Early March, Greenpeace released a report on deforestation that came with a scorecard measuring different certification schemes against their own analysis and judgement. While they did ask for inputs from the respective scheme owners, it would appear that the inputs which were given were twisted and moulded to fit the requirements they expected only to paint the certification schemes in a negative light. The fact that these certification schemes were created to guard sustainability and the environment while ensuring that commodities remain competitive in the global markets.

Greenpeace may have the luxury of completely discounting the fact that lives depend on the commodities. In Malaysia, we have more than half a million smallholders whose livelihood depends on palm oil. The Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) certification scheme was established precisely for this reason, to protect the rich biodiversity of the land, maintain good agricultural practices while safeguarding the livelihood of the smallholders. Not forgetting that the contribution from the commodity sector goes towards building the economy of the country.

“Greenpeace has gone to great lengths to fit their messaging into their agenda and have ignored the inputs provided by other stakeholders. Instead of pitting all the certifications against the ideals of Greenpeace, they should instead understand the objectives of each certification scheme models and the positive changes or setbacks and benefits we have seen since,” said CEO of MPOCC Mohammad Hafezh Abdul Rahman.

“The fact that Greenpeace has the notion that the growth of commodities should be limited shows that their expectations are far from the rapidly growing global food demand. While protecting the environment is a priority for all of us, certification schemes allow us to balance the need to develop commodities to meet the global food demand. This supports livelihood of the people and the development of the country while safeguarding sustainability of the environment at the same time,” he said further.

Voluntary or mandatory sustainability schemes should be encouraged and should not be labelled as greenwashing as all these certifications have the same intention, which is to protect the environment and reduce deforestation.

The Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) Certification Scheme was developed as the National Scheme in Malaysia for oil palm plantations, independent and organised smallholdings, and palm oil processing facilities to be certified against the requirements of the MSPO Standards. The Malaysian Palm Oil Certification Council (MPOCC) is the scheme owner and governing body for the MSPO Certification Scheme. Until press time, the MSPO certification rate in Malaysia is almost at 85%, this culminates to the fact that most of Malaysian palm oil is sustainably produced.

The MSPO framework includes seven principles that amongst others, address the legal, environmental, social and economic aspects of palm oil production, cultivation and processing methods, protecting forests and wildlife, safeguarding workers’ welfare and safety and provision of minimum living wage. While it is still a big challenge to ensure the whole industry achieves full certification as many issues remain especially for the independent smallholders (ISHs). However, Malaysia is committed to ensure industry compliance in this matter, to meet global demand for sustainably produced palm oil.

The MSPO certification covers all independent and organised smallholdings, oil palm plantations, palm oil milling and processing facilities. In line with good practices, the MSPO Standards is currently being reviewed by a wide range of relevant Malaysian stakeholders, with the involvement of economic, environmental and social stakeholders; covering the Government agencies, industry (both upstream and downstream), smallholder organisations, environmental NGOs, civil society, indigenous people’s organisations, workers unions and academia/research and development institutions.

Through the close cooperation of MPOCC and MPOB together with the high-level intervention by the Government, the right ingredients are in place to develop a credible MSPO Certification Scheme that provides assurance to buyers and consumers. MPOCC as the Scheme Owner of MSPO certification will continue to drive greater acceptance of the scheme, both at the national and international level.  Continued implementation of the MSPO standards through broad stakeholder consultations; capacity building of Accredited Certification Bodies and peer reviewers; active engagement with the smallholders and the industry sector; financial institutions; and further strengthening the mandatory implementation of the Standards with active involvement of relevant inspection and enforcement agencies at the National and State level will be continued. 

The supply chain and traceability requirements will be further enhanced to provide assurance and a guarantee of legality and sustainability implementation nationwide. While MSPO certification cannot replace the role of Federal and State governments oversight, it can support the reporting for Malaysia’s commitment of the 17 UNSDGs at the global level. Approaches to seek cross recognition or mutual recognition between MSPO and other relevant sustainability schemes will add further credibility in the global market in terms of acceptance and global recognition.

It must be reiterated that palm oil is the only vegetable oil in the world with sustainability certification standards and the report does little to recognise the fruits of the efforts. According to Global Forest Watch project run by World Resources Institute, there has been significant decrease in primary forest loss in the last three years in Malaysia. This has been credited to the implementation of MSPO which is mandatory to all industry players.

Certification is normally voluntary in nature, depending on market needs. In the case of Malaysia, the MSPO Certification scheme was developed as a home-grown sustainability standard, initially as a voluntary standard. With emerging global trends for sustainability, the MSPO Scheme which covers all sectors of the oil palm industry and the entire value chain to be certified against the requirements of the MSPO Standards was mandated as a mandatory scheme. 

The demand for sustainable products was created a few decades ago on concerns over deforestation and forest degradation. The initiative became a platform to drive sustainability concerns about other commodity products. Issues with compliance to regulatory requirements became louder too as the certification systems in place did not fully cover the European energy markets as major users of palm oil. As a result, EU legally compliant certification systems were developed for Germany (ISCC DE) and expanded further to cover the wider EU countries and commodities (ISCC EU & ISCC Plus).  

As the EU based certification systems were deemed as potential market barriers to palm oil trade, major producers Indonesia and Malaysia also started national certification schemes, namely ISPO and MSPO, as a fall- back situation in case the EU demands became too stringent and less business friendly. Although these national schemes were often seen as less stringent, nevertheless the potential impact on the ground is much greater being backed by the respective governments to cover the entire industry unlike the voluntary market driven systems.

For Malaysia, the MSPO certification scheme introduced in 2013, was made mandatory on 1st January 2020 and all industry players including smallholders are required to obtain the MSPO certification as a requirement to renew their business operation licenses. As the smallholders need more time, resources and technical support to meet the certification requirements, the timeline for compliance has been extended to the following year, 2021.

MPOCC will continue strengthening the certification standards and work towards a balance for all our industry players.