At a recent media briefing in Jakarta, Indonesia, the RSPO, an international multi stakeholder organization for sustainable palm oil, announced that the RT10, the world’s largest sustainable palm oil meeting, was successfully held and concluded in Singapore.
The RT10 was attended by over 800 delegates from 37 countries around the world, an all-time record in terms of most number of countries represented at its annual meeting since its first RT in 2003. It also served as a platform for proactive engagement for the participants to provide their feedback and comments on the revised RSPO Principles & Criteria (P&C). The review of RSPO P&C is currently in the stage of public/stakeholder consultation, which will end on 30 November 2012.
“We leveraged the RT10 to solicit comments and feedback from the attending delegation on the public consultation draft for the P&C review,” said RSPO Secretary General Darrel Webber. “Our aim is to finalize the standards review next year so that RSPO members can continue to work closely and vigorously with one another towards our collective goal which is to transform world markets to make sustainable palm oil the norm.”
The RT10 also marked a number of significant achievements since the organization was first established in 2004, amongst which include:
1. 14% of world's palm oil production is now RSPO certified. The current estimated annual production capacity of RSPO-certified sustainable palm oil is 7.2 million metric tonnes, or approximately 14% of global palm oil production. About 45.5% of the world's current RSPO-certified sustainable palm oil production capacity comes from Indonesia, followed by 44.7% from Malaysia, and the remaining 9.8% from Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Brazil, Colombia and Ivory Coast.
2. As late of 2012, RSPO-certified plam oil plantations cover an area of 1.6 million hectares. An area this size is approximately equal to 22 times the size of Singapore island, and it continues to grow fast.
3. Within only 8 years, RSPO membership has reached 1,088 members which is continuously growing. RSPO members are spread over 50 countries, comprising of 774 Ordinary Members, 209 Supply Chain Associates and 105 Affiliate Members. 14% of the members are from Indonesia, including 54 growers and 14 palm oil companies operating in Indonesia but listed abroad.
4. RSPO’s commitment to supporting the smallholders achieve sustainability has grown more firm than ever. At RT10, RSPO presented certificates to 4 groups of independent smallholders from Thailand, as the first independent smallholders that received RSPO certification through group certification. In Indonesia, RSPO is actively conducting programs to ensure that sustainable planting procedures are applied by the independent smallholders, through pilot projects involving local independent smallholders in North Sumatra, Riau and Jambi. These independent smallholders in the three provinces are currently undergoing RSPO certification process.
5. Since it was launched in 2011, RSPO Trademark has been adopted by RSPO members in 14 countries. As many as 72 licenses have been granted to various products and companies in these 14 countries, of which 49% for consumer goods manufacturers, 28% for processors and traders, 12% for retailers, 7% for growers and 4% for supply chain associates.
RSPO particularly acknowledged the growing level of commitment from the growers. As an appreciation to what has been achieved by the growers, including the smallholders, in positioning Indonesia as the world’s largest CSPO producer, RSPO confirms its commitment to focus on activities to increase CSPO uptake.
“It continues to be RSPO’s commitment to develop strategies aimed at increasing CSPO uptake globally and, particularly, in Indonesia, as the world’s second largest palm oil consumer”, said Webber. “To that end, one of our key initiatives in Indonesia would be to establish an alliance focused on promoting the adoption of the RSPO Trademark. This alliance of businesses and organizations will be missioned to run public awareness initiatives on the importance of sustainable palm oil and to mobilize RSPO members to use the RSPO Trademark for the awareness and benefit of the discerning Indonesian consumer”.
In Indonesia, the adoption of RSPO Trademark has been pioneered by the giant retailer Carrefour, with the launch of the first cooking oil carrying RSPO Trademark logo in July 2012. The cooking oil product that is branded with Carrefour’s private label “EcoPlanet” was the first consumer product sold in Indonesia with the trademark, which consequently positioned Indonesia as the first market in Asia to launch products with the RSPO Trademark.
“We hope that other RSPO members will follow Carrefour’s steps in adopting the trademark, especially in Indonesia as the world’s second largest consumer market”, said Webber. “Carrefour’s move is an indicator that: firstly, Indonesia as a market is ready to embrace sustainability; secondly, ethical consumerism in Indonesia is increasing; and thirdly, from a global perspective, this stamps Indonesia’s significance as a key consumer market globally”.
Based on the analysis of the Annual Communications of Progress (ACOP) submitted by RSPO members, the projected production volume of CSPO in 2015 is estimated to reach 12.9 million metric tonnes. “We remain committed and optimistic over the future of Sustainable Palm Oil”, Webber added. “However, we still need to strengthen the commitment level of our members from the demand side of the supply chain to ensure that the projected production volume of CSPO is aligned with market expectations.”
