Page 170 - CW E-Magazine (5-12-2023)

News from Abroad

PROJECT LAMPUNG
BASF, Estée Lauder and partners drive sustainable

palm oil production in Indonesia

Through Project Lampung, a colla-
borative sustainability initiative, BASF,
The Estée Lauder Companies (ELC),
Solidaridad and The Roundtable on
Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) have
made real progress strengthening the
sustainable palm oil supply chain and
supporting smallholder farmers.

Since its launch in 2018, Project
Lampung has provided technical edu-
cation and training to 1,003 indepen-
dent palm oil smallholders and helped
313 farmers receive official RSPO cer- planting certified seedlings. The project ingredients responsibly. Since 2015,
tification, the first such group in the ensured access to certified seedlings in 100% of the palm-based ingredients
Way Kanan Regency. order to support these farmers in im- sourced by ELC are certified under
proving productivity. one of RSPO’s certification types.
“With great pleasure, we announced
the achievement of one of the primary With the support of a strengthened “We are encouraged by this certifi-
objectives of Project Lampung, to have cooperative, the project partners worked cation milestone that demonstrates the
nearly one-third of the supported small- with the Indonesian government and impact of multi-stakeholder collabo-
holder farmers achieve certification, other local organisations to conduct a ration between the private sector, civil
according to the Smallholder Stand- Social Impact Assessment and an Envi- society, and the Indonesian government
ard of RSPO within three years,” said ronmental Impact Assessment. They in strengthening the smallholders in
Mr. Marcelo Lu, BASF Care Chemicals, also mapped farmers’ fields and uploa- Lampung and ensuring their inclusion
Senior Vice President. “The dedication ded all relevant data to the RSPO data- in sustainable supply chains,” stated
and commitment of our project part- base to verify that no deforestation or Mr. Guntur Cahyo Prabowo, Head of
ners, in collaboration with the Indone- land conversion had taken place. Smallholder RSPO Indonesia.
sian government, have been instrumen-
tal in fostering a sustainable palm oil To further the impact of this pro- While the project was originally anti-
production supply chain in Lampung.” ject, ELC purchased 220 RSPO credits cipated to take three years, it ended up
from these newly certified farmers in taking five due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This is the very first project in Way the Lampung region. These credits will The collaboration evolved during that
Kanan aimed at enhancing the capacity help further fuel local farmers’ incomes time to help accommodate shifting prio-
of palm oil smallholders. Before the inter- and livelihoods while supporting ELC’s rities for the farmers and best support
vention, the smallholders had limited commitments to source its palm-based them during this challenging period.
exposure to sustainable palm oil pro-
duction practices, and the cooperative Tata Chemicals Europe head is
did not have a strategic focus on sup-
porting smallholders. Through a pro- new CIA President
gramme of continuous education, these Mr. Martin Ashcroft, Managing based Chemical Industries Association
independent palm oil farmers have Director, Tata Chemicals Europe (North (CIA). He will succeed Mr. Tom Crotty,
improved their knowledge on sustainable wich, UK), a subsidiary of Mumbai- Director, Ineos Group Ltd., on January
production, including, for example, based Tata Chemicals, has been 1, 2024. Mr. Ashcroft will be CIA Presi-
an awareness about the importance of elected as the next President of the UK- dent for an initial period of two years.

170 Chemical Weekly December 5, 2023

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