25 Feb 2019

Project

Sustainability Reporting for Palm Oil Companies

The aim of this project was to develop online capacity-building tools to help palm oil companies in Indonesia that were either legally required or interested in voluntary reporting of their sustainability-related practices.

Challenges

To date, Indonesian corporations have explored a variety of social and environmental activities to support local community development. Voluntary reporting programmes have also emerged in recent decades. Despite receiving some external support, few Indonesian companies publish their stand-alone sustainability reporting, though they face growing market expectations to report.

Objectives

The objectives of the project were:

Project launching, including initial meeting with the Project Steering Committee to oversee project design (members were from Preferred by Nature, CBS, PRI and a palm oil company)
Initiate desk study for the management reports.
Development of a storyboard for the training videos and research content.
Film, edit and score content.
Development of a strategy for dissemination (involving Indonesian firms, Indonesian Universities, and other relevant stakeholders).
Uploading and releasing content for free on Preferred by Nature Sourcing Hub
Monitoring uptake and research sustainability reporting in Indonesia.
Reporting on the monitoring.

Project scope and approach

Preferred by Nature developed an executive training programme aimed at supporting Indonesian palm oil companies that were legally required or interested in volunteering to report their sustainability-related practices.

The proposed online education course could build on the efforts and materials already developed for firms in the sector in Indonesia with a clear emphasis on best practices, key metrics, and reporting styles championed and tested globally.

In addition, engaged firms may leverage such engagement to attract funding with a sustainability focus, while emphasising engagement as a clearer part of mandatory practices.

Preferred by Nature, in collaboration with key industry experts from the Copenhagen Business School Sustainability Centre, developed the required materials - both videos and written guidance. Preferred by Nature worked with Steering Committee members, including the UN Principles for Responsible Investment initiative, to ensure that project outputs best addressed the needs of palm oil stakeholders and filled current gaps in the capacity to implement sustainability reporting in the sector, including how to translate these best practices into documented and quantifiable results presented in sustainability reports.

The confluence of growing interest in sustainability reporting in Indonesia, and Denmark’s expertise in the area, provides an opportunity for the Danish government to support and promote the diffusion of practices that can support achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Project Outputs

This project developed free training tools and resources to enable palm oil companies to implement meaningful impact reporting. These were designed for the Indonesian context but can be easily adapted at a later stage to fit in local context-country specific, e.g., Malaysia, and even globally.

The following resources were made available for free on Preferred by Nature Sourcing Hub in both English and Bahasa Indonesia languages: