Press Release: GPSNR General Assembly 2022

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PRESS RELEASE


Global Rubber Industry kickstarts a plan for equitable distribution of costs and benefits of sustainability in their supply chain

 

Singapore, 14 July 2022: Members of the Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber (GPSNR), who represent 55% of the rubber value chain, convened their annual General Assembly yesterday, where they defined and charted out a path for a concept they call shared responsibility. This concept acknowledges the lack of equity in the natural rubber supply chain and charts out a mechanism where the costs and benefits of the platform’s sustainability initiatives will be equitably distributed across all actors within the supply chain.


To this end, GPSNR members passed a resolution that binds them to a shared responsibility framework with 3 pillars – Shared Investments, Value Transfer & Target setting, and Knowledge & Data sharing – which will help share the costs and benefits across all actors in the value chain. Each stakeholder group has a different role to play to contribute to a sustainable natural rubber sector and within the three pillars. By the third quarter of 2023, each of the three pillars will be in the testing, implementation or pilot stage of their specific goals.


According to GPSNR director Stefano Savi, “Systemic change does not happen overnight. While we have been putting together pillars on the sustainability side of our vision, this is our first pillar that also requires commitment to an equitable supply chain. With this shared responsibility framework, parties from across the natural rubber value chain are agreeing to take accountability for sustainability in an equitable and fair manner. As we work to translate this to actionable outcomes, I hope more stakeholders will join us, and existing ones will be inspired to accelerate the process of changing our supply chain.’’


In addition to voting on resolutions like the shared responsibility framework, GPSNR members also voted in a guidance for implementation of the policy framework that they all abide by, which includes some stringent commitments on deforestation and human rights. They also voted on some procedural resolutions on their statutes and elected representatives to the 2022-2023 Executive Committee, which comprises representatives from each of the membership categories.

Access the Shared Responsibility Framework here.

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About GPSNR: 

GPSNR is an international membership driven platform set up to define sustainability for the natural rubber value chain. It brings together various stakeholders to a common ground based on fairness, equity and environmental sustainability. More on sustainablenaturalrubber.org

For more information, please contact:

Bani Bains

Communications Manager

Email: bani.bains@gpsnr.org

Ph: +65 97268165

 

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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 Working Groups Update: July 2023

Strategy and Objectives Working Group:

The Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) were successfully agreed upon during the June Hybrid meetings, and are awaiting review and approval for the OEMs KPI. 

In pursuit of defining targets related to member’s water withdrawal within the KPIs, surveys have been sent out. The results from the water withdrawal surveys will be analyzed and integrated into the KPIs.

ASI has been selected to develop the Assurance Model for GPSNR and has commenced discussions. ASI’s assignment for the Assurance Model involves presenting a framework proposal before the 2023 General Assembly.

The completion of the first consultation for the Due Diligence System (DDS) was completed during the June Hybrid meetings. The second round of consultations for the Due Diligence System by ZSL has been initiated. A teleconsultation, scheduled for the end of July, will provide an opportunity to discuss the feedback obtained. 

The Risk Subgroup has been working on the Traceability Pilot Field Trials, and consortiums Agridence and Koltiva have provided their midpoint updates.

ASI has finalized the initial version of the Risk Assessment Framework. Feedback has been collected to further enhance its effectiveness. Risk subgroup has extended an invitation to ASI to disclose the underlying formula of the Risk Assessment Framework. The initial trial of pre-setting Indonesia’s Risk level using the ASI risk tool has been completed. The results will aid in evaluating the feasibility of setting risk levels for 20 countries, with members’ feedback actively being incorporated to enhance user-friendliness.

Discussions between the Basel Institute and the Risk subgroup have commenced, this collaboration aims to investigate corruption risks within the supply chain.

The submission of Agridence and Koltiva’s final reports for the Traceability Enhancement will happen at the end of July. Subsequently, work will commence on fleshing out the Enhancing Traceability Report.

Smallholders Representation and Capacity Building (SCB) Working Group:

The discussion on Agroforestry Workshops for 2023-2024 has been successfully finalised. The Agroforestry-Income Diversification Taskforce will complete the contractual signing and then proceed to kick-start the preparation for agroforestry workshops in 2023-2024.

The HCSA-HCVN Field Trials task force has reviewed and provided feedback on the final report submitted by Daemeter. Additionally, the HCSA-HCVN Field Trials task force will revise and prepare to submit their final report.

The Thailand Agroforestry project has presented a progress report covering March to May 2023. The team is actively preparing for upcoming training sessions with smallholders.

The Indonesia National Subgroup will present quarterly progress reports to the SCB WG for the GAP Coaching and Disease Fighting projects in early August. The Thailand National Subgroup is currently evaluating proposals for Thailand GAP Coaching.

The Smallholders Policy-Equivalent (SPE) Taskforce is aiming to obtain endorsement from the SCB WG for the final recommendations of their report in early August.

Policy Toolbox Working Group:

The Transparent Reporting Requirements (TRR) for Year 2 have been successfully agreed upon and are now pending review and approval for the OEM category.

Petra Westerlaan, the selected consultant for the Working Group (WG), proposed a quantitative orientation for the reporting matrix. This quantification approach will simplify data aggregation and streamline the evaluation of annual progress. The WG has received Petra’s proposed reporting matrix and is all set to initiate teleconsultations in the first week of August. These sessions will facilitate valuable discussions on the feedback received, ensuring achievement of the most effective reporting system.

In addition, Agridence has presented their proposal for a new reporting requirements platform. They will keep the Working Group informed about its testing, launch, and any subsequent updates.

Shared Responsibility Working Group: 

During the face-to-face meeting, the Governance and Guiding principles were presented, highlighting their importance in shaping the future direction of GPSNR. Manufacturers are now required to seek internal approval regarding the Governance Framework and subsequently provide a final version for approval to the GPSNR Executive Committee (EC) and General Assembly.

The SR WG is actively engaged in defining an inclusive shared investment framework, encompassing various forms of contribution such as in-kind support, financial contributions, and external funding. The outcomes of discussions at the Manufacturers category level will play a crucial role in shaping this framework.

Collaborating with the Secretariat and other WGs, the SR WG is committed to revamping discussions on data sharing and value transfer, recognizing their significance in achieving our objectives. These discussions will seek to optimize the sharing of data and the value derived from it.

To provide clarity and transparency, the WG aims to define the value and benefits associated with each category within GPSNR, ensuring that all stakeholders are aware of the advantages and opportunities available.

Furthermore, the WG, in collaboration with the Capacity Building WG, is working on developing a protocol to filter and evaluate proposals based on the Equity definition and the stakeholders identified by the EC. This process will ensure fair and comprehensive evaluation of proposals.

Lastly, an open co-chair position is available, and volunteers are welcomed to contribute their expertise and leadership to drive the WG forward. If you are interested in taking on this role, please step forward and join us in this important endeavour.

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