23/04/2013 (Business Times) - The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) maintains that the issue of greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions should be addressed now to enable the industry to stay ahead of the curve on current global discussions.

"It is highly strategic to address this issue now within the RSPO rather than wait for policies (shaped without consultation) to be imposed on the industry in the near future," said its secretary-general Darrel Webber.

He was responding to criticisms by several oil palm growers - one of the groups of stakeholders under the RSPO - to the proposed inclusion of issues related to GHG in RSPO's Principles and Criteria (P&C).

It forms one of the resolutions that will be discussed at RSPO's extraordinary meeting, to be held here on Thursday.

The RSPO has revised the existing criterion on monitoring and reporting GHG emissions from existing operations and developed a new criterion on minimising net GHG emissions from new planting develop-ments.

The Sarawak Palm Oil Plantation Owners' Association has raised its objection, saying it would add additional unnecessary burden on growers when such schemes are not necessary for other food-based crops like rice or maize.

It said large cattle and sheep-rearing activities, which contribu-ted more GHG into the atmosphere than oil palm cultivation, are not subjected to such stringent measures.

Webber agreed that GHG emissions should be applied equally across all other agricultural sectors; food based crops and animal breeding activities.

Multi-stakeholder initiatives such as Bonsucro (sugar) and RTRS (soya) have also incorporated GHG as a consideration in their standards.

At the upcoming EGM, the RSPO has also called for a resolution to review and amend the P&C in accordance with the five-year review process.

It has urged the various stakeholders within the seven membership sectors, which also include palm oil processors and traders, consumer goods manufacturers, environmental NGOs, social NGOs, banks/investors and retailers, to accept the revised P&C 2013.

The P&C Taskforce was made up of substantive members from the growers (Indonesia: PT Agro Indomas; Sipef; Wilmar, Malaysia: Sime Darby; Kulim (Malaysia) Bhd; Genting Plantations Bhd and rest of the World: New Britain Palm Oil Ltd; Agropalma; SIAT SA).

The environmental NGOs are the WWF, The Zoological Society of London; Orangutan Land Trust; and Conservation International while the social NGOs comprised Both Ends; Solidaridad; Oxfam International and Sawit Watch.

Unilever, Carrefour, Royal Dutch Shell plc and Soyuz Corp represented the supply chain.