Golden-Agri Resources (GAR) is a Singaporean

palm oil Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp (reddish pulp) of the fruit of the oil palms. The oil is used in food manufacturing, in beauty products, and as biofuel. Palm oil accounted for about 33% of global oils produced from ...

company, listed on the

Singapore Stock Exchange The Singapore Exchange Limited (SGX) is a Singaporean investment holding company that provides different services related to securities and derivatives trading and others. SGX is also a member of the World Federation of Exchanges and the Asian ...

since 1999. In May 2015, its market capitalization was $4.1 billion. Franky Widjaja, of the

Sinar Mas Sinar Mas is one of the largest conglomerates in Indonesia. It was formed in 1938. It has numerous subsidiaries including Asia Pulp & Paper and palm oil producer PT SMART. The company also acquired Berau Coal Energy from Asia Resource Mineral ...

family is its CEO. Alnoor is a subsidiary of GAR.

Lew Syn Pau Lew Syn Pau () is a former Member of Parliament for the Kreta Ayer-Tanglin Group Representation Constituency in Singapore as a People's Action Party politician. From 2002 to 2014, he had been President of the Singapore Manufacturing Federati ...

used to serve as a member of the Singaporean Parliament for 13 years and is a member of the board of directors of the firm.

Criticism of environmental record

According to

Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by Irving Stowe and Dorothy Stowe, immigrant environmental activists from the United States. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth t ...

, GAR has six concessions on peatlands in

Riau Riau is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the central eastern coast of Sumatra along the Strait of Malacca. The province shares land borders with North Sumatra to the northwest, West Sumatra to the west, and Jambi to the south. Accord ...

, with an estimated total area of 20,000 hectares. GAR was reported to have 1,880 hectares of peat in

Central Kalimantan Central Kalimantan ( id, Kalimantan Tengah) is a province of Indonesia. It is one of five provinces in Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo. Its provincial capital is Palangka Raya and in 2010 its population was over 2.2 million, while the 2 ...

and 1,330 hectares in

West Kalimantan West Kalimantan ( id, Kalimantan Barat) is a province of Indonesia. It is one of five Indonesian provinces comprising Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. Its capital city is Pontianak, Indonesia, Pontianak. The province has ...

, while claiming a zero-deforestation footprint. Greenpeace also discovered 322 hotspots on five to GAR's concessions in Central Kalimantan. GAR denied these accusations and said to have a zero-burning policy since 1997. Interviews with senior officers revealed evidence to the contrary. In about 2010, companies such as

Burger King Burger King (BK) is an American-based multinational chain store, chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. Headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida, the company was founded in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida–based res ...

Unilever Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy drink, t ...

and

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. (; ; ) is a Switzerland, Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland. It is the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other me ...

cancelled their supplier contracts with Singapore-listed GAR subsidiaries due to unsustainable farming practices. Helena Varkkey, ''The Haze Problem in Southeast Asia'' (Abingdon: Routledge, 2015), p. 97 Golden owns a subsidiary in

Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...

called Golden Veroleum, which in 2018 was removed from the

Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) was established in 2004 with the objective of promoting the growth and use of sustainable palm oil products through global standards and multistakeholder governance model, multistakeholder governance ...

for alleged land acquisition violations.

References

External links

Official Website
Palm oil production in Indonesia Agriculture companies of Singapore Companies listed on the Singapore Exchange Singaporean brands {{Singapore-company-stub