RSPO Closes Four‑Year First Resources Case Amid Ongoing Deforestation Allegations
The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil ended its long‑running complaint against First Resources, but new evidence suggests the company may still be linked to rainforest clearing.
The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) announced the conclusion of a complaint that had been pending since at least 2017.
According to the RSPO Complaints Panel, the final ruling was delivered in December 2025 after a investigation that spanned more than four years.
The grievance originated from a series of NGO reports beginning in 2017, which linked the Singapore‑listed, Indonesian‑owned palm oil producer First Resources to ongoing rainforest clearing.
First Resources, an RSPO member, pledged a “zero deforestation” commitment in 2015 and leveraged its membership to access markets that exclude unsustainable palm oil.
However, the complaints alleged that the Fangiono family, owners of First Resources, controlled two additional entities—Ciliandry Angki Abadi and FAP Agri—through which they allegedly continued to expand into rainforests.
The RSPO’s role, as described in its charter, is to set sustainability standards and enforce them; the outcome of this case raises questions about the effectiveness of that enforcement.
Newly unearthed court records, cited by the investigation, suggest that the alleged “shadow companies” remained active in forest clearing even after the 2015 pledge.
The article was originally published on Mongabay.
