Sustainable Palm Oil Policy (SPOP)
IOI Corporation Berhad’s (IOI) Sustainable Palm Oil Policy (SPOP) serves as the main guiding document for the Group’s sustainability practices. The SPOP was fully revised in 2016 and has undergone various revisions to reflect new sustainability requirements and stakeholder’s concerns. The latest revision is based on current industry’s best practices and inputs from engagements with relevant stakeholders.
The revised SPOP has been further expanded to include our firm commitments towards NDPE and the adoption of the relevant UN SDGs as shown below:
- To comply with all applicable legislation and codes of practice.
- To implement leading sustainability standards laid out in this policy for environmental management including no deforestation, no new planting on peat and no social exploitation (“NDPE”), human rights and workplace conditions, community development and social impact.
- Contribute to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (“UN SDGs”) in order to collectively achieve the 2030 Agenda of ensuring a sustainable future for all.
- To build traceable supply chains such that all suppliers are also in compliance with our commitments as contained in our Sustainability Policy on environmental management, human rights and workplace as well as community development and social impact.
- To strive for the highest levels of transparency and stakeholder engagement.
IOI stands firmly committed to the implementation of its sustainability policies and believes that our established no deforestation and no new planting on peat and progress in key areas of human right and workplace condition and FPIC sends a strong signal to stakeholders on our desire for continuous improvement. Moving forward, in consultation with our stakeholders, we will further review, adjust and improve our policies and its implementation methods. Any update on the SPOP will be announced on this website.
The latest SPOP is available for download here:
Download
Sustainability FAQ
What are the various sustainability standards that IOI subscribes to for its plantation operation?
IOI subscribes to both international and national sustainability standards for its plantation operations based on the country we operate in. Example of standards that we adhere to or progressing towards are the:
- Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO),
- RSPO NEXT, and the
- International Sustainability & Carbon Certification (ISCC)
- Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) Certification Scheme, the national scheme in Malaysia for oil palm plantations in the country and
- Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) certification for all plantation concessions in Indonesia.
The progress of achieving full certification in all our plantation can be viewed in our Palm Oil Dashboard and for details on our systems and processes please click here.
How does IOI monitor sustainability implementation in their operations?
IOI has developed a systematic approach by ensuring sustainability sits at the top agenda of IOI’s management while our sustainability teams ensure that the operations implement and strictly adhere to all sustainability systems and processes, policies, practices and commitments of the Group. Aside from internal monitoring such as internal audits, external audits conducted by the certifications organisations to which we belong to, ensure that we implement our sustainability commitments. In addition, we have also conducted independent verification on the implementation of IOI’s sustainability programs.
We have systems in place for stakeholders to monitor our sustainability progress via publicly available documents (Please click the following documents for further details:- Sustainability Implementation Plan (SIP), Sustainability Progress Updates, and a list of reports from third-party assessments).
How does IOI ensure community wellbeing?
- Frequent engagement with community leaders as well as other stakeholder meetings with neighbouring village, adjacent smallholders and other affected parties to gather information on the impacts of plantation operation to their side.
- Provide good accessibility to the community through regular road maintenance, safety and awareness signboard etc.
- Providing education centres within our plantations by providing schools to children of our employees and neighbouring communities as well as providing other contributions such as technical expertise, electricity, water supply, financial assistance and study tools.
- Assessment with the community specifically to identify the HCV 5 (Sites and resources fundamental for satisfying the basic necessities of local communities or indigenous peoples, for example livelihoods, health, nutrition, and water requirements identified through engagement with these communities and indigenous peoples) and HCV 6 (Sites, resources, habitats and landscapes of global or national cultural, archaeological or historical significance, and/or of critical cultural, ecological, economic or religious/sacred importance for the traditional cultures of local communities or indigenous peoples identified through engagement with these local communities or indigenous peoples).
What is IOI’s strategy to ensure sustainable land use plan?
- IOI practices no deforestation and protection of High Conservation Value (HCV) areas and High Carbon Stock (HCS) forests and no development of peatland regardless of depth for any new land development.
- Conduct environmental and social impact assessments (EIA & SIA) prior to land development. As IOI subscribes to RSPO, sites identified as HCV area will be set aside and managed.
- Respect land tenure rights of indigenous and local communities in land use plan by practicing Free, Prior and Informed Consent (“FPIC”).
- RSPO Best Management Practices (BMP) for peatland management and drainability assessment conducted prior to replanting for existing plantation on peat.
- Research to improve oil palm yields to reduce the reliance on land for growth.
- Undertaking precision agriculture and good agronomic practices to increase efficiency on land utilisation for higher productivity, reduction of chemical fertiliser and pesticide usage, resulting in lower GHG emissions. Read more on our plantation’s Best Management Practices and Agronomy and Planting Material Improvement here.
When did IOI initiate its moratorium on no deforestation and no new planting on peat?
- IOI practices no deforestation and no new planting on peat within its operations since the establishment of SPOP in 2016.
Please click on the links below to view our sustainability related factsheets:
Human Rights and Labour Fact Sheet
IOI’s continuous improvement with respect to human and labour rights were demonstrated through its strengthened commitments, development and enhancement of policies and practices as well as via various independent labour assessments carried out since 2014. We have produced a fact sheet covering these areas that contains the following information:
- Our capacity and commitment on human and labour rights as specified in Sustainable Palm Oil Policy (SPOP)
- Strict commitment towards implementing ethical recruitment practices
- External assessments and collaborations
- Social impact and community development
- Tracking labour practices within IOI’s supply chain
To view the full fact sheet, please click here.
Sustainability Enquiries
For any enquiries related to Sustainability and/or Stakeholders' Engagement matters, please contact us via the following channels:
Sustainability Department