… Apical is committed to sustainable palm oil production and trade. You may refer to our latest Sustainability and Human Rights policy.

Supplier Engagement

As a key processor and trader in the palm oil business, we have a large pool of suppliers in Indonesia that supply us with raw materials such as Crude Palm Oil (CPO) and Crude Palm Kernel Oil (CPKO) for further processing at our facilities. In line with our Sourcing Policy, it is our responsibility to monitor and engage with our suppliers to ensure that they are aware of our sustainability requirements and comply accordingly. We implement various supplier engagement programmes annually aimed at capacity building of our suppliers, risk assessment, identification, mitigation followed by monitoring and narrowing any sustainability gaps…

Astra Agro Lestari (AAL)

In the case of AAL, we have been engaging and monitoring the issues and allegations raised against the group since 2022. Based on findings of our investigations, we have suspended sourcing from five (5) AAL subsidiaries (PT Agro Nusa Abadi, PT Lestari Tana Teladan, PT Mamuang, PT Pasangkayu and PT. Letawa) due to social and deforestation issues. Details are available in our grievance tracker in 2022 and 2024.

Apical acknowledges that:

a) AAL has taken this matter seriously to address these allegations since they were raised. AAL has also gone through a series of challenges during the action plan implementation which include non-engagement by the grievance raiser – WALHI and Friends of the Earth, despite attempts by AAL to reach out and to verify additional evidence produced by AAL during their 3rd party investigations;

b) AAL has been transparent and has engaged Eco Nusantara, an independent 3rd party to conduct a comprehensive verification exercise which has been completed to date;

c) AAL has also been transparent in their communication and have progressively been providing updates and ensuring that their stakeholders are aware of their action plans, implementation and progress;

d) They have also engaged Robertsbridge for their stakeholder communication on this grievance matter.

e) All progress made have been documented and publically announced on their website since 2022 - Statements – Astra Agro Lestari

In addition, AAL has also taken a major step forward to apply to join RSPO as a member in July 2024. Being an RSPO member and being certified company it means that they will need to comply the highest environmental and social standards in the palm oil industry. Any deforestation that has taken place will also need to be calculated and remediated through the RSPO Remediation and Compensation (RaCP) process prior to certification…