From collective action towards systems change: ASD’s pivotal Brussels meeting sets the stage for future impact
Brussels played host to the latest gathering of Action for Sustainable Derivatives (ASD) members as we met to celebrate, collaborate, and vision the future for collective action.
The in-person meeting in the Belgian capital was a chance to mark the fifth year of the initiative, while also planning for what the next five years will look like as we collectively raise our ambition to transform the derivatives supply chain and shape the future of the oleomaterials market.
Coinciding with the European edition of the Sustainable Palm Oil Dialogue (SPOD) meeting that took place the previous day, it was a great opportunity for ASD members to not only network with each other, but also engage with other actors driving sustainable palm, including the SPOD organisers, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), IDH, APAG Oleochemicals Europe, and FEDIOL.
Overall, members were buoyed by the high level of trust in the room and appetite to align on a series of issues, despite differences across ASD’s diverse group of member companies. With plenty of opportunity to network and connect, ASD’s in-person meetings fostered community building within our membership, validating the challenges and progress of individuals and their organisations.
The two-day get together kicked off by convening on a series of near-term decisions to keep ASD on track to meet its objectives. Following critical discussions at SPOD the day before, ASD members prepared for the upcoming European Union Regulation on Deforestation Free Products (EUDR), by sharing best practice through interactive case studies. Debating interpretations of the new law proved a fruitful exercise ahead of the regulation coming into force at the end of the year.
To achieve the ASD Impact Vision, the group explored how new partnerships with technology providers might advance progress on grievances monitoring and supply chain traceability – two crucial topics which are top of mind for many members right now.
Later in the day, discussions continued on ASD’s human rights strategy. We heard from Dignity in Work for All about salient human rights risks in upstream palm supply chains in Indonesia and Malaysia, helping to frame our understanding for mitigating and preventing human rights abuses across ASD members’ supply chains. Our in-depth discussion centred on defining the issues that need attention, identifying opportunities for collaboration in developing solutions, and exploring the role of ASD in respecting and preserving human rights collectively.
“ASD is cultivating a great vision and great ideas. We just need to be brave. Impossible is nothing.”
Finally, we progressed plans for expanded impact on the ground, including an initial agreement to integrate a new human rights-focused project into the ASD Impact Fund. Watch this space to learn which project will be selected over the coming months.
Day Two encouraged members to gaze into a more ambitious future; to explore what is needed for ASD to continue leading progress on derivatives sustainability. An interactive exercise leveraging the Three Horizons methodology enabled the group to consider the world we may soon be operating in to help inform ASD’s longer-term vision, strategy and growth plan.
Members were asked to imagine what a viable and responsible oleomaterials supply chain could look like through multiple lenses (economic, social and environmental). Increasing living wages, improving the redistribution of margins across the value chain to more fairly support farmers, adopting landscape approaches more broadly, and considering water and climate impacts rather than just deforestation were some of the longer-term objectives suggested and discussed. And after setting that ambition, ASD members began to think about tangible approaches that could be leveraged to move towards the future we want to see. ASD is excited about its 2025 scope of work, where some of these approaches will already be integrated.
These two days together provided a broad acknowledgement of progress to date and a recognition that ASD’s role continues to evolve.
In the years to come, ASD hopes to shift further away from a risk-oriented approach defined by driving transparency and reacting to grievances, and more deeply into a future-oriented approach, wherein ASD serves as a change agent for ambitious supply chain partnership and transformation.
As one member commented, “ASD is cultivating a great vision and great ideas. We just need to be brave. Impossible is nothing.”
