Sustainability
Our traceability
As a part of our public commitment to increase transparency in our supply chain, since 2017 Lipsa publicly discloses the traceability details of our palm oil and derivatives supply chain.
In 2023 we reached 83% traceability to the plantation.
Find below our 2023 mill list.
Supply chain schema
Grievances
LIPSA is committed to respond and take action against any violation of its NDPE Policy detected in its supply chain. Our grievance procedure and decision trees allow us, jointly with the collaboration of our suppliers, to correct any bad practices detected.
Public grievance list
LIPSA investigates all grievances received jointly with the commitment of its direct suppliers and its sustainability partner, the Earthworm Foundation. Below are the grievances we are involved in:
Latest update:
17/04/2024
GRUPO HAME
| Data received: | 19/06/2018 |
| Summary of Grievance: | Human Rights violations. Corruption Environment pollution (river contamination). |
| Grievance source: | Various NGO's |
| Status: | Monitoring |
| Progress Updates and Resolution: | We are currently monitoring REPSA jointly with the help of Earthoworm Foundation. We conducted a field visit in November 2018 and implemented montly check-in calls with REPSA to monitor their progress. REPSA demonstrated their commitment and have several work streams in place to address all the environmental, governance and social issues. REPSA are periodically publishing the Progress Report about labour, human rights, environment and transparency. We reduced the frequency of our monitoring to punctual check-in. |
GENTING PLANTATION
| Data received: | 26/08/2019 |
| Summary of Grievance: | Orangutans killed in its plantations, recent 2019 deforestation in Genting concessions and labour issues. |
| Grievance source: | Various NGO's: Migthly Earth Reports, Greenpeace |
| Status: | Suspended |
| Progress Updates and Resolution: | Lipsa has decided to suspent Genting plantations of our purchase list as there is not alignment with our principles and NDPE Policy. We are enging and monitoring our direct supplier who is currently engaging Genting Plantations. |
SAMLING / GLEANEALY
| Data received: | 26/08/2019 |
| Summary of Grievance: | Samling and their palm oil company Glenealy have been campaigned against by NGOs for years for widespread NDPE violations in multiple countries, including Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar and PNG, Liberia, and Cambodia. |
| Grievance source: | Various NGO's: Migthly Earth Reports, Greenpeace |
| Status: | Suspended |
| Progress Updates and Resolution: | After engaging with our direct supplier and revised the case Lipsa has decided to suspend Samling/Gleanealy plantations of our purchase list as there is not alignment with our principles and NDPE Policy. |
INDUSTRIAS CHIQUIBUL
| Data received: | 29/09/2022 |
| Summary of Grievance: | Violations to labour rights and an ecocide related to the pollution of a local river. |
| Grievance source: | CONDEG (National Council of Displaced Guatemalans) |
| Status: | Monitoring |
| Progress Updates and Resolution: | Lipsa has been engaging Ind Chiquibul, through our direct supplier, since September 2022, when several complaints were raised by CONDEG. These complaints were mainly related to labour practices of Chiquibul constituted indicators of human trafficking and forced labour and other severe forms of labour exploitation: demanding excessive work goals, excessive use of contractors to avoid giving workers the full protection of permanent contracts, no payment of minimum wage, abusive hiring practices, child labour, right to defend human rights, etc. And one complaint about ecocide in July 2019. Ind Chiquibul, in their public response, stated that they comply with laws and regulations established in Guatemalan law. They also stated that the last complaint about the exploitation of indigenous women was dismissed by the labor ministry as it seems the case lacks supporting evidence. Ind Chiquibul has started to share a monthly Corporate Social responsibility report. They also went through an RSPO pre-assessment conducted by a team of independent auditors. A 5-day field audit took place in July 2023, which led to an improvement work plan with a timeline to address identified gaps. Jointly with our direct supplier, we are following up on their progress regularly. An additional field visit and third-party progress verification are scheduled by 2024. |
FGV HOLDING BERHARD
| Data received: | 01/10/2020 |
| Summary of Grievance: | Human rights violations and violations of principles and fair labour practices. |
| Grievance source: | Mighty Earth, International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF), US border and customs and RSPO |
| Status: | Monitoring |
| Progress Updates and Resolution: | Since October 2020 we have been monitoring FGV through our first-tier supplier engagement. In August 2015, RSPO has sanctioned FGV over forced labor, worker trafficking, and 25 breaches of the RSPO's sustainability certification criteria on FGV plantations. On August 2019 RSPO lifted the suspension. On 13th January 2020 RSPO suspended FGV's P&C Certificate for Kilang Sawit Serting and all certification processes at each uncertified management unit within FGV. Several progress reports related to RSPO Complaint cases have been published by FGV: on 10 April 2020, 7 July 2020 and 29 July 2020. On 30 September 2020, the United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued a Withhold Release Order (WRO) of palm oil and palm oil products made by FGV at all U.S ports of entry. In November 2020, FGV adopted its revised Group Sustainability Policy (GSP) in which provisions on labour were strengthened based on the FLA Workplace Code of Conduct. In February and March 2021, the FLA conducted a second validation exercise to assess FGV’s progress in implementing its action plan. FGV had discussions with their US-based legal counsel and has appointed ELEVATE as the independent auditing firm to conduct an assessment of FGV's operations against the 11 ILO Indicators of forced labour. FGV is implementing Elevate ‘s recommendations to reimburse its current and former foreign workers, who were employed after 27 June 2019 and had to pay recruitment fees to agents or other third parties in their countries of origin. On 10 January 2024, FGV announced (https://www.fgvholdings.com/press_release/fgv-makes-significant-strides-in-addressing-us-customs-withhold-release-order-rm72-2-mil-reimbursed-to-workers-strengthened-recruitment-procedures-for-no-recruitment-fee/?pagen=1) that total of RM72.2 million has been reimbursed to 19,673 workers. FGV appointed LRQA, formerly known as ELEVATE to conduct a verification of the reimbursement exercise. LRQA is expected to conduct its follow-up assessment in the first quarter of 2024 which is to verify the implementation of FGV’s overall remediation plan. With the outcome of the assessment, FGV will then prepare a petition to the CBP to modify the WRO, which will be submitted by the end of the second quarter of 2024. |
SIME DARBY PLANTATION BERHAD
| Data received: | 04/01/2021 |
| Summary of Grievance: | Alleged human rights and labour abuses: Forced Labour and Child Labour. |
| Grievance source: | Liberty Shared, US border and customs |
| Status: | Monitoring |
| Progress Updates and Resolution: |
On 20th April 2020, Liberty Shared (LS) issued a petition to United States Customs and Border Protection (US CBP) to exclude product from Sime Darby Plantation (SDP). The petition concern allegations of forced labour and child labour by SDP owned and affiliated companies. On 30 December 2020, the United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued a Withhold Release Order (WRO) that all U.S. ports of entry will detain palm oil and products containing palm oil produced by SDP and its subsidiaries, joint ventures, and affiliated entities in Malaysia. SDP issued a statement in response to the WRO on 31 December 2020, which reiterated SDP’s commitment to combatting forced labour. The statements also indicated that CBP has not provided sufficient information to allow SDP to meaningfully address the allegations that triggered the issuance of the WRO, and they are looking forward to receiving pertinent information and working with CBP in order to quickly resolve the matter. SDP reiterates its commitment to uphold labour practices and human rights and to implement appropriate corrective actions to eradicate human rights infringements. These efforts include the appointment of PricewatershouseCoopers Consulting Associates on 19 October 2020 to establish effective platforms and channels of communication to address any concerns or issues surrounding their operations in Malaysia. On 28 January 2022 US CBP issued a statement on their finding, determining that certain palm oil and derivate products were made wholly or in part with palm oil produced by SDP, its subsidiary and joint ventures with the use of convict, forced or indentured labour. On the same day SDP issued a response, highlighting that since the initial WRO on 16th December 2020 SDP have fully cooperated with the USCBP, and continue to try and resolve these issues even through progress has been slowed due to Covid-19 restrictions across Malaysia. On 28 January 2022 RSPO also release an statement explaining that following the WRO RSPO Secretariat commenced an independent verification process to identify whether the allegations and/or any non-conformities had occurred on any of SDPs certified units. Due to the numerous Malaysian government-mandated Movement Control Orders (MCOs) caused by the pandemic throughout much of 2021, the RSPO Secretariat and independent assessors have been unable to conduct an on-ground verification to date, and therefore, the inquiry is still ongoing. Lipsa will follow up closely the case jointly with our tier one supplier and will come with a decision once the RSPO investigation will be close. |
LKPP CORPORATION SDN. BHD.
| Data received: | 19/04/2021 |
| Summary of Grievance: | Reports of deforestation |
| Grievance source: | Mighty Earth. Palm Oil Report: 30 |
| Status: | Monitoring |
| Progress Updates and Resolution: |
LKPP was reported in Mighty Earth Rapid Response report for 22ha deforestation at Ladang Cherating (Pahang) in the period of Mar-19 to Oct-20 and 101ha deforestation at Sg. Charu (Pahang) in the period of Feb-19 to May-20. Our trading partner has engaged this supplier. PKPP has agreed to put a stop to all land clearing activity at Ladang Cherating concession (https://ndpe.pkpp.gov.my/bulletin.html). A ‘suspension of work order’ on all future planning involving the new development of palm oil plantations has also been issued to the group. The PKPP management has set aside two land banks located at Lipis, Pahang (426 ha) and Pekan, Pahang (130 ha) for its recovery plan. In Jan 2021, PKPP launched a sustainability dashboard that summarized its sustainabilty commitment and progress on public platform. The PKPP NDPE policy is publicly available at https://ndpe.pkpp.gov.my/. We will continue monitoring progress closely with our supplier. |
SARAWAK OIL PALMS BERHAD
| Data received: | 19/04/2021 |
| Summary of Grievance: | Reports of deforestation |
| Grievance source: | Mighty Earth. Palm Oil Report: 17,18,20 |
| Status: | Monitoring |
| Progress Updates and Resolution: |
According to our trading partner, SOPB launched their NDPE policy in Feb 2019, and suspended all development of forest since 1 July 2018, unless HCV-HCS undertaken. SOPB has its own board of directors and claims to operate independently of Shin Yang. - Mighty Earth Rapid Response report #18 shows 127 ha clearance between June 11, 2019 and August 5, 2019 in the Shin Yang OP Planting area (LPF/0018) concession. According to our trading partner, the alleged clearance had taken place at License for Planted Forest (LPF) area which was outside their oil palm plantation area. - Mighty Earth Rapid Response report #17 shows 548 ha clearance between February 27, 2019 and May 27, 2019 in the Dataran Linau Sdn Bhd concession. According to our trading partner, the alleged clearance has happened outside Sarawak oil's concession. - Mighty Earth Rapid Response report #20 shows 4 ha clearance April 22, 2019 and September 23, 2019 in the Dataran Seping Sdn Bhd concession. According to our trading partner, reported company had confirmed that the alleged clearance had taken place inside its concession area. However, based on ground verification, the clearance reported was found to be due to encroachment by some local communities for the purpose of paddy planting. As the clearance activity is considered as encroachment, the reported company had met the local communities on 10/11/2019 to highlight the issue in order to prevent future encroachment inside its concession area. We will continue monitoring progress closely with our supplier. |
PT PERMATA SAWIT MANDIRI
| Data received: | 15/05/2022 |
| Summary of Grievance: | Deforestation records since 2020 to March 2022 |
| Grievance source: | Rapid Response reports related: 14,15,16,17,19,20,23,24,27 |
| Status: | Closed |
| Progress Updates and Resolution: | PT PSM is currently one of the worst deforesters for palm oil having cleared an estimated 1.300 ha of forest in 2022. In 2021, PT PSM cleared around 450 ha of forest and, in 2020, around 2.000 ha. Lipsa is indirectly connected to PT PSM through LDC. Lipsa has engaged LDC and we confirmed that PT PSM is no longer in our purchase list. |
GRUPO OCHO SUR
| Data received: | 08/02/2024 |
| Summary of Grievance: | Deforestation events |
| Grievance source: | Environmental Investigation Agency |
| Status: | Monitoring |
| Progress Updates and Resolution: | In February 2024, Lipsa was mentioned in an NGO’s report: https://us.eia.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/EIA-US_Carving-up-the-Amazon_final-report.pdf, linked to The Grupo Ocho Sur grievance. The reports mention Lipsa of having this group in our supply chain just when the EC brings into force the new EUDR Regulation. GRUPO OCHO SUR is linked to deforestation events in the Ucayali area in 2012 and 2013. We have engaged our direct supplier. They confirmed the alleged cases mentioned in the report are from the previous owner of the mill. Based on reports, done by an independent third party, our direct supplier confirmed they were able to identify that, since the change of ownership to Ocho Sur in 2016, there is no land-clearing activity done by Grupo Ocho Sur. Grupo Ocho Sur has also publicly responded to this grievance case. In this regard, the company explained that the allegation is false because Ocho Sur was established and started operations in 2016, after acquiring two palm oil farms in the department of Ucayali that had been owned by a collateral trust in a public auction managed by a first-class trusted company. Since the beginning of its operation, Ocho Sur has not cleared any land but rather has regenerated and protected the rainforest by expanding its reserve area as well as creating and managing rainforest conservation areas. An official letter from GRUPO OCHO SUR has also been sent to Reuters, with a request to rectify the allegations made in their newswire: https://www.einpresswire.com/article/687913459/ocho-sur-strongly-rejects-unfounded-accusations-from-the-ngo-environmental-investigation-agency-eia The company also released an official statement as a response to the allegations in the report. Finally, we can also confirm that we are not currently supplying from this group. Even though, we have been periodically engaging our direct supplier on this case. Our direct supplier confirms us GRUPO OCHO SUR is actively working to get the RSPO certification. |
ERASAKTI WIRAFORESTAMA
| Data received: | 25/11/2022 |
| Summary of Grievance: | Child Labour |
| Grievance source: | UNICEF France |
| Status: | Closed |
| Progress Updates and Resolution: | In October 2020, UNICEF France initiative uncovered the use of child labour and linked to several companies. There are severe allegations of child labour practices and cases of non-compliance with health and safety principles for workers in palm plantations at the level of the mill EWF. https://actualnewsmagazine.com/english/video-cash-investigation-reveals-that-unicef-france-has-signed-a-partnership-with-loccitane-one-of-whose-suppliers-uses-child-labor/ The report describes allegations of child labour practices: children as young as 9-12 years old working with their parents on EFW's plantation, and non-compliance with health and safety principles for workers: spreading pesticides without protection. Lipsa was indirectly connected with EWF through our direct supplier LDC. Lipsa confirm that this supplier is no longer in our SC in 2022. |
GLOBAL SAWIT SEMESTA
| Data received: | 24/01/2023 |
| Summary of Grievance: | Deforestation events. |
| Grievance source: | Rainforest Action Network |
| Status: | Closed |
| Progress Updates and Resolution: | Subulussalam Mill, Global Sawit Semesta (PO1000007646) is sourcing from an illegal palm oil plantation, controlled by Ibu Nasti, a local businesswoman in the village of Binanga, in the district of Subulusalam, Aceh. She operates an illegal plantation covering 27 acres in the Rawa Singkil Wildlife Reserve. Lipsa is indirectly connected to Global Sawit Semesta through our direct supplier LDC. We received confirmation from LDC that the alleged illegal FFB Mr Mahmudin is not part of the Global Sawit Semesta supply chain. Their direct supplier has carried out an investigation into the allegations. You could find the investigation here: https://www.apicalgroup.com/sustainability/grievances/global-sawit-semesta/ |
NATURACEITES, S.A.
| Data received: | 01/06/2023 |
| Summary of Grievance: | Land conflicts, labour rights and contamination of rivers |
| Grievance source: | Romero Initiative, ECCHR, Foodwatch |
| Status: | Closed |
| Progress Updates and Resolution: | Romero Initiative (CIR) is currently receiving information about the escalating conflict over land in the rainforest at Lake Izabal, which has been going on since December 2022 and is resulting in massive outbreaks of violence against members of the local Mayan communities. The Maya protested against the expansion of the oil palm plantations, as they saw their land rights violated. They also claim that the wastewater from the oil mills is polluting Lake Izabal and endangering the livelihoods of the communities. According to their information, one of the companies being protested against is NaturAceites. Lipsa is indirectly connected with Naturaceites through our direct supplier. We have engaged our direct supplier in this grievance case. We have received a formal update from Naturaceites on that case: https://naturaceites.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Response-to-Allegations-from-Romero-Initiative-ECCHR-and-Foodwatch.pdf The complaint considers past events that the company has already processed. Naturaceites conducted due diligence to ensure respect for human rights and compliance with their sustainability policy and values. Naturaceites made public their response and investigation at https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/rejoinder-from-ecchr-and-foodwatch-to-naturaceites-response/ Lipsa considers Naturaceites to be one of the leading sustainable companies in the region and has a very robust sustainability team. |
FIRST RESOURCES - FANGIONO AGRO PLANTATION - CILIANDRY ANKY ABADI
| Data received: | 14/11/2023 |
| Summary of Grievance: | Deforestation events. |
| Grievance source: | The Gecko Project |
| Status: | Suspended. |
| Progress Updates and Resolution: | In November 2023 a new report was published accusing Fangiono Agro Plantation, Ciliandry Anky Abadi, and First Resources group and their subsidiaries of deforestation events. According to an analysis of satellite imagery commissioned by The Gecko Project, companies controlled by the Fangiono family, Fangiono Agro Plantation, and Ciliandry Anky Abadi, in addition to First Resources have cleared more than 95,000 hectares of forest since First Resources pledged to comply with RSPO rules. As a result, the companies controlled by the Fangiono family have cleared more forest for palm oil in the last five years than any other company in Southeast Asia. According to the RSPO, the case summary is the following: https://rspo.my.site.com/Complaint/s/case/5000o00003CLXepAAH/detail After our internal investigation, we have decided to exclude Fangiono Agro Plantation, Ciliandry Anky Abadi, and First Resources and its associated mills from our supply chain from November 2023 onwards as this is a serious accusation and may violate our NDPE policy in place. We will be following up on the RSPO investigation on the case as RSPO will assign an independent body to review this case and decide if First Resources has indeed violated RSPO principles. |