Oil palm growers operating in Indonesia may pay less for sustainability certification as the government is proposing to merge its standard with one from the multi-stakeholder forum Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).
Deputy Trade Minister Bayu Krisnamurthi said Tuesday that the RSPO would assess the possibility to avert duplicate certification, thereby reducing costs for local growers who have to abide by the Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) standard, a mandatory sustainability certificate introduced by the government in 2010.
The ISPO lacks 11 per cent of the indicators in the RSPO, including high conservation value, while the RSPO needs 25 per cent additional indicators to fully comply with the ISPO, he added.
Under Indonesia’s proposal, he said, the RSPO would demand a local firm that already obtained ISPO certification to fulfill around 10 per cent of the variables not covered by the national scheme.
“So the whole certification process will not have to be repeated,” Bayu told reporters at his office.
Indonesian trade officials, led by the deputy trade minister, recently shared their thoughts at the annual meeting of the European RSPO in London.
Indonesia, the world’s biggest palm oil producer, has struggled to address concerns from the international community, including buyers, over widespread deforestation caused by the rampant expansion of oil palm plantations.
The ISPO was introduced to guarantee sustainable practices by oil palm growers in Indonesia.
The international community, however, has been loath to recognize the ISPO, saying it does not do enough to unsure sustainability, especially since Indonesia has a weak system of law enforcement.
All plantations are required to obtain ISPO certification by the end of this year.
However, only a small number of them, particularly big firms, have secured the national certification because, for one reason, many companies consider the RSPO more important to comply with than the ISPO.
They say the RSPO is more trusted by their buyers, notably in Europe, where demand for Indonesian palm oil can reach 3 million tonnes per year.
Another obstacle is the expensive costs incurred in the certification process.
In 2012, Indonesia passed Malaysia as the largest producer of sustainable palm oil certified by the RSPO.
Indonesia’s certified palm oil output now represents 47.85 per cent of total output recognized under RSPO criteria.
In a separate development, Bayu said that Indonesia had asked the UK to help its growers meet sustainability standards in palm oil production.
The proposal was conveyed during a recent meeting with the UK’s under secretary of state for natural environment and science at department of environment, food and rural affairs.
“Reflecting on our previous experience with the domestic timber legality verification system [SVLK], we think one of the biggest challenges is to enable small growers, who produce around 42 per cent of our total palm oil output, to access the [national] certification,” Bayu said.
“We’ve agreed to seek possibilities to cooperate in helping our smallholders obtain the certificate.”
Indonesia, which saw around 6.7 million of its population working in the palm oil sector last year, expects its palm oil output to rise to 28 million tons this year, up 7.7 per cent from 2013.
