History of FGV RSPO Membership
FGV Obtained Its Own RSPO Membership
As a key proponent of the RSPO, FGV has played an active role in promoting sustainable practices in its application of the guidelines since its inception in 2004.
FGV was amongst the first agricultural companies to obtain the mill certification in 2010; and the first in the world to organise a smallholder group to obtain the RSPO Fresh Fruit Bunch (FFB) Certification. In the process of certifying our mills, we had also certified about 40,000 FELDA schemed smallholders. Although we had initially targeted to complete auditing all of our mills by 2017, we made such rapid progress to have all certification to be completed by 2015.
However, FGV’s decision to withdraw from RSPO Principles and Criteria (P & C) Certification on 3 May 2016 was made to ensure any issue along the supply chain would be addressed and that the improvements had been implemented. In tandem with this, FGV has started anew in its RSPO certification plans. FGV had undergone a partial certification exercise in October 2016, when it was highlighted that FGV shall not be RSPO certified under the FELDA’s membership. This was due to the fact that FELDA does not have controlling interest in FGV. As such, FGV needed to be certified under its own membership and the request was tabled to the RSPO Board of Governors on 7 November 2016 and approved on the same date. On the 28 December 2016, FGV received its Confirmation of Membership (RSPO) with effect from 27 December 2016.
FGV will continue to move forward with its 72 mills complexes RSPO Certification programme in January 2017.
Apart from the mill and FFB certifications, we also certified four of our kernel crushing plants, one refinery and a biodiesel plant to RSPO’ s Supply Chain Certification System (SCCS).
RSPO Time Bound Plan
ISCC is the first biofuel standard to be recognised by the EU and the most widely acknowledged amongst the many biofuel standards available today. Independent third-party certification ensures compliance with high ecological and social sustainability requirements, greenhouse gas emissions savings and traceability throughout the supply chain. FGV has sought ISCC certification since 2011, and the number of mills with ISCC certification is dependent on market demand in order to accommodate the requirement for sustainable biofuel market in Europe. FGV had certified up to 15 mills in the past when the demand for palm based biofuel (Palm Methyl Ester) was high.
FGV has been working closely with Stakeholders and other members in the industry in developing MSPO, the first Malaysian palm oil sustainability certification scheme. MSPO is similar to the RSPO and ISCC but takes into consideration the national socio-economic agenda – focusing particularly on developing marginalised local communities – while adhering to all local, national and ratified international laws and treaties. The MSPO certification will be an alternative to the other sustainability certification schemes and benefits producers especially smallholders due to the cheaper cost involved in MSPO certification without compromise on rigour. We are also among the first few plantation companies to be MSPO certified since 2015.
The sustainability of our businesses is interdependent with the sustainability of the ecosystem surrounding our operations. We have been implementing a number of Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and Good Management Practices (GMP) to ensure the efficient use of natural resources hence safeguard the long-term productivity of the land that we cultivate. We are keen advocates of zero-burning, implementing Leguminous Cover Crop (LCC) and Integrated Pest Management (IPM). We also employ science-based nutrient management and enrich the soil with organic fertilisers as well as beneficial microorganisms as standard practices in all our oil palm plantations.
