How we work Positive Impact
Pooling resources to create change on the ground
Positive change on the ground requires significant and sustained investment. For individual downstream companies, often several steps removed from palm-producing landscapes, the scale of impact they can achieve alone is limited.
Through ASD, members can pool resources and collectively support long-term projects addressing environmental and social priorities in key production landscapes.
This enables members to move beyond identifying and managing supply chain risks and contribute directly to positive outcomes for ecosystems, smallholders, workers and communities.
To date, 20 ASD members have mobilised $2 million for impact projects.
Turning collective investment into impact
The ASD Impact Fund, managed in partnership with Tides Foundation, provides a mechanism through which members can combine their resources and support shared projects.
One example is ASD's long-term partnership with Kaleka's Mosaik Initiative in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. The programme supports independent smallholders through the RSPO certification process while contributing to forest protection and restoration. In 2025, the partnership supported 260 smallholders covering 472 hectares through certification and protected 1,749 hectares of forest through social forestry.
The collaboration has also expanded its work on social issues. Strengthening Respect in Palm focuses on workplace respect, gender equality and safer working conditions for women within the Indonesian palm sector, while further work with Kaleka is addressing workers' rights, land rights and community empowerment.
These projects provide tangible examples of what pooled investment can achieve. At the same time, ASD continues to consider how its positive impact work can connect more closely with intelligence from its transparency and risk work, helping collective resources reach areas where members have relevant supply chain connections and where intervention can make a meaningful difference.
Key activities include:
Pooling resources through the ASD Impact Fund
Supporting the Kaleka Mosaik Initiative
Supporting smallholders and creating access to economic opportunities
Protecting and restoring forests in palm-producing landscapes
Addressing human rights issues, including workplace respect and gender-based violence
More information on individual projects and their latest outcomes is available in the 2025 Annual Update on Progress.
Help scale impact where it matters
By pooling resources, ASD members can support work in palm-producing landscapes at a scale that would be difficult to achieve alone. Talk to us about creating real impact.