to having all companies barred from assuming the co-chair position, something that Wilmar said “goes against the HCSA’s own Terms of Reference.” Those terms require the leadership of the HCSA to be shared between an NGO member and a grower member.“These are all discussions that we have had within the EC [executive committee] since 2018, and which we have raised throughout when we were still members in the HCSA organization,” Ravin Trapshah Ismail, the senior manager of sustainability communication at Wilmar, told Mongabay. The world's largest palm oil trader released plans to increase its efforts to eliminate deforestation from its supply chain. “Palm oil can be produced without destroying rainforests. WWF is also a member of the HCSA Steering Group.“It’s time to support organizations like HCSA more,” Aida told Mongabay, “to implement transparency, to ensure that no deforestation is being upheld across our supply chain, to support smallholders, to conserve and restore forests.
Ruslan Zahrebelnyi, B2B Sales Manager at Delta Wilmar CIS. He said the HCSA toolkit has helped Wilmar determine areas where deforestation is happening, so that it can take action against the suppliers responsible. Yet Greenpeace’s analysis found that Wilmar still gets its palm oil from groups that are destroying rainforests and stealing land from local communities. Balancing the Threat and Impact of COVID-19 on the Livelihoods of Workers in the Palm Oil Industry. “As a result, we suspect that the timing of the resignation has been calculated to avoid [their] responsibilities, such as providing data on high carbon stock [areas], including those of Wilmar’s suppliers, and [Wilmar] haven’t paid their membership fees either.”Trapshah said Wilmar would reconsider rejoining the HCSA as an active and contributing member once its concerns about the organization’s governance have been properly addressed.Wilmar’s Trapshah said the company remained committed to using the HCSA methodology to distinguish forest areas for conservation from degraded lands. Theyargue that the group did not properly address their internal objections, makingits decision to pull out “a matter of principle.”It isn’tgood enough to simply adhere to these principles within the organization,although that would be a huge step forward. She said smallholders are an integral part of the palm oil industry’s supply chain and yet they’re often overlooked and receive little to no support.