13 November 2024, Singapore– Musim Mas Group reached a significant milestone in the State of Children’s Rights and Business 2024 Global Benchmark by Global Child Forum, achieving an overall score of 9.3 out of 10, placing the Group in the top five of companies globally in the 2024 benchmark. This rating underscores Musim Mas’s enduring commitment to supporting children’s rights, family-friendly practices, and community well-being.
Building on last year’s score of 8.7, Musim Mas has continued to advance across the four key impact areas in the benchmark. Since 2023, the company achieved a 10 out of 10 in the Workplace sub-category impact area, recognizing Musim Mas’s robust policies on family-friendly work environments and measures to prevent child labour. The group’s score in the Governance and Collaboration sub-category impact area rose from 9.4 to 10, reflecting the company’s strengthened governance, partnerships, and adherence to child rights frameworks. This includes having grievance mechanisms in place for internal and external stakeholders and staff.
These achievements showcase Musim Mas’ proactive integration of children’s rights into its business strategies. The Group has aligned its approach with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Musim Mas’s Sustainability Policy and active participation in the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) further exemplify these commitments.
“We are proud to have further improved our score and to now be ranked in the top 5, continuing to achieve “Leader” status at the Global Child Forum Benchmark. This recognition reflects our dedication to safeguarding the rights of children across our operations and communities,” said Olivier Tichit, Director of Sustainability at Musim Mas. “At Musim Mas, we believe that supporting families, from comprehensive healthcare to educational opportunities, not only enhances community well-being but strengthens our workforce. Around 10,700 children living in our plantations are of school-going age. Most of them attend schools that we built and funded under our Anwar Karim Foundation (YAK),” he added.
Musim Mas has established 47 childcare centers, 11 kindergartens, and 14 schools across its plantations in Indonesia, all of which are accessible to employees’ families free of charge. Scholarships are also available for higher education, with 93 awarded in and 2023 alone. The Group provides essential healthcare services for new and expectant mothers, parental leave, and and pre-and post-natal care.
About Musim Mas
Musim Mas Group is an integrated palm oil company globally, operating in 13 countries. From plantations, mills, refineries, kernel-crushing plants, oleochemicals, and specialty fats plants, Musim Mas manufactures palm oil products and value-added derivatives. Musim Mas is one of the largest palm oil producers in the world. The Group develops innovative value-added solutions for its customers, supported by Research and Development (R&D) centres in Singapore and Indonesia. Inter-Continental Oils and Fats (ICOF), a member of Musim Mas Group, undertakes global marketing activities.
The Group is committed to sustainability and was the first company with significant operations in Indonesia to join the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) in 2004. Committed early to emissions reductions, Musim Mas is a signatory to the Agriculture Sector Roadmap to 1.5 Degrees convened by the Tropical Forest Alliance. The roadmap aims to halt commodity-linked deforestation in line with the 1.5-degree pathway while enhancing the livelihoods of smallholder farmers and supporting the sector’s transformation toward forest-positive land-use management. In January 2024, Musim Mas announced that it will strive to achieve net zero by 2050, aligning with climate science as per the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi). Musim Mas also manages the most extensive independent smallholder programs in Indonesia.
