Palm oil firms quit deforestation scheme

with a methodology that distinguishes areas that can be developed from those that should be protected due to their high conservation value.

Grant Rosoman, senior campaign advisor for Greenpeace, which co-chairs HCSA, said that companies leaving voluntary initiatives such as the HCSA invited regulatory approaches to control tropical forest loss, such as the EU’s recent deforestation law.

Leading palm oil companies Golden Agri-Resources (GAR) and IOI Group have withdrawn from the High Carbon Stock Approach (HCSA), a voluntary framework set up to help firms meet their no-deforestation pledges, Eco Business reported on 27 February.

The withdrawal of GAR –which is owned by Indonesian conglomerate Sinar Mas – and its Malaysian competitor IOI Group, brings the total number of palm oil firms quitting the HCSA to four in three years, according to the report.

Wilmar International and Sime Darby Plantation quit the framework in 2020, the former citing governance issues and the latter saying the decision was due to COVID 19-induced budget constraints, the report said.

HCSA was set up in 2014 to provide companies in the palm oil and pulp and paper sectors

GAR was quoted as saying that it had seen a “shifting focus” from HCSA in enforcing its guidance in recent years, and an “unnecessary” overlapping role between HCSA and the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).

Despite its resignation from the body, GAR said it was committed to its zero-deforestation policy and would abide by the HCSA’s toolkit.

IOI had not responded to queries about why it left the HCSA, Eco Business wrote.