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The world’s leading producer of palm phytonutrients and palm methyl ester ExcelVite inked a strategic partnership with WWF-Malaysia yesterday, to embark on a new chapter of its commitment to Sustainable Palm Oil.
The signing of this Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the CEO of ExcelVite, Mr WH Leong and the Conservation Director of WWF-Malaysia, Dr Henry Chan, took place at the WWF Office (1, Jln PJS 5/28 A, Pusat Dagangan Petaling Jaya Selatan, 46150 Petaling Jaya, Selangor).
The collaboration covers several objectives primarily associated with commitment to sustainable palm oil production, by assisting local oil palm smallholders in ExcelVite Malaysia’s surrounding area to achieve the Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) certification before the year ends.
“The world is increasingly focussed on sustainability practices and palm oil often rightly or wrongly, gets criticised because of the lack of transparency in existing practices. Being a responsible Malaysian company and a buyer/ user of palm oil, we are as mindful as our customers in particular and consumers in general, that the source and supply-chain of palm oil are of utmost importance,” says WH Leong, CEO of ExcelVite.
“Many people aren’t aware that there are more than 650,000 smallholders in Malaysia who are working on approximately 40% of the total planted palm plantation area in Malaysia. Very often, these smallholders are not able to fully implement sustainable practices due to various reasons such as cost. These are the low-income groups in the entire oil palm industry. Hence, we asked ourselves – what can we do to help and to uplift the livelihood of these smallholders that reply on palm oil to get them over the poverty line.”
“Since 2017, we have embarked on a company-wide Sustainability Program and one of the initiatives is to work with WWF-Malaysia to set sustainable development goals and policies for ExcelVite. We have since set up a Sustainability Committee to spearhead such initiatives and have conducted several activities within the company under WWF-Malaysia’s guidance and guidelines. We are now taking a big step in assisting our partners, particularly the suppliers (i.e.: small holders) of palm fruits in achieving Sustainability. We are grateful to have WWF-Malaysia on board with us as they provide the much needed guidance and insights in achieving the objectives as laid down in the MOU signed today,” added Leong.
WWF-Malaysia (World Wide Fund for Nature-Malaysia) is a national conservation organisation, established in Malaysia in 1972. Apart from running a diverse range of environmental conservation and protection projects, WWF-Malaysia also undertakes sustainable finance, environmental education and advocacy work. Today, WWF-Malaysia’s work covers the broader issues of the natural environment, incorporating aspects such as policy work, environmental education, public awareness and campaigns.
According to WWF-Malaysia, “We are excited to partner with ExcelVite, the leading producer of palm phytonutrients, in its Sustainability Program. It underscores WWF-Malaysia’s objective in engaging and assisting local companies in Malaysia to implement sustainable practices that protects the environment.”
As Malaysia is the second biggest producer of palm oil in the world, WWF-Malaysia therefore has the responsibility to ensure that palm oil is produced sustainably and responsibly so as not to harm or degrade the environment and ensure that our fragile ecosystems and wildlife are protected and not adversely affected. WWF-Malaysia added, “We hope to achieve this by working and engaging with stakeholders and corporations in the Malaysian palm oil industry to implement sustainable practices and increase the usage, supply and consumption of certified sustainable palm oil (CSPO). As such, this MOU is a step in the right direction towards achieving greater production and consumption of CSPO and is expected to pave the way for more collaborations with corporations in the palm oil industry”.