Resources Sustainability

Indonesian Court Fines Palm Oil Firm $18.5m Over Forest Fires In 2015 (28 Oct)

An Indonesian court has fined a palm oil company $18.5 million for fires that destroyed 970 hectares (2,400 acres) of forest on its concession in Borneo in 2015. The judgment is the latest in a growing number of cases where courts have taken a zero-tolerance approach that makes concession holders liable for any fires that occur on their land, regardless of whether or not they can be proven to have started the fires.

The company in the latest case, PT Arjuna Utama Sawit, is a supplier to Singapore-based Musim Mas Group, a major oil palm trader whose customers include consumer brands such Unilever. Musim Mas said it was seeking an explanation from PT Arjuna Utama Sawit.

Sources: Mongabay

Key Palm Oil Players Collaborate In Radar-Based Forest Monitoring System (1-2 Nov)

A coalition of ten major palm oil producers and buyers are joining forces to support and fund the development of a new, publicly available radar-based forest monitoring system, Radar Alerts for Detecting Deforestation (RADD). The partnership between Bunge, Cargill, Golden Agri-Resources (GAR), Mondelēz International, Musim Mas, Nestlé, PepsiCo, Sime Darby Plantation, Unilever and Wilmar aims to make it easier for companies and other stakeholders to see deforestation happening in near-real-time and with greater accuracy. Currently being developed for Indonesia and Malaysia, the RADD system can detect tropical deforestation several weeks earlier than optical-based systems. By using radar waves, the new system can penetrate cloud cover and gather forest change information without being affected by clouds or sunlight.

Sources: WRI, The Star Online

RSPO Sees Increases in Certified Smallholders and Proposes Mandatory Sustainable Palm Oil Purchases And (3-6 Nov)

Members of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) have made a commitment to supporting greater inclusion of smallholders into the sustainable palm oil supply chain, through the adoption of the RSPO Independent Smallholder (ISH) Standard. Themed ‘A Shared Responsibility: Converting Commitments into Action’, the three-day RT17 held on Nov 4-6, saw the launch of a new initiative, the RSPO Smallholder Trainer Academy that aims to significantly increase the resources available for smallholders globally. By adopting a ‘train-the-trainer’ approach, RSPO hopes to reach a larger number of small scale oil palm farmers through agricultural best practice training.

The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) has also laid out the first draft of its rules covering Shared Responsibility, and one of the major proposals is to make it mandatory for its members to increase their purchase of sustainable oil by 15% each year.

Sources: Food Navigator Asia, The Borneo Post

Indonesian Palm Oil Exec Held Over Killing Of Two Journalists (6-10 Nov)

An Indonesian palm oil executive has been arrested for allegedly ordering the killing of two activist journalists who were mediating a land dispute between his company and local residents, police said yesterday. Mr Maraden Sianipar’s body was found last week in a ditch near a palm plantation in Labuhan Batu in North Sumatra province. Police found the remains of his colleague, Mr Maratua Siregar, in the same area a day later. Both had been stabbed multiple times. The North Sumatra authorities have arrested the head of the Amelia palm oil company, who they identified only as “H” or “Harry”, on suspicion of having paid several men about $3000 to kill the two activists.

Sources: The Straits Times; The Sunday Morning Herald

Green Finance

Shipping companies, retailers look to develop cleaner marine biofuel (30 Oct)

Top shipping, retail and transport companies are looking to develop an alternative fuel, LEO, which aims to decrease carbon emissions from ships, in another step to push the sector to go green. Lignin, a low-value waste product from ethanol production typically burned for industrial power, can be dissolved in ethanol to create Lignin. Copenhagen University is engaged in laboratory work on the fuel before the project moves to a test phase on small stationary engines in the second quarter of 2020. Depending on the success of further testing phases and on actual ships, the project could become operational in a couple of years.

Sources: Reuters, Channel NewsAsia

UOB extends S$140m in green loans to real estate SMEs under new framework (31 Oct)

UOB has provided its first green loans totaling S$140 million to Lucrum Capital and Teambuild Engineering & Construction under its new real estate sustainable finance framework. According to UOB, this is the first lending framework dedicated to supporting sustainability-related projects for the property sector established by a Singapore bank. It was developed specifically for companies that own or manage real estate assets such as data centres, hotels, homes, restaurants, offices, as well as industrial and retail spaces. This makes it easier for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which often have limited resources, to apply for green financing. UOB also plans to introduce similar lending frameworks for other sectors to receive green loans. Green loans is one way through which more capital can be channeled towards green and sustainable activities. Other financial instruments and opportunities are captured in the SIIA’s report, “Collaborative Initiative for Green Finance in Singapore: Singapore as a Green Finance Hub for ASEAN and Asia”.

Sources: The Business Times, The Straits Times

European asset managers care more about climate change: study (4 Nov)

ShareAction, a non-governmental organisation that campaigns for responsible and sustainable finance, found that European asset managers are more likely to seek to hold companies to account over global warming than their US counterparts. This was the result of their examination of votes cast by investors in 57 of the world’s biggest asset management companies on proposals related to climate change. All of the top ten investment groups who were the most likely to vote down climate change resolutions were based in the US. The NGO added that six of the ten worst global performers in its study had previously publicly backed action on climate change. On the other hand, the five best performers in the study were all in Europe.

Source: Morningstar, The Business Times

Social Sustainability

Trump suspends Thailand’s $1.3bn Trade Preferences over Workers Rights in Seafood Industry  (Oct 26)

The US will suspend $1.3bn worth of trade preferences for Thailand over concerns that Thailand is not taking steps to afford workers internationally recognized worker rights in the fishing industry. This is despite the Thai government’s efforts to curb illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and forced labour, its upgrade to Tier 2 in the US Human Trafficking-in-Persons report in mid-2018 and the EU’s recent recently striking Thailand off its warning list in January. Effective as of 25 April 2020, the suspension targets 573 items including seafood, fruits and vegetables, sugar, plywood doors, window frames and ornaments, for which the US is a relatively important market for Thailand, but where Thailand accounts for a relatively small share of US imports.

Sources: Bloomberg, Bangkok Post, Al Jazeera

Deaths of Vietnamese trafficked to the UK (28 Oct)

39 people, most Vietnamese, were found frozen and dead in a refrigerated truck in the Britain. The incident cast a light on sophisticated transnational trafficking networks helping to smuggle migrants into Britain and is just the top of the iceberg as many more instances of people smuggling and human trafficking can be found in illicit cannabis farms, nail bars and brothels. The driver of the truck has been charged with manslaughter and conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration alongside other charges. Several others involved have also been arrested, extradited and brought into Britain for proceedings. At present, the British, Chinese and Vietnamese government are working together to piece together the relevant international criminal network responsible for the incident.

Sources: SCMP, The Straits Times

Social Media Platforms Enabling Modern Slavery (31 Oct)

Domestic workers, including underage women, are treated as commodities and being traded online via Facebook-owned Instagram and apps approved by Google Play and Apple’s App Store. Potential employers pay agencies a fee to become the official sponsor of the domestic worker. Then, via apps such as 4Sale, Haraj and Instagram (using the hashtag”خادمات للتنازل#” – which translates as “#maidsfortransfer”), these employers sell the sponsorship of the domestic workers to other employers, for a profit. Bypassing agencies, this creates an unregulated black market which leaves the domestic workers extremely vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. After being alerted to the issue, Facebook said it has banned one of the hashtags involved. Google and Apple also said they were working to prevent illegal activity.

Sources: BBC