On 27 December, 2022, IOI Corporation (IOI) informed The High Carbon Stock Approach (HCSA) Secretariat about our decision to withdraw from the HCSA membership with immediate effect.

As a company that had played a pivotal role in the convergence of the HCSA and HCS+, IOI have been adopting the policy of “No Deforestation, No New Planting on Peat, No Social Exploitation” (NDPE) in all our operations and supply chains, as stated in our Sustainable Palm Oil Policy (SPOP) since 2016. We are fully committed towards HCSA’s overall objectives and its toolkit and have spent countless hours for and representing HCSA in various working groups and task forces.

However, as we have completed all our new land developments, we are pivoting our focus towards climate change action and aiming to achieve our net zero target by 2040. This will take considerable human capacity and resources and render us unable to continue to devote time and resources towards being a member of HCSA.

In pursuing our Climate Change Action (CCA) Initiative, we have introduced several initiatives. Our adoption of 7Rs (Rethink, Repurpose, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Repair and Recover) of circularity is to ensure better waste management and resource utilisation in all our operations. We have installed methane captures and biogas power plants in our oil palm mills that not only remove greenhouse gas emissions but also reduce usage of fossil fuels. In the future, we are planning to reforest buffer and riparian areas with the aim of increasing carbon sequestration and enriching biodiversity within our plantations.

In closing, we would like to thank the HCSA secretariat and its members for the assistance, support and cooperation given to us during our 5+ years as a member of HCSA. We have benefited greatly from the work done by the HCSA and remain committed towards its admirable objectives.