T

he Indonesian Oil Palm Association (GAPKI) has urged the government to expand Indonesia Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) certification to include the derivative products of crude palm oil (CPO) in order to gain wider recognition at the global level.

GAPKI deputy chairman Togar Sitanggang said recently that such a move would be welcomed as around 75 percent of Indonesia’s exports were CPO derivatives while the remaining was CPO.

“If we want ISPO [standards] to be accepted overseas, the ISPO certification should also be expanded to include [CPO derivatives],” Togar said recently at a seminar hosted by the association on the island of Belitung in the Bangka Belitung Islands province.

The government has been working to strengthen the ISPO, which was introduced in 2011, to gain more recognition globally as it is also competing with other certifications, including the Malaysia-based Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).

ISPO certification is mandatory for all CPO producers in Indonesia and voluntary for smallholders, also known as plasma farmers, as stipulated in Agriculture Ministry Regulation No. 11/2015 on ISPO certification.

The government is in the process of drafting a presidential regulation to strengthen the certification process to allow independent certification bodies to issue certificates of sustainability and make ISPO certification mandatory for plasma farmers.

ISPO certificates have been secured by 346 CPO producers that represent 2.04 million hectares of oil palm plantations across Indonesia, according to GAPKI data.

The ISPO is seen as the government’s answer to a chorus of calls from the international community demanding for sustainable practices in the CPO production process.

The European Union, for instance, is seeking to phase out the use of palm oil in transportation fuel by 2030, as it found in a 2015 study funded by the European Commission that palm oil and soybean oil were the largest indirect contributors to greenhouse gas emissions because of deforestation and the drainage of peatland associated with their cultivation, Reuters reported.

The move was part of the regional bloc’s plan to replace food-based biofuels, which often drove land-use change, to meet its domestic renewable energy targets. The EU is not specifically targeting CPO, as it is also focusing on other commodities tied to deforestation or land-use change such as soybean and rapeseed.

Although the full ban was set to be in effect in 2030, the EU’s move has already affected CPO exports to the regional bloc. Indonesia’s CPO export volume to the EU was down 12 percent to 2.39 million tons in the first half of this year from the 2.71 million tons exported over the same period last year, according to GAPKI data.

Togar said addressing sustainability at oil palm plantations in Indonesia was challenging because 40 percent of oil palm plantations in the country were managed by smallholders.

He also added that the demand that the CPO industry identify the source of its products, known as traceability, added a new challenge for the industry and plasma smallholders as they worked to implement sustainable practices.

The government has attempted to garner international support to counter the EU by setting additional criteria for acceptable palm oil products.

Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan, who has been leading Indonesia’s diplomacy on palm oil matters, said the government would hold two meetings with the primary goal of setting up counter criteria.

The meetings will be held with smallholders, the EU and the United Nations to discuss potential acceptable criteria for palm oil by referring to the Sustainable Development Goals.

“In September, we will also meet with the UN to discuss the future impact of the EU’s phasing out of palm oil [in biofuel], especially on [increasing] poverty,” he said.