Collaboration is one of ISF’s core value pillars
ISF engages with various stakeholder groups to promote multi-stakeholder collaborations to tackle sustainability issues. We are committed to communicating transparently with our stakeholders on sustainability matters through effective mediums including our Traceability Dashboard and web-based sustainability data and reporting.
Objectives
- Maintain good supplier relationships
- Improve processes of procurement-related transparency
- Improve contract performances and encourage improvement efforts
Engagement methods
- Site visits and audits
- Supplier screening assessments
- Supplier Sustainability Questionnaire
- Strategic partnerships and engagement meetings
Objectives
- Communicate on policies and implementations
- Respond to and address potential grievances
Engagement methods
- Collaborations on multi-stakeholder landscape projects
- Joint ventures and meetings
Objectives
- Engagement as part of formal audits and verification assessments
Engagement methods
- Formal audits and verification assessments
- Engagement through platforms such as RSPO, MSPO, SEDEX, and the Palm Oil Collaboration Group (POCG).
Objectives
- Engagement as part of formal audits and verification assessments
Engagement methods
- Formal audits and verification assessments
- Engagement through platforms such as RSPO, MSPO, SEDEX, and the Palm Oil Collaboration Group (POCG).
Objectives
- Compliance with sustainability standards
- Improvement of sustainability performance and implementations
Engagement methods
- Submission of RSPO Annual Communications of Progress (ACOP)
- Submission of annual Forests and Climate Change Questionnaires to the CDP platform
- Submission of RSPO Annual Communications of Progress (ACOP)
- An annual scorecard assessed based on the Supplier Sustainability Questionnaire and traceability performance
Objectives
- Develop employee skills and knowledge
- Boost employee morale and improve productivity
- Improve health and safety measures and workplace conditions
- Support livelihoods and welfare
Engagement methods
- Training, workshops, and feedback reviews
- Capacity building programmes
- OSH committee meetings
Collaborations to Improve NDPE Progress and Labour Practices
ISF is a member of the Palm Oil Collaboration Group (POCG) which is made up of more than 30 companies from all stages of the palm oil supply chain including producers, refiners, traders, manufacturers, and retailers. The group is facilitated by our consultant Proforest, and intends to work towards common goals of improving the NDPE IRF tool, the associated traceability systems, and the overall productivity of sustainable practices.
We are also in a landscape collaborative project connecting one of our customers, Ferrero International S.A., one of our direct suppliers, "Johor Plantations Berhad (formerly Kulim Malaysia Berhad), and Earthworm Foundation to implement a Labour Transformation Programme (LTP) and Ethical Recruitment Due Diligence (ERDD) project and support improving labour practices of selected plantation units. This project is set to conclude in 2023.
Smallholders play an integral role in the production of sustainable palm oil, and ISF understands that they can face tremendous challenges in meeting the high sustainability standards currently adopted by companies that have more resources. Should these challenges go unaddressed, smallholders will continue to be excluded from the sustainable palm oil production movement. We believe that appropriate mechanisms and strategies need to be put into place to support smallholder inclusion.
In 2023, we collaborated with one of our direct suppliers, Hap Seng Plantations (HSP), and one of our customers, Ferrero, on a Smallholder Support Project running for 3 years until 2025. The goal is to support the individual smallholder RSPO certification towards the group certification and eventually supply the certified FFB to HSP's mills before entering into our supply chain.
Corporate Sustainability Initiatives (CSIs)
Our Corporate Social Initiatives (CSI)
Empowering Our Employees, Stakeholders, And Communities
ISF strives to be a socially responsible corporation through our Corporate Sustainability Initiatives (CSI) launched in 2019. Whether it is our employees, stakeholders, communities, and other industrial partners, we empower them to leverage our resources and practices in line with our sustainability values. We aim to positively influence all of our stakeholders and the environments in which we operate while sustaining best management practices, including providing aid and support to our community and preserving cultural and ethical values within our corporation. The CSI is the basis of ISF’s Sustainability Stories, which promises more undertakings to come.
2022-2025: ISF Nature-Community Based Solutions at Tebuk Mendeleng, Sabak Bernam
ISF partnered with Global Environment Centre (GEC) and Sahabat Hutan Bakau Kampung Dato Hormat (SHBKDH) on a 3-year mission to plant 8,000 mangrove saplings in a degraded four-hectare area in Teluk Mendeleng, Sabak Bernam. It is part of our commitment to offsetting environmental impacts, not only sequestering carbon emissions and providing diverse habitats but also creating job opportunities for the local community of Kampung Dato Hormat. We involve both our employees and stakeholders in this programme to experience the practical application of nature-based solutions.
This project is also in line with the Malaysian Ministry of Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change's (KeTSA) 100 million Tree-Planting Campaign, which is part of the Greening Malaysia Programme under the Twelfth Malaysia Plan (2021-2025). The progress of trees planted by ISF is on the public record page.
May 2022
February 2023
July 2019: Mangrove Rehabilitation at Kuala Selangor Nature Park
The programme was held in collaboration with the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS). Being a crucial part of the coastal environment, mangrove ecosystems offer a medium for marine and land biodiversity while lessening erosion and providing protection. Due to the endangered state of mangrove species, a total of 365 tree saplings were planted by 60 ISF employees at Kuala Selangor Nature Park to symbolize one tree for each day of the year.
Watch the photo and video highlights of our mangrove rehabilitation programme below:
