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Governing sustainable palm oil supply: Disconnects, complementarities, and antagonisms between state regulations and private standards

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  • Pablo Pacheco
  • George Schoneveld
  • Ahmad Dermawan
  • Heru Komarudin
  • Marcel Djama

Abstract

The global palm oil value chain has grown in complexity; stakeholder relationships and linkages are increasingly shaped by new public and private standards that aim to ameliorate social and environmental costs while harnessing economic gains. Regulatory initiatives in the emerging policy regime complex struggle to resolve sector‐wide structural performance issues: pervasive land conflicts, yield differences between companies and smallholders, and carbon emissions arising from deforestation and peatland conversion. Identifying opportunities for more effective governance of the palm oil value chain and supply landscapes, this paper explores disconnects, complementarities, and antagonisms between public regulations and private standards, looking at the global, national, and subnational policy domains shaping chain actors’ conduct. Greater complementarities have emerged among transnational instruments, but state regulation disconnects persist and antagonisms prevail between national state regulations and transnational private standards. Emerging experimental approaches, particularly at subnational level, aim to improve coordination to both enhance complementarities and resolve disconnects.

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  • Pablo Pacheco & George Schoneveld & Ahmad Dermawan & Heru Komarudin & Marcel Djama, 2020. "Governing sustainable palm oil supply: Disconnects, complementarities, and antagonisms between state regulations and private standards," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 14(3), pages 568-598, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:wly:reggov:v:14:y:2020:i:3:p:568-598
    DOI: 10.1111/rego.12220
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    Cited by:

    1. Janina Grabs & Rachael D. Garrett, 2023. "Goal-Based Private Sustainability Governance and Its Paradoxes in the Indonesian Palm Oil Sector," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 188(3), pages 467-507, December.
    2. Kruseman, Gideon & Dermawan, Ahmad & Diagne, Mandiaye & Enahoro, Dolapo & Frija, Aymen & Gatto, Marcel & Gbegbelegbe, Sika & Komarek, Adam M. & Mausch, Kai & Mottaleb, Khondoker, 2021. "Foresight for income and employment: What can we learn for agricultural research for development," SocArXiv 783rw, Center for Open Science.
    3. de Vos, Rosanne E. & Suwarno, Aritta & Slingerland, Maja & van der Meer, Peter J. & Lucey, Jennifer M., 2023. "Pre-certification conditions of independent oil palm smallholders in Indonesia. Assessing prospects for RSPO certification," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    4. Izabela Delabre & Joss Lyons‐White & Clara Melot & Eirik Ingwardo Veggeberg & Anthony Alexander & Martin C. Schleper & Robert M. Ewers & Andrew T. Knight, 2023. "Should I stay or should I go? Understanding stakeholder dis/engagement for deforestation‐free palm oil," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(8), pages 5128-5145, December.
    5. Oberlack, Christoph & Blare, Trent & Zambrino, Luca & Bruelisauer, Samuel & Solar, Jimena & Villar, Gesabel & Thomas, Evert & Ramírez, Marleni, 2023. "With and beyond sustainability certification: Exploring inclusive business and solidarity economy strategies in Peru and Switzerland," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    6. Dong Li, 2024. "Sustainable Ecosystems and the Economics of State Ownership: A Three-Stage Structural Framework and Innovative Insights," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(3), pages 11090-11127, September.
    7. Jespersen, Kristjan & Grabs, Janina & Gallemore, Caleb, 2024. "Ratcheting up private standards by exploiting coopetition: The curious case of RSPO’s adoption of zero-deforestation criteria," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 223(C).
    8. Hamish van der Ven & David Barmes, 2023. "The uneasy marriage of private standards and public policies for sustainable commodity governance," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(8), pages 5161-5173, December.
    9. Mairon G. Bastos Lima & Almut Schilling‐Vacaflor, 2024. "Supply chain divergence challenges a ‘Brussels effect’ from Europe's human rights and environmental due diligence laws," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 15(2), pages 260-275, May.

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