Summary
Building sustainability in to the palm oil industry is critical. Evolving international sustainability norms demand greater environmental and social responsibility from business across global commodity chains — from countries of origin to countries of consumption. [...] Through interviews with growers and key stakeholders, a review of documents and literature from sustainability standards, and participatory observation of multi-stakeholder meetings, this research sets out to ask: (i) what are the motivations affecting uptake of sustainability standards, for growers in Indonesia?; (ii) how are these motivations shaping corporate commitments in the sector?; (iii) what are the context-specific variables (internal and external) supporting and preventing implementation of sustainability standards?; and (iv) what model of sustainable” oil palm agriculture is being built?