Rspo News

One of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil’s disgruntled NGO members officially called it quits on the organization last week, resigning over what it deemed the RSPO’s failure to reign…

One of Indonesia’s largest conglomerates, the Salim Group, has likely acquired four palm oil concessions in West Papua using a complex network of shared directorships and offshore companies, new research…

A conflict between an indigenous group in Borneo and a major palm oil company is the subject of a new documentary by one of Indonesia’s most accomplished directors. The film depicts…

The prospects for greater international collaboration in the effort to prevent another Southeast Asian haze crisis hit a bump in the road this week, with Jakarta taking umbrage at Singapore’s threat…

A Malaysian company that helped found the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil is suing the RSPO for suspending its sustainability certification over alleged environmental transgressions in Indonesia. IOI Group has filed…

n the war on opaque management of Southeast Asia’s natural resources, reformers gained ground on Tuesday, when Indonesia’s land minister affirmed the right of oil palm companies to publish their…

Other stories in Mongabay's Conservation, Divided series: Part 2: How big donors and corporations shape conservation goals Part 3: Conservation today, the old-fashioned way Part 4: Conservation's people problem Epilogue: Conservation…

n the library shelves of its Nyaru Menteng rehabilitation center in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOSF) has row upon row of bound volumes, each bearing the…

More evidence is emerging to suggest that for palm oil companies, becoming more sustainable pays off. “Correlating Economic and Financial Viability with Sustainability for Palm Oil Plantations,” a paper by…

More companies are cutting back supplies from Malaysian palm oil giant IOI Group after its suspension from the world's largest association for ethical palm oil production, the RSPO. Hershey's, Colgate-Palmolive, Johnson & Johnson, Procter…

In the wake of IOI Group's suspension from the the world's largest association for ethical palm oil production, its customers Unilever, Kellogg and Mars have announced they will stop doing business…

The green image of one of Malaysia’s largest conglomerates suffered a major blow on Friday with its suspension from the world’s largest association for ethical palm oil production, the RSPO.…

n the summer of 2013, as Indonesian fires enveloped the region in a toxic haze, public ire settled on plantation firms as prime culprits in the disaster. Burning land to…

The shocking image of a burnt orangutan mother and its baby this week really brought it home: All orangutans are Critically Endangered. This used to be the privileged status of…

The Indonesian government’s sustainable palm oil certification program announced the findings of a joint study with the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil on Wednesday that details how the two systems…

Part five in a five-part series on the attitudes of palm oil financiers towards company sustainability. Read the first, second, third and fourth installments. anks and investors are increasingly looking for ways to hold companies accountable for their…

Part three in a five-part series on the attitudes of palm oil financiers towards company sustainability. Read the first, second, fourth and fifth installments. he question of materiality — whether an issue affects a company’s finances…

Part two in a five-part series on the attitudes of palm oil financiers towards company sustainability. Read the first, third, fourth and fifth installments. vidence suggests that environmental, social and governance (ESG) risk assessment…

Part one in a five-part series on the attitudes of oil palm financiers towards company sustainability. Read the second, third, fourth and fifth installments. ithin the sustainability sector, finance is increasingly being seen as…

Between the landmark climate agreement signed in Paris in December 2015, Indonesia's fire and haze crisis of the late summer and early fall, and continuing adoption of zero deforestation policies…

The general assembly of the world’s biggest sustainable palm oil organization passed a resolution on Thursday acknowledging serious problems with its certification processes and the need to reform them. The…

[This article has been updated to reflect a statement released by the RSPO on November 18.] The world’s biggest sustainable palm oil organization has been accused of ignoring serious flaws…

With devastating fires in Indonesia providing a backdrop for the destruction wrought by unrestrained plantation development, the Malaysian Borneo state of Sabah on Wednesday announced it is pressing forward with…

Activists have documented a palm oil company destroying lowland rainforest in Sumatra's endangered Leuser Ecosystem. Last month, Rainforest Action Network (RAN) reported that PT. Tualang Raya was clearing rainforest in…

Two giant retailers and a major baking company have announced new policies that establish stronger guidelines for palm oil sourcing. As reported by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), Target…

ivil society groups are calling for the palm-oil sector’s primary certification body to follow up on an investigation by the Wall Street Journal which provides evidence of slavery on plantations…

Part four in a five-part series on the links between business practices and deforestation in palm oil industry. Parts one, two and three. key component of the palm oil industry that is…

Orangutan orphaned after its mother was killed in an oil palm plantation in Sumatra. Photos by Rhett A. Butler. Shoppers may be willing to pay a 15 to 56 percent…

Forest cleared for an oil palm plantation in Sarawak, Malaysia. Photos by Rhett A. Butler. Major global brands and a network of activist investors have joined together to call on…

Logged over forest and oil palm in Sabah. Photos by Rhett A. Butler. Sabah, a state in Malaysian Borneo, is weighing a proposal to produce only palm oil certified under…