Statement by the Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber on Proposed new EU Deforestation Regulation

The 2nd General Assembly (GA) of the Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber (GPSNR) will be convened on 23 September 2020. Given the exceptional circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 crisis, the decision has been made to hold the GA virtually.

In making this decision, the GPSNR Executive Committee (EC) considered the importance of the issues that require a vote from GPSNR members, the impacts and consequences of a further postponement of the GA, as well as the current global situation resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. The EC felt that a GA held online would meet both criteria of ensuring the safety and comfort of GPSNR members while moving forward the effort of the Working Groups in achieving the Platform’s strategic outcomes.

The GA will take place online, with the voting process also conducted electronically. In lieu of face-to-face member engagements, a series of webinars will be organized to prepare members for the GA.

All members are reminded to submit to the Secretariat their proposed resolutions and/ or nominations for election to the Executive Committee no later than 1 August 2020.

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