In April 2022, the government of Indonesia introduced a new regulation to ban the export of palm oil. The regulation (Minister of Trade Regulation Number 22/2022) covered crude palm oil and its derivatives, including refined, bleached, and deodorized palm oil (RBDPO), refined, bleached, and deodorized olein (RBDO), and used cooking oil. The regulation sought to …
BrasilAgro, a Brazilian rural real estate firm and soy producer, has plans to convert at least 10,000 hectares (ha) of Cerrado native vegetation for livestock and grain production, which include the drilling of several large-capacity wells. Chain Reaction Research has previously flagged the company’s clearing operations in Brazil and its associated business risks. BrasilAgro has …
Investors are continuing to urge governments and companies to take actions to conserve forests and curb commodity-driven deforestation. A group of NGOs and activist investors are currently putting together a sign-on letter in support of three key pieces of legislation in the United States that aim to decrease deforestation risks and human rights abuses in …
Agropalma SA, the largest exporter of palm oil in Brazil, is facing legal and reputational risks from being ordered to pay a fine due to poor working conditions on two farms in Tailândia, which is in northeast Pará. The Labor Court of Tucuruí (also located in Pará) ordered the company to pay just under 1 …
Wilmar International is a leading company in the palm oil sector. It has 230,000 hectares of planted area and a 10 times greater palm oil footprint through its trading, refining, and fast-moving consumer good activities. Concerns about ESG violations and investor ratings have hampered Wilmar, an early adopter of RSPO certification and a frontrunner in …
Although West and Central Africa have been promising regions for large-scale palm oil production, expansion has not gone as planned. Only a handful of companies control industrial palm oil production and will likely drive expansion, but on a smaller scale and at a slower pace than originally anticipated. Nevertheless, these companies have been linked to …
In the light of environmental and social sustainability concerns in relation to palm oil from Southeast Asia, several Latin American countries see an opportunity to open export markets as they present palm oil from the region as a more sustainable option. However, social and environmental sustainability concerns are also prominent in the Latin American sector …
Oil palm growers in Brazil have argued that palm oil production is a “green solution” to safeguard the Amazon as a result of planting on areas already degraded and cleared only before 2008. While palm oil production in the Brazilian Amazon has relatively lower environmental impacts than soy and beef, this paper shows how also …
Join this webinar to discuss the outcomes of a new study on Wilmar’s uptake and sourcing of certificated palm oil products in its refining and processing business as well as in its own consumer brand franchise. This uptake might seem disappointing in the context of various stakeholders’ perception of Wilmar’s leading ESG credentials. Does Wilmar …
Join this webinar to discuss the European Commission’s upcoming regulation on deforestation-free products and how its requirements will affect the palm oil industry. The upcoming law, expected for implementation in 2023, will have implications for the palm oil supply chain actors and its financiers. We will discuss our recently published report on the regulation identifying …
Chain Reaction Research held a webinar on April 14th to share our research on deforestation in Indonesia that is attributed to the development of oil palm plantations. Palm oil-driven deforestation has fallen to its lowest level in four years in 2021. The declining deforestation rates for oil palm in Indonesia are promising. However, recent …
The palm oil industry had high hopes for palm oil production to expand across Africa. But by the end of 2019 concessions across the continent were nearly half of what they were in 2016, and only 8% of those concessions have been developed into plantations according to recent estimates. Despite its slow growth, the palm …
Chain Reaction Research (CRR) strives to provide objective insight and unbiased analysis on market trends and company and investor risk for its readers. CRR determines content based on what is considered to be of broad interest to readers and whether it can provide candid, high-level debate.
Chain Reaction Research conducts free sustainability risk analysis for financial analysts, credit analysts, commercial bankers, institutional investors, corporations, and other stakeholders. Our special focus is demonstrating that deforestation is material financial risk. We focus on tropical deforestation-related commodities including palm oil, soy, cattle, coffee, cacao, timber pulp and paper, and other products. We are funded by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the International Climate and Forest Initiative (NICFI) scheme managed by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad), and the Moore Charitable Foundation. Chain Reaction Research statements and materials do not necessarily reflect the standpoints of the Packard Foundation, the Moore Foundation or Norad.
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