Big moves by international investors this week clearly demonstrate the potential risk of investing in contested land. HSBC Malaysia could be the first foreign bank to scale down operations in the Malaysian province of Sarawak.
In just the past two weeks, four major consumer-facing companies have committed to sourcing deforestation-free palm oil. Following in the footsteps of major palm oil traders like Wilmar and GAR, these consumer company commitments represent the proliferation of no-deforestation policies throughout the palm oil supply chain.
This week, fires in Indonesia reached levels that match last year’s haze crisis across Southeast Asia. Many of these fires are concentrated on peat soils, which are rich in carbon and especially harmful to human health and the environment when burned.
Last Friday, the palm oil industry crossed an important threshold: Golden Agri-Resources (GAR) announced a decision to source only palm oil produced without deforestation. This means that now, a majority of the world’s traded palm oil is covered by deforestation-free sourcing policies, heralding a clear shift in the market towards responsible commodity production.
There recently have been a number of breaking updates in the palm oil sector, which reflect rapidly changing market entry requirements on deforestation:
We are writing to announce that Kellogg recently adopted a new palm oil sourcing policy that requires its suppliers to provide fully traceable, no-deforestation, no-exploitation palm oil by 2016.
Chain Reaction Research conducted a new analysis identifying serious undisclosed risks associated with the scheduled December 12 Initial Public Offering of the palm oil company PT Sawit Subermas Sarana (SSMS) on the Jakarta Stock Exchange.
Asia’s largest agribusiness company, Wilmar International, and consumer products leader Unilever today announced an agreement to protect forests and communities through its new policy. Crucially, the policy applies not only to Wilmar’s own operations, but also to its subsidiaries and third-party suppliers. As part of its commitment, Wilmar will work with suppliers to immediately move …
We wanted to alert you to news on Bumitama Agri Ltd (BAL:SP) that could have a bearing on its market and access to finance. Within the last few days, Bumitama has been the subject of yet another NGO report – this one from Friends of the Earth, SumofUs, and the Forest Heroes campaign – that …