Environmental Performance Print this page

Our primary aim is to protect eco-systems and use resources efficiently, so that we can create significant value for customers, shareholders and the environment.

Preventing Deforestation

We cleared no primary forest in 2022. Further, we recorded no degradation of High Conservation Value (HCV) land in the 12 month period.

Our Policy aims to prevent deforestation and conserve High Conservation Value (HCV) and High Carbon Stock (HCS) areas. We commit to ensure that there is no new development in HCV areas within our operations and to buying palm oil from smallholders/external suppliers that does not originate from areas cleared of primary forest since 2011.

Prior to any new planting we use the HCS Approach Toolkit which allows estates to quantify carbon stocks of assets and gauge FPIC in the community.

HCV monitoring

Each HCV team has a formal dialogue process with relevant stakeholders about HCV land management, including monitoring, wildlife, signage, borders, and any disturbances.

We will regularly communicate with employees and local communities living around our estates the importance of the HCV areas and the restriction of activities such as hunting, trapping or trafficking of wild animals within them or adjacent to them. The hunting and poaching of wildlife, including rare, threatened and endangered species are prohibited within our plantations.

Bekantan Kahau (Nasalis Larvatus) in an oil palm plantation.

In 2022, we commenced a research project, in conjunction with universities and the government, to help conserve the protected Bekantan (Proboscis) monkey within an existing concession area. These efforts will involve understanding the locations in which the Bekantan live, determining the population of the species, and ensuring their habitat is preserved.

Land Management: Peatland, Fire, and Land Rights

Peatland

In the last 12 months our records show that new planting was avoided and water levels were maintained in peatlands under our control.

For established plantations, our Sustainable Agriculture Policy aims to ensure the implementation of Best Management Practices for peat to manage and improve the ecological functions of peatland within and adjacent to our concessions.

Where our assets are ISPO-certified, peatland is protected, and we meet the requirements of the new Indonesian Government Regulation (no. 71/2014) that prohibits clearing new land for cultivation, cutting drainage channels that may dry out peat, intentionally burning peatlands and other activities that risk damage to peat.

Monitoring peat water levels

During an HCV assessment we do on site work and then plan the monitoring and management required. Peat water measurement is part of the field work, along with signage, survey markings and species rehabilitation.

Our research team runs continuous water level monitoring in all of our estates. This includes peat subsidence measurement, GIS/GPS water level remote sensing, 3D flood risk modelling and water level forecasting. We have improved the capture of overflow from roads for use as irrigation during drier periods; it also helps maintain the appropriate water depth depending on local circumstances.

Fire

Our fire fighters

During 2022, our analysis indicated an improved level of fire risk control on assets we manage. We delivered 32 fire control training days in 51 estates in 2022.

The way IndoAgri controls fires is systematic and reliant on local engagement. We have trained fire control teams and fire specialists on standby across all our plantations. Our estates are equipped with vehicles and equipment for firefighting. Our fire specialists are regularly trained in fire prevention and firefighting. Training is done in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, the military, the police, and the local government.

We continued with the implementation of our community collaboration programs to build local capacity and knowledge to prevent fires. Since the launch of the program in 2016, we have engaged 90 local villages.

Land Rights

Every land transaction in which IndoAgri is involved complies with Indonesian law and company policy. We remain steadfast in our commitment to manage operations that respect the principles of Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC).

We continue our work to be a welcomed member of the community who actively engages with and listens to local stakeholders, while making a positive contribution.

During planting we aim to clarify land ownership and land rights. It makes good business sense to ensure that our process does not threaten supply resilience and ISPO certification process helps us to ensure that engagement, land rights and ownership are respected.

Also, community relations are part of HCV management, at the core of building trust and consent. Each HCV assessment and management team has a formal dialogue process with relevant stakeholders about HCV and land management.

Environmental Management and Operational Efficiency

Our Environmental Management Systems (EMS, which follows ISO 14001), Enterprise Risk Management framework and Whistleblowing mechanism are in place to ensure compliance with the relevant requirements and manage environmental risks. In 2022, we have 26 mills and 3 refineries certified against ISO 14001 standard.

Energy

Some 99% of milling fuel is renewable. In 2022, the energy consumption per tonne of FFB processed at our mills decreased by 2% from 2.18 GJ/tonne in 2021 to 2.13 GJ/tonne in 2022.

We continue to consolidate good management practices on site. Our sustainability team is focused on resource efficiency and works with colleagues from Indofood Group. Supported by energy studies in 2016, the goal is to identify energy savings and earmark more sites with energy efficiency opportunities.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Our primary GHG emissions (81%) in 2022 are from peat emissions. These emissions are not a result of the disturbance of peat, but from its naturally occurring, low-level methane emissions. As most of the estates included in our scope of calculation are planted mostly in peat, peat accounts for the majority of our GHG emissions. Other sources of GHG emissions are methane from Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME), fuel usage in our mills and in the transport of FFB, chemical usage in mills and plantations, and nitrous oxide emission from fertilisers.

There was a decrease in total emissions from mills and estate operations by 2% from 2021 to 2022. This decrease is predominantly due to the implementation of an energy saving program at our palm oil factories which has optimized the efficiency of our boilers.

Water

Water consumption is managed carefully at our oil palm and rubber operational sites. Our rubber and oil palm estates in tropical Indonesia are entirely watered by seasonal rainfall. 87% of mill water is from rivers; 84% of water used in our refineries is from municipal sources while groundwater is 16%; 86% of water used in our rubber factories is from rivers, the rest is from groundwater.

Material

Demand for palm oil continues to grow globally, but oil palm is an efficient and high-yielding crop. We continue our efforts to maximise that yield at nucleus and plasma plantations and with independent smallholders.

Whilst we administer fertiliser during planting and replanting we also use leguminous cover crops to manage atmospheric nitrogen and improve the soil. We also recycle empty fruit branches (EFBs) and palm oil mill effluent (POME) for use as a soil improver and compost. In our estates, we ensure appropriate intervals between fertilizer applications and avoid applying fertilisers during heavy rain.

We have stopped the use of Paraquat since March 2018 in all of our operations. IndoAgri complies with government regulations (Komite Pestisida) on restricted pesticides.

Developing Trichoderma as bio-pesticides

Environment Goals

Click here to see our management approach and material topics. Certification is a key tool to help deliver on our Policy goals on deforestation, peatland, burning and human rights. Please see detail on sourcing targets.

* Increase was due to enhancement of weed control during the prolonged rainy season, and for replanting activities requiring more herbicides/insecticides to support immature plant growth.

List of Protected Species

Click here for the 2022 list of List of Protected Species.