Courtesy of Dan Meyers/Unsplash
Geneva, Switzerland, 7 February 2024 – The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) announces Golden Agri-Resources (GAR), a leading global agribusiness and palm oil producer, as its newest member to join forces with a global network of 200 businesses committed to accelerating the transition to a more sustainable world.
GAR will contribute to the Agriculture & Food Pathway, aiming to enhance collaboration across the sector and support the Equitable Livelihoods workstream. GAR’s primary focus within the workstream is to support the creation of thriving and resilient agriculture and food systems that support equitable livelihoods for all workers, placing farmers’ prosperity at the heart of food systems. Food systems are responsible for around one-third of greenhouse gas emissions caused by human activity.
Recent announcements such as the COP28 declaration on sustainable agriculture and the FAO’s global roadmap for agrifood systems demonstrate a growing global consensus about the integral role agriculture and food sectors must play in climate solutions.
Commenting on GAR’s decision to join the organization, Peter Bakker, WBCSD President & CEO, said, “We are delighted to welcome GAR to our global network and celebrate its commitment to fostering positive change in agriculture and food systems. This collaboration underscores our belief that food systems can be a vital part of the solution to the climate and nature crisis, creating value for all stakeholders—from businesses, to farmers, to financiers, and local governments. We look forward to working with GAR and leveraging the collective expertise of our community to deliver ambitious, necessary change for a more sustainable world.”
Emphasis will be placed on Scope 3 data accounting and metrics to track and measure the contribution of agricultural practices to its climate targets, with the overarching goal of protecting, restoring, and enhancing nature’s capacity to deliver ecosystem services. Additionally, GAR’s participation as a member of the Council aims to advance progress on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, leveraging the group’s collective expertise and resources to drive positive change, while bringing a Southeast Asian business perspective to address global priorities.
“In WBCSD, we join a global network of companies aiming to accelerate and scale sustainable practices in the areas that matter most for business, the environment and the societies where we operate,” said Jesslyne Widjaja, Executive Director, GAR.
“GAR believes in the power of partnerships to tackle complex, interconnected issues, and we look forward to learning and growing alongside WBCSD and its members to deliver ambitious, necessary change that will support the transition to a more sustainable world.”
Guided by its comprehensive Social and Environmental Policy (GSEP), GAR sets industry-leading standards for sustainable business practices across its supply chain. This commitment underscores GAR’s ethos of harmonizing economic growth, social progress, and environmental preservation.
About the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)
The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) is a premier global, CEO-led community of over 200 of the world’s leading sustainable businesses. Our mission is to accelerate the required transformation of businesses, their value chains, and the systems in which they operate to limit the impact of the climate crisis, restore nature, and tackle inequality. Together with our members, we tackle the pressing sustainability challenges of the climate emergency, the loss of nature, and mounting inequality. We offer solutions to accelerate value chain transformation across essential sectors of business activity, including food & agriculture, products & materials, energy, transport & mobility, and built environment.
We are also collectively reshaping financial systems to reward sustainable decision-making through a lower cost of capital and helping businesses succeed. We empower our community of business leaders to raise ambition for a better world, deliver action at speed and scale in their operations and value chains, and sharpen the accountability of their performance. Our members are driving progress within their businesses through the exchange of best practices, education, standards and protocols, and tools and technology. Our member companies come from all business sectors and all major economies, representing a combined revenue of more than USD $8.5 trillion and 19 million employees.
Our global network of almost 70 national business councils gives our members unparalleled reach across the globe. Together, we are the leading voice of business for sustainability, united by our vision of a world in which 9+ billion people can live well, within planetary boundaries, by mid-century. www.wbcsd.org
About Golden Agri-Resources
GAR is a leading fully-integrated agribusiness company. In Indonesia, it manages an oil palm plantation area of 534,456 hectares (including plasma smallholders) as of 30 September 2023. It has integrated operations focused on the technology-driven production and distribution of extensive portfolio of palm-based products throughout its established international marketing network.
Founded in 1996, GAR was listed on the Singapore Exchange in 1999 and has a market capitalisation of US$2.5 billion as of 30 September 2023. Flambo International Limited, an investment company, is GAR’s largest shareholder, with a 50.56 percent stake. In addition, GAR has several subsidiaries, including PT SMART Tbk, which was listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange in 1992.
As an integrated agribusiness, GAR delivers an efficient end-to-end supply chain, from responsible production to global delivery. In Indonesia, its primary activities include cultivating and harvesting oil palm trees; the processing of fresh fruit bunch into crude palm oil (CPO) and palm kernel; refining CPO into value-added products such as cooking oil, margarine, shortening, biodiesel and oleo-chemicals; as well as merchandising palm products globally. GAR’s products are delivered to a diversified customer base in over 100 countries through its global distribution network with shipping and logistics capabilities, destination marketing, on-shore refining and ex-tank operations. GAR also has complementary businesses such as soybean-based products in China, sunflower-based products in India, and sugar businesses.
