Additional addendum for sustainable palm oil
The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) is working on voluntary guidelines aimed at further enhancing the existing standard’s requirements on issues such as deforestation, peatland development and indigenous people’s rights.
The guidelines, which the sustainability standard refers to as RSPO+, will be made available to growers as a voluntary addendum to the existing RSPO Principle and Criteria (P&C).
This action by the RSPO reflects the growing concerns with these issues and extensive discussions within the RSPO on how best to integrate these within the existing standard. It aims at fulfilling the current market and society demands for stronger sustainability requirements, while maintaining the inclusivity of the standard, in its vision of 100% market transformation.
Datuk Darrel Webber, secretary general of the RSPO, comments, “We will maintain our vision to make sustainable palm oil the norm. We are confident that this addendum will promote the work of growers who have decided to move faster in their sustainability practices, while making sure we keep everyone on board and travel together towards market transformation.
“This addendum will help our producer and buyer members to use the RSPO platform to better explain, demonstrate, and communicate how they are addressing issues around peat, deforestation and social issues.”
The first draft of the additional addendum will be presented to the board of governors (formed by representatives from all seven sectors of the palm oil industry) in June 2015 and is expected to be put into effect in the second half of the year.