The History of RSPO
By: Teoh Cheng Hai / The Edge Malaysia
While the RSPO has charted an impressive journey in the past two decades, there appears to be limited collective recollection of the pressures and drivers that influenced the formation of the organisation, and who played central roles in its creation. This article recalls the key initiatives and processes that shaped the RSPO’s formation on April 8, 2004.
The formation of the RSPO was preceded by a global environmental crisis — the forest fires of 1997 that affected Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Brazil, Colombia and parts of Africa. Indonesia was the epicentre of this catastrophe, with about 9.5 million hectares affected, nearly half of which was forest cover. A World Wide Fund for Nature/International Union for Conservation of Nature (WWF-IUCN) review stated that up to 80% of fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan were set by plantation companies for land preparation. The fires which continued into 1998 thus became a catalyst for intensified non-governmental organisation (NGO) campaigns connecting oil palm expansion with deforestation.
Having started with 100 members in 2004, the RSPO has more than 6,000 members in 150 countries today and has certified 5.1 million hectares of land, accounting for 20% of global palm oil production.
The first campaign was WWF Germany’s “Burning Forests for Margarine” in 1998 that targeted German consumer goods manufacturers and retailers. In 2000, Greenpeace in the Netherlands focused on Dutch financial institutions for funding forest destruction in Indonesia. In February 2000, WWF Malaysia’s study, “Land Use and the Oil Palm Industry in Malaysia”, demonstrated the link between deforestation and palm oil, especially in the Lower Kinabatangan, Sabah. In contrast, WWF Switzerland took a broader approach and started the strategic action on palm oil and soy in 2000, and was elevated to the Forest Conversion Initiative (FCI) in 2001. The objective of the FCI was to reduce conversion of high conservation value forests and other natural ecosystems for commodities such as oil palm and soy. The FCI became WWF’s focal initiative to address deforestation associated with the expansion of the two major oil crops. A comprehensive action plan was adopted to mobilise possible levers of change through investments, market actors and economic policies. On markets, WWF conducted the “Check your oil” campaign to raise consumer awareness of the link between palm oil and soy oil with tropical forest conversion.
However, WWF felt that campaigning alone could not achieve the ambitious FCI goals without the participation of key actors in the supply chain, including NGOs, to share the collective responsibility for sustainable production and consumption of palm oil. In 2001, Andrea Ries, WWF Switzerland’s director of forest programme, proposed setting up a roundtable initiative for sustainable palm oil, applying WWF’s experience with the Forest Stewardship Council. Following preliminary discussions with supply chain players, especially Unilever plc, WWF convened a preparatory meeting on Sept 20, 2002, in London that was attended by 16 retailers, processors and traders, financial institutions and relevant organisations. The meeting established a common goal to promote sustainable palm oil through a roundtable involving the participation of all sectors in the supply chain, including oil palm growers.
After the meeting, Unilever and WWF met on Dec 17, 2002, in Gland, Switzerland, to draft the process of developing the roundtable. The first physical roundtable meeting was planned for August 2003 and a Roundtable Organising Committee (RTOC) would be appointed to organise this event. The suggested composition of a multi-stakeholder committee were UK-based Unilever and Sainsbury’s, Switzerland-based Migros, US-based Cargill, the Malaysian Palm Oil Association (MPOA) and WWF.
The first RTOC meeting was held on Jan 30, 2003, at London Heathrow. Noting that MPOA was not present, the committee stressed that the inclusion of the producer sector was an important precondition for the RTOC to work effectively. The eventual composition of the RTOC comprised Denmark-based Aarhus United, Golden Hope Plantations Bhd, MPOA, Migros, Sainsbury’s, Unilever and WWF.
“This roundtable is a landmark event. This is the first time various players in the supply chain have been involved in a multi-stakeholder engagement process to promote production and procurement of sustainable palm oil.”
The inaugural roundtable meeting was held in Kuala Lumpur on Aug 21 and 22, 2003. This watershed event attracted 193 participants from 16 countries, representing various stakeholders in the palm oil supply chain as well as government agencies from producer countries. In his closing address, M R Chandran, the organising chairman, stated: “This roundtable is a landmark event. This is the first time various players in the supply chain have been involved in a multi-stakeholder engagement process to promote production and procurement of sustainable palm oil.”
The crucial outcome was the agreement on a Statement of Intent by the Roundtable, a non-legally binding “holding document” whereby signatories pledged to actively support the tasks of the RSPO and commit to sustainable production of palm oil.
Following the successful roundtable, the RTOC proceeded to develop the statutes and by-laws as well as the governance structure for the organisation. The latter proved most challenging. After two unsuccessful attempts to reach consensus, the RTOC agreed that board representation would consist of seven interest groups, with four seats for the producer group, four seats for the NGO group and two seats each for other interest groups, for a total of 16 seats and a weight of 25% producers, 25% NGOs and 50% business representation. This governance structure remains in place today.
The final RTOC meeting was held on April 7, 2004, in Zurich, Switzerland. The meeting endorsed the RSPO statutes and by-laws and elected the preliminary executive board. On April 8, 2004, following the signing of the statutes and by-laws, the RSPO was formally established as a not-for-profit association under Article 60 of the Swiss Civil Code by six founding members — Aarhus United, Sweden-based Karlshamns AB, Migros, MPOA, Unilever and WWF.
Reflecting on the genesis of the RSPO, no single organisation or individual can be attributed for the formation of the RSPO. Many contributors and factors paved the way for success by committing to a common goal. However, three players stand out for their instrumental contributions and critical roles, and must be recognised that without whom there would be no RSPO.
WWF for the vision of a roundtable, mooted by WWF Switzerland’s Ries, and the convening power to implement this concept in a coherent programme in collaboration with key palm oil value chain players and civil society.
MPOA, through its then chief executive M R Chandran, for convincing palm oil producers to be part of this transformative initiative as well as organising the inaugural roundtable.
Unilever, through its director of sustainable agriculture/sustainable sourcing Jan-Kees Vis, for being the first organisation to embrace WWF’s vision of a roundtable platform and providing the leadership by driving RSPO’s formation and later, providing a steady hand as president of the RSPO’s executive board in the first decade.
Teoh Cheng Hai is a former honorary adviser (plantation agriculture) for WWF Malaysia (2001- 2004) and the first secretary-general of the RSPO (2004-2005).
This article first appeared in Forum, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on February 16, 2026 – February 22, 2026.
