RSPO RESPONSE TO NORGES BANK DECISION TO EXCLUDE TWO RSPO MEMBERS FROM THE GOVERNMENT PENSION FUND GLOBAL

Kuala Lumpur, 19 Aug 2015 – Yesterday the Norges Bank took the decision to exclude RSPO members IJM and Genting Berhad from the Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG). Daewoo International Corporation and its parent company POSCO were also excluded from the GPFG. The decision was taken based on the recommendation of the GPFG Council on Ethics which found that there was an unacceptable risk of the companies being responsible for severe environmental damage associated with the conversion of tropical forest into oil palm plantations, based on information provided by these companies as part of their sustainability reporting commitments.

The RSPO is encouraged to see the more active role that financial institutions are playing in helping the industry move towards a sustainable palm oil supply chain. RSPO is proud to act as a facilitator to third party monitoring of this progress, by remaining committed to transparency and requiring our members to submit detailed reports on their progress towards the sustainable transformation of their palm oil production. This transparency allows companies to be benchmarked against their sustainability commitments, and evaluated in their performance in achieving sustainability.