Musim Mas

No leading practices were identified for the company in the governance and strategy measurement area.

Fertiliser and pesticide use
Musim Mas discloses various efforts to reduce reliance on chemical fertilisers and pesticides. Moreover, the company has set a target to phase out ten pesticides by 2021 and reports on progress annually. The company could further improve by also disclosing a target to optimise the use of fertilisers.

No leading practices were identified for the company in the nutrition measurement area.

Living wage
Musim Mas demonstrates leading practice by paying all of its workers a living wage and including living wage requirements in its contracts with suppliers. In its own operations, the company aligns itself with the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) Guidance on Decent Living Wage. It achieved paying a living wage in part by providing workers with benefits on top of their wages, such as healthcare, education and transport. The RSPO defines a decent living wage as encompassing basic needs, including provisions for unexpected events, for a worker and his or her family. Musim Mas has an opportunity to set targets to achieve paying every worker in its supply chain a living wage or demonstrating that it has done so by disclosing quantitative evidence.

Sustainable development strategy
Musim Mas’s sustainability strategy comprises of four pillars, covering topics addressed in the environment and social inclusion dimensions, and sets targets under each of these. While the company provides evidence of a materiality assessment, it does not demonstrate how it identified and prioritised topics in its sustainability strategy on which it has the most impact.

Governance and accountability for sustainable development
The company describes its governance system for sustainable development, which includes a quarterly review of environmental, social and governance issues by the senior management team and ultimate accountability and responsibility for sustainability performance at the board level. However, Musim Mas does not demonstrate that remuneration for executives and/or board members is tied to sustainability performance.

Stakeholder engagement
Musim Mas discloses its process for identifying and engaging with stakeholders across its value chain as well as the outcomes of stakeholder activities and their integration into the sustainability strategy. However, the company does not demonstrate that it engages with stakeholders on topics related to the nutrition measurement area, highlighting a key area for improvement.

Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions
Musim Mas reports on its scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions annually, demonstrating a year-on-year reduction. While the company has set a target to reduce GHG emissions by 55% for its mills certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) by 2025, no target covering the company’s full operations was found. Therefore, there is an opportunity for Musim Mas to disclose a scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions reduction target that covers the company’s full operations and to align this target with a 1.5-degree scenario.

Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions
The company does not disclose quantitative evidence to demonstrate that it is reducing its scope 3 GHG emissions. Neither does it disclose targets to reduce its scope 3 emissions.

Protection of terrestrial natural ecosystems
While the company has set a target to implement active monitoring for deforestation and peat development for 100% of suppliers by 2025, it does not disclose a target to achieve a deforestation and conversion-free (DCF) supply chain. There is an opportunity for Musim Mas to set a DCF target for palm oil, as a high-risk commodity, and report on the percentage of its palm oil that is DCF.

Soil health and agrobiodiversity
Musim Mas discloses a commitment to maintaining soil health as well as evidence of efforts to improve soil health, such as implementing good agricultural practices like planting cover crops. However, the company could strengthen its commitment by setting targets to increase the percentage of production from sustainable practices that improve soil health and agrobiodiversity, reporting progress against the targets and disclosing quantifiable data on its impact on soil health and agrobiodiversity.

Water use
Musim Mas has set a target to reduce its water-use intensity and reports on progress annually. However, the company can improve by providing evidence of an assessment to determine dependency on water-stressed areas across its operations.

Availability of healthy foods
The company does not disclose a commitment or activities to increase the availability of healthy and nutritious foods.

Accessibility and affordability of healthy foods
The company does not disclose a commitment to address food insecurity by improving the accessibility and affordability of healthy and nutritious foods.

Workforce nutrition
Musim Mas provides its plantation workers three meals a day as well as land at their homes or community garden to cultivate fruit and vegetables. In addition, the company provides breastfeeding support for working mothers and nutritional supplements to children through its integrated family planning service centre. The company could further improve by disclosing the percentage of food offerings in the workplace that are healthy or by setting a target to make healthy food the majority of food offerings in the workplace.

Food safety
While the company discloses compliance with the Codex General Principles of Food Hygiene, it has an opportunity to strengthen its commitment by disclosing the percentages of its own operations that are certified to a food safety certification programme recognised by the Global Food Safety Initiative or other widely recognised certification.

Land rights
In both its own operations and supply chain, Musim Mas requires the legitimate tenure rights related to the ownership of land by local communities to be respected. Moreover, the company specifies that all new land developments should follow the principles of free, prior and informed consent. Grievances can be reported through the company’s grievance mechanism, which is open to external individuals and communities. While the company states that it requires remediation when harm has been caused, no description of a land rights remediation process was found.

Child labour
While the company commits to prohibiting child labour in its own operations and requires its suppliers to adhere to the same standard, it has an opportunity to disclose a policy requiring its suppliers to have an age-verification system in place.

Forced labour
While the company commits to prohibiting forced labour in its own operations and supply chain, it has an opportunity to disclose a requirement that prohibits its suppliers from retaining workers’ personal documents and restricting workers’ freedom of movement.

Health and safety of vulnerable groups
The company does not disclose that it specifically recognises the health and safety risks to vulnerable groups, such as migrant and temporary labourers, women and young farmers.

Farmer and fisher productivity and resilience
Musim Mas discloses a commitment to support smallholders in its supply chain and provides examples of support activities. These include helping smallholders attain RSPO certification and providing training to support the management of community-owned plantations. While the company reports on the impact of some of these activities, such as the number of farmers that have attained RSPO certification, there is an opportunity for Musim Mas to demonstrate that it is systematically measuring the impact of its support activities, as part of a holistic strategic approach.

Musim Mas provides grievance mechanisms for both workers and third parties and commits to respecting the human rights of its workers. However, the company does not provide a policy statement committing to respect the ILO core labour rights in its operations and supply chain. Musim Mas discloses how it assesses and prioritises its salient human rights risks and impacts but does not provide sufficient information on the identification and integration of these risks. Moreover, the company does not disclose how it engages with affected and potentially affected stakeholders.

Musim Mas demonstrates that it has achieved paying all workers a living wage, includes living wage requirements in its contracts with suppliers and discloses how it calculates a living wage in the regions where it operates. In addition, the company commits to respecting the health and safety of its workers and places health and safety expectations on its business relationships but can strengthen its monitoring and quantitative reporting. Moreover, while the company states that overtime must be consensual, it does not publicly prohibit excessive working hours and overtime. Musim Mas does not disclose sufficient commitments on collective bargaining, workforce diversity and gender equality.

Musim Mas prohibits bribery and corruption through a public policy statement and provides grievance mechanisms accordingly. However, the company does not describe its processes for identifying bribery and corruption risks and does not demonstrate it includes anti-corruption clauses in its contracts with suppliers. Musim Mas does not disclose its global policies on tax and lobbying and political engagement nor provide a privacy statement on the protection of personal data.