GPSNR Working Groups Update: February 2021

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Strategy and Objectives Working Group

Further to the receipt of several submissions in response to the Environmental Risk Study request for Proposals, the Strategy and Objectives Working Group has now  selected the Proforest team, together with consultant Liza Murphy, to conduct the environmental risk study. The team will be reaching out to GPSNR members to have initial scoping conversations in support of the study.

The Equity Sub-Working Group has drafted a summary for the Living Income studies undertaken in Thailand and Indonesia next year. Pending approval from the Sub-Working Group and S&O Working Group Members, the summary will be released to all GPSNR members and a webinar will be held to present the responses.

Representatives from each of the platform’s other Working Groups have started to draft their Working Group’s Theory of Change. At the end of the month, the Strategy and Objectives Working Group will consolidate this information and develop a platform-wide Theory of Change.

‘Policy Toolbox’ Working Group

The Policy Toolbox Working group has received initial proposals for the development of Implementation Guidance request for proposals (RFP) and will be meeting to discuss and select a proposal.

The Working Group will be setting up focus groups for category members to participate in the development of the implementation guidance. The call to join will be in the newsletter and also in the other article to be published.

In the next weeks, the Working Group will also be developing a new RFP for a consultant to help refine the reporting requirements based on the BRR pilot done last year. The consultant will work to bring the questions into alignment with other reporting systems (e.g. CDP and Ecovadis) and ensure that the questions are phrased in a suitable manner.

‘Capacity Building’ Working Group

The Capacity Building Working Group conducted a webinar to share about the national CB strategies and recruit members to the national sub-groups.

‘Traceability and Transparency’ Working Group

The ‘Traceability and Transparency’ Working Group has now set up 3 sub-groups that will focus on different tasks: refining the WG theory of change, developing a definition of traceability and minimum acceptable levels of traceability, and developing a data collection process with Policy Toolbox Working Group members.

Smallholder Representation Working Group

The Smallholder Representation Working Group has completed logistical organization of the Smallholders caucus call, that will happen tomorrow, 25th February. The caucus call will allow sharing and collaboration among smallholders across national lines.

More To Explore

GPSNR Celebrates a Landmark Year and Strengthens Collective Commitment at 7th General Assembly

Singapore, 15 December 2025 — Members of the Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber (GPSNR) gathered today for the organisation’s 7th General Assembly, marking a landmark year of progress in collective responsibility, accountability, and member-driven sustainability across the natural rubber value chain.

A major milestone in 2025 was the launch of GPSNR’s risk-based Assurance System, which sets clear sustainability expectations, introduces independent verification, and promotes continuous improvement beyond compliance. Developed collaboratively over several years, the system provides a credible, globally relevant framework for advancing sustainability in the sector. At this GA, End User companies reaffirmed their support and agreed on a structured pathway toward full implementation in their category.

“This year marks a turning point for GPSNR,” said Stefano Savi, CEO of GPSNR. “The Assurance System gives our members a shared and trusted foundation for demonstrating progress across the value chain.”

Members also marked the first year of the Shared Investment Mechanism, an innovative model enabling manufacturers to equitably share the costs of large-scale capacity-building projects, ensuring long-term benefits for upstream actors, particularly smallholders.

“Sustainability cannot be achieved by one part of the value chain alone,” Savi added. “By investing together, our members are enabling more inclusive and impactful outcomes worldwide.”

Looking ahead to 2026, GPSNR will support implementation of the Assurance System through data gathering, member learning, and cross-stakeholder dialogue to ensure the system reflects on-the-ground realities and diverse business models. 

The Assembly concluded with renewed commitment from members to advance equitable, resilient, and sustainable natural rubber supply chains.

About GPSNR:

The Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber (GPSNR) is a multi-stakeholder, member-driven initiative working to advance sustainability across the natural rubber value chain.

More at sustainablenaturalrubber.org

Media contact:

 Bani Bains, Communications Director
bani.bains@gpsnr.org | +65 9726 8165

GPSNR Secretariat December 15, 2025
News

Secretariat Update – July 2019

This full-time educational program enrolls a talented pool of diverse students from across the globe and includes academic courses such as Geopolitics, Economics, Asian Cultures and International Business in Asia. For the course ‘Company Project’, which is aimed at giving the participants broad practical knowledge, students interact and work closely with corporate companies and organizations. For the 2019 course, students had the option of choosing from a list of 5 unique partner companies/organisations, which ranged from the likes of International Finance Corporation (IFC) and South East Asia based mobility service provider Grab, and which were involved in different types of sectors including NGOs, FinTech, Healthcare, Mobility. 30 Students who were interested in working with non-profit organizations in Asia were selected to work with GPSNR as their host organization.

As a partner organization for the program, GPSNR was given the responsibility of assigning a research project to the selected group of highly motivated students, who will work on the given topic for a duration of two and a half months. After discussions with the strategy and objective Working Group, ‘Equity in the Natural Rubber supply chain’ in Asia, with main focus on China, Thailand and Indonesia, was concluded to be the chosen main topic of research for the participants. The research will focus on better understanding the cost benefit analysis at different levels of the supply chain, including social and environmental externalities. Students will work on this research project, the findings of which will be submitted to the platform by 12 September 2019.  

Increasing engagement with research organizations and academic institutions such as ESSEC Business School in Singapore, to ensure a science based approach to sustainability in the rubber industry, will remain a key objective for the Platform.

GPSNR Staff July 10, 2019
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