Asian Palm Oil Alliance and Council for Palm Oil Producing Countries to build a stable and sustainable Palm Oil supply chain
New Delhi: APOA, the CPOPC and Solidaridad has announced a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to deepen producer and consumer collaboration and accelerate sustainability across the palm oil value chain. Signed in Mumbai, the MOU creates a formal platform to harmonise approaches, address market volatility and strengthen inclusion of smallholders, with a special focus on India and South Asia.
A partnership built for resilience, fairness and inclusion
Under this MoU, with CPOPC serving as a catalyst and advocate for sustainable palm oil, the Parties will pursue practical alignment and mutual recognition among national sustainability frameworks including Indonesia Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO), Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) and Indian Palm Oil Sustainability (IPOS) Framework while fully respecting each country’s laws and regulatory competencies. The collaboration also prioritises regenerative practices.
To strengthen stability and predictability of supply for more than 1.5 billion consumers in South Asia, the Parties will promote traceable, smallholder-inclusive and NDPE-compliant (No Deforestation, No Peat, and No Exploitation) sourcing, with pilots that use Solidaridad’s SoliTrace traceability tool and complementary remote-sensing tools to enable mill-to-market visibility. The MoU also provides for importer-facing dashboards tailored to Indian buyers.The Parties also agreed to create a Joint Working Group co-chaired by APOA and CPOPC, with Solidaridad as the Technical Secretariat. The group will oversee workplans, monitor progress and coordiate joint communications and advocacy efforts.
