JAKARTA – Sustainability awareness has been continually growing among the palm oil industrial players as more and more of palm oil producers have realized their strong commitment to get the Indonesia Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) certifications.

The Indonesian Palm Oil Association’s (GAPKI) Sustainability Division Head  Bambang Dwi Laksono said that based on GAPKI data around 560 of its total 718 member companies had been certified with the ISPO certifications. “That means around 78 percent of GAPKI member companies have managed to get the ISPO certifications,” Bambang said during the webinar on ‘Strengthening the Sustainability Commitment of Palm Oil Industry’ on Wednesday, 24 August 2022.

Bambang said that the sustainability of palm oil industry is part of the implementation of GAPKI’s vision and mission. For such purpose, GAPKI will continue coordinating its implementation with 14 GAPKI branches across Indonesia so that member companies will realize their sustainability commitment by taking the ISPO certifications.

“Looking forward, we hope that more and more GAPKI members will realize their sustainability commitment by getting the ISPO certifications,” he said.

He noted that the options of sustainability certifications for palm oil companies include ISPO, RSPO, and ICC. “The ISPO is mandatory for all palm oil companies, as the prevailing regulations require all palm oil companies operating in Indonesia to get the ISPO certification,” he said.

According to him, the RSPO certification is only voluntary for its member companies. “It depends on GAPKI member companies whether to get it or not,” he stated.

He pointed out that the sustainability has four pillars, namely economy, social, environment and all are based on the prevailing laws in Indonesia.

“We see both ISPO and RSPO require the implementation of the same principles, but with different details and complexity. We encourage member companies of GAPKI to get other certifications besides ISPO if they consider it necessary for their business operations,” said Bambang. (*)

Source: sindonews.com