RSPO Moves to Greenwash Conflict Palm Oil by Granting Membership to Astra Agro Lestari

Indonesia’s second largest palm oil company faces longstanding allegations of land grabbing, intimidation and criminalization of Human  Rights Defenders, and permitting irregularities 

JAKARTA/WASHINGTON – Friends of the Earth groups and TuK INDONESIA condemn the  recent decision by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) to grant membership to  Astra Agro Lestari (AAL) while impacted communities in Sulawesi report regular protests,  occupation of contested land, criminalization of rightsholders, violent clashes between security  officers and villagers, and the threatening presence of paramilitary forces. For years,  communities have asserted their land was taken without their consent, their waterways  degraded, and that AAL subsidiaries are operating without the proper legal permits.  

“The main cause for land conflicts in Sulawesi is AAL’s failure to obtain the Free, Prior and  Informed, Consent of rightsholders to operate on their lands,” says Uli Arta Siagian, Campaign  Coordinator for WALHI/Friends of the Earth Indonesia. “AAL has not demonstrated that its  subsidiaries have ever received FPIC. Yet the right to FPIC is supposed to be a central  requirement of RSPO Principles and Criteria, as is respect for human rights, including the rights  of Human Rights Defenders.”  

The RSPO’s decision comes at a time when toxic haze from the worst fires in over a decade in  Indonesia – largely caused by the clearance of land for palm oil plantations – has enveloped the  region, causing over 280,000 cases of respiratory illness and prompting a class-action lawsuit against the Indonesian government.  

In 2024, AAL announced its application, spurring public calls from Indonesian and international  civil society for the RSPO to withhold membership. Since allegations of environmental and  human rights harms have been documented, ten consumer goods companies – Colgate Palmolive, Danone, FrieslandCampina, Hershey’s, L’Oreal, Mondelez, Nestle, PepsiCo, and  Procter & Gamble – all RSPO members, have suspended palm oil sourcing from AAL.  Numerous investors and pension funds have excluded financing to AAL and its parent  companies Jardine Matheson and Astra International. The United Nations has also raised  concerns about environmental and human rights impacts with AAL, Jardine Matheson, Astra  International, and the Government of Indonesia. 

AAL’s sister company PT Agincourt Resources, another member of the Jardine Matheson  Group, is embroiled in controversy around its operations of the Martabe Gold Mine in Sumatra.  According to media reports, the company’s operations are linked to deforestation, watershed  instability, and threats to the survival of the critically endangered Tapanuli orangutan. Following  deadly floods in Sumatra in November 2025 that killed over 1,110 people and 11 percent of the  Tapanuli orangutan population, the Indonesian government revoked the permit of PT Agincourt  Resources only to allow the company to resume mining operations in April 2026. According to  Forests & Finance, since 2016 some of the largest financiers in the Jardine Matheson Group,  which includes AAL and PT Agincourt Resources, are Bank Mandiri, Bank of China, Bank Panin,  BlackRock, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, Mizuho Financial, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation,  SMBC and Vanguard.  

“The RSPO’s decision to grant membership to AAL is further evidence that destructive  companies can use the body to hide from accountability,” says Gaurav Madan, Senior Forests  and Land Rights Campaigner at Friends of the Earth US. “As the devastating impacts of the  climate crisis are felt with increasing intensity, the RSPO presents a façade of responsibility  while environmental and human rights abuses persist. AAL’s membership in the RSPO is  another step toward greenwashing conflict palm oil. Consumer brands and investors that have  sanctioned AAL and its parent companies should conduct independent due diligence and push  for meaningful remedy for impacted communities.” 

Numerous studies have shown the RSPO’s inadequacy in addressing deforestation,  environmental degradation, and human rights abuse. These include findings that systemic and  widespread non-adherence to RSPO standards contributes to ongoing land conflicts, labor  abuses, and forest destruction; that there is no difference between plantations certified by the  RSPO versus those not certified in terms of environmental and social sustainability; and that the  RSPO’s compliance system is ineffective and fails to enforce sanctions, allowing members to  evade consequences. 

“Granting AAL RSPO membership exposes the body’s fundamental failure as a sustainability  mechanism,” says Linda Rosalina, Executive Director of TuK INDONESIA. “Financiers  should not rely on RSPO membership to justify continued financing of companies driving  environmental destruction and human rights abuses. Certification is not a justification for abuse.  Indonesian banks such as Bank Mandiri should comply with Indonesia’s prudential banking  principle and be held accountable for their role in financing AAL’s abuses.”  

In 2024, TuK INDONESIA filed a lawsuit against Bank Mandiri over its financing of AAL for  violating its environmental, social, and governance commitments. The case has been  recommended for judicial review by Indonesia’s Supreme Court. 

The RSPO’s decision to grant AAL membership isn’t the only recent instance where the RSPO’s  flawed logic is on display. 

In Liberia, the RSPO recently lifted a stop-work order on another palm oil company – Golden  Veroleum Liberia (GVL). In 2018, the RSPO found that GVL coerced and intimidated  rightsholders into signing agreements with the company, didn’t receive FPIC from impacted  communities, and destroyed local sacred sites. A few years later, another international body – 

the High Carbon Stock Approach – concluded that GVL had destroyed 1,000 hectares of  Liberia’s Upper Guinea forest – a globally-significant ecosystem home to local communities and  endangered chimpanzees. Last year the RSPO lifted the stop-work order it had placed on GVL  – despite the company failing to fulfill the terms of the RSPO’s decision, sparking international  condemnation. Earlier this year a formal complaint was filed against GVL with Liberia’s  Environmental Protection Agency alleging the failures of voluntary corporate mechanisms.

Contacts:
Lindsay Tice, Friends of the Earth US, [email protected]
Uli Arta Siagan, WALHI, [email protected]
Linda Rosalina, TuK Indonesia, [email protected]