Responsible Business
Achieving traceability to origin is a top priority, as the basis for understanding the situation in the field, monitoring supply chain practices and taking action to drive more sustainable production.
Thanks to great collaboration with our suppliers, we maintained our strong traceability performance in 2022, reaching 98% traceability to mill level for global volumes, up from 97% in 2021.
We also improved traceability to plantation level for directly-sourced volumes for our two Indonesia refineries to 95%, from 90% in 2021. This brought our global volume’s traceability to plantation from 72% in 2021 to 77% in 2022.
As part of efforts to deliver on our NDPE commitment, we continually strive to source palm oil that complies with Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and International Sustainability & Carbon Certification (ISCC) standards.
In 2022, our certified palm oil sales declined, largely due to Covid-related impacts on demand for energy, a trend we expect to reverse as the effects of the pandemic ease.
In 2022, we rolled out our No Deforestation, No Peat, No Exploitation (NDPE) Policy Compliance Verification Protocol with direct suppliers to our Indonesia refineries.
This protocol was designed to verify supplier compliance with LDC’s Palm Sustainability Policy and identify possible gaps, as a basis for continuous improvement. It includes a combination of desktop and onsite assessments of each supplier’s overall environmental and social risk exposure. Following the assessments, we co-develop improvement plans and closely follow process steps with the supplier.
Our goal is to complete the assessment and improvement process for all direct suppliers in the high-risk category by the end of 2023.
At the same time, we leverage the NDPE Implementation Reporting Framework (IRF) to measure overall supply chain performance toward LDC’s zero deforestation and peat targets.
Pending verification in 2023 of the IRF profiles of our two Indonesia refineries, throughout 2022 we actively promoted the IRF tool and encouraged reporting among our suppliers, with the objective to improve transparency of deforestation risk management at sectoral level.
Working with Global Forest Watch and Earthqualizer, we now harness data intelligence powered by satellites to monitor our global palm supply chain for possible deforestation and peat development. Biweekly land-use change alerts allow us to take quick action with suppliers, when required, to validate and resolve non-compliant incidents. Our latest grievance log is accessible via LDC’s website.
In 2022, we advanced capacity building for suppliers on NDPE implementation, a key pillar of our sustainability strategy.
A two-day workshop delivered to our supplying mills in Indonesia included deep dives into topics such as traceability to plantation, human and labor rights and satellite monitoring.
In Latin America, we conducted a first regional webinar to share updates with suppliers on the latest market trends and legislation, carbon accounting and decarbonization.
Following the supplier training workshops, we have been following up with individual suppliers to provide ongoing technical support and formulate improvement action plans to address possible gaps with NDPE compliance requirements.
Since 2021, LDC has been a member of the Palm Oil Collaboration Group that brings together companies across the palm oil value chain to accelerate effective implementation of NDPE commitments and tackle common sustainability priorities.
Focus areas for this multi-stakeholder group in 2022 were to develop social IRF methodology and collectively engage with key stakeholders to tackle deforestation beyond corporate concessions. LDC is also an active contributor to the newly created Latin America subgroup that brings together regional stakeholders to co-create collective solutions to local sustainability priorities.
In May 2022, we signed Colombia’s Zero Deforestation Agreement, a multi-stakeholder initiative to eliminate deforestation for palm oil production in the country, and an opportunity for collaboration with peers and value chain stakeholders toward more sustainable production.
Upholding human and labor rights is an integral part of our supply chain due diligence, and our NDPE Compliance Verification Protocol covers subjects such as child labor, forced labor, fair labor practices, work conditions, health & safety, and community and indigenous rights.
In 2022, we applied this protocol to three mills that supply our Indonesia refineries, with the plan to roll it out to all mills with high-risk exposure by the end of 2023.
We also initiated a third-party assessment of the human rights due diligence system of LDC’s Balikpapan refinery, due to be completed by early 2023.
Based on the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, this assessment will provide insights into our current practices and possible improvement areas, ahead of our plan to pilot our due diligence system in selected supplying mills in 2023.
Case Studies
Sustainable Palm Smallholder Project, Indonesia
In 2022, 1,015 farmers participating in our palm smallholder project received refresher training on good production practices, improving their productivity by 12% and income by 122% (compared to 2019 baseline levels).
One group of 51 farmers successfully completed the internal audit followed by the RSPO audit, qualifying for RSPO Eligibility certification, which allows them to sell 40% of their production as certified sustainable.
A second group of 239 farmers who were certified in 2020, received additional technical training and successfully passed the RSPO Milestone A certification, which allows them to sell 70% of their production as certified sustainable.
Rural Business Incubator, Côte d’Ivoire
In collaboration with the Louis Dreyfus Foundation, we continued our project to create a Rural Business Incubator in Côte d’Ivoire, providing training on regenerative agriculture and income diversification for local palm smallholder producers, aiming to help them increase and diversify their agricultural production sustainably.
The first cohort of 26 trainees have completed the training in 2022, with 200 farmers expected to be trained by 2024.
Targets
Initiate support for one landscape project in our key supply base
Completion: 2022
Status: Missed and postponed to 2023*
* Scoping of potential landscape projects in our key supply base, and discussions with potential implementation partners, took longer than expected.
Near 100% traceability to mill level for palm traded by LDC
Completion: 2022
Status: Complete
100% traceability to mill level for palm sourced directly to LDC refineries
Completion: 2022
Status: Complete
95% traceability to plantation level for palm sourced directly to LDC refineries
Completion: 2022
Status: Complete
90% volumes sourced from verifiably responsible suppliers*
Completion: 2022
Status: Complete
*From certified RSPO or ISCC volumes, or from suppliers who are contractually bound to comply with our palm sustainability policy, or from suppliers who have their own NDPE commitments of at least equal rigor to our policy.
Train a further 1,000 South Sumatran palm smallholder farmers in GAPs
Completion: 2022
Status: Complete
100% indirect suppliers to complete LDC NDPE assessment
Completion: 2023
Status: In progress
100% direct suppliers categorized as high-risk to complete field verification of NDPE compliance and improvement plan
Completion: 2023
Status: In progress
New Targets
Maintain 100% traceability to mill level for palm sourced directly to LDC refineries
Completion: 2023
Maintain near 100% traceability to mill level for palm traded by LDC
Completion: 2023
100% traceability to plantation for direct suppliers to Indonesia refineries
Completion: 2025
Near 100% volumes for Indonesian refineries are in the “Delivering” category of the NDPE IRF
Completion: 2025
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