Strategy and Objectives Working Group Update – July 2019

The Strategy and Objectives Working Group, which has the main responsibility of determining the strategies needed to address social, economic and environmental impacts to achieve the desired state of the platform, has been extensively working on defining the desired state which identifies what GPSNR members would want being achieved when natural rubber is sustainably produced and utilized.

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The first draft of the “desired state” document has been shared with the Executive Committee in their monthly meeting in June for further consultation. To avoid overlooking any important steps and details necessary for the development of strategies and objectives, a terms of reference was also created by the Working Group and approved by the Executive Committee, defining the scope, objectives, and outcomes which will be enabled by the process.

The completion of the “Theory of Change Workshop” in March, where the group met in Singapore to collaborate on building out “What Good Looks Like” when it comes to sustainable natural rubber, contributed to the start of the work on the “Theory of Change” for natural rubber, a process aimed at identifying the root causes for the current state of the natural rubber industry as well as identify the Key Strategies that the Working Group believes the platform should start working on.

Currently, the Working Group is in the process of finalizing the recommendations for launching these strategies, including timelines for implementation in 2019/2020. The focus for the next 6 months will be on launching and pursuing three main strategies: 1) Sustainability Policy Tool Box and Best Practices; 2) Capacity Building for Smallholders and Rubber Plantations to support the incorporation of more sustainable practices; 3) Improving Transparency and Traceability within the Natural Rubber Supply Chain.

We would like to thank the members who participated and encourage all others to actively participate in the Working Group’s undertakings. In order to meet the high expectations set for GPSNR, we need members to attend the meetings frequently, participate consistently, and contribute in a timely manner.

July 12, 2019

More To Explore

PUBLIC CONSULTATION: GPSNR’s Assurance System – Round 2

GPSNR is conducting a public consultation from 21 May 2025 to 6 June 2025 on the following documents that will establish GPSNR’s Assurance System:

Resolution Document	Link	Feedback file
Assurance System Documents	XXXX25_Resolution EGA3.a Assurance System Documents	Public Consultation on GPSNR Assurance System Documents Resolution
Assurance System Disclosure Schedule	XXXX25_Resolution EGA3.b Assurance System’s Disclosure Schedule
Summary of changes	Summary of Changes (AS Documents)

Following the previous round of public consultation in March, GPSNR has incorporated feedback received through category discussions, member inputs, and the Assurance System Task Force. This second round of consultation aims to gather final comments on the revised Assurance System documents before they are submitted for approval to the Executive Committee and voting by the General Assembly through an Extraordinary General Assembly currently planned for July.

GPSNR Secretariat May 21, 2025

Natural Rubber Supply Chain comes together to build unique sustainability assurance benchmark

PRESS RELEASE

Natural Rubber Supply Chain comes together to build unique sustainability assurance benchmark

Singapore, 20 June 2024: Members of the Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber (GPSNR), who represent almost 60% of the value chain, have agreed on an industry wide assurance system in an Extraordinary General Assembly held yesterday. Through this agreement, the natural rubber industry now has a standardized stage-by-stage process through which companies can commit to, implement and verify strong sustainability standards and practices in their operations.

GPSNR members’ stage-by-stage progression towards verified sustainability assurance

The Assurance system is currently being piloted by some volunteer manufacturers and processors until August 2024. Concurrently, three of its four mandatory elements have also been put up on a public consultation to seek comments and additional inputs that will help finetune the different aspects of the model. The feedback collected via the pilots and the public consultation will be integrated into the assurance model and put up for members’ review at the Annual General Assembly in October 2024. By 2025, all GPSNR members will be using this model in their operations.

The model covers four mandatory elements – an Assurance Assessment checklist which will spell out the minimum requirements that members will have to meet on all aspects of the GPSNR policy framework, an Assurance Protocol which will provide guidelines to external assessors, a Remediation Protocol that includes actions and timelines to close the gaps identified by the assessors and a Members Journey or broad timeline to achieve these requirements. Additionally, the model also includes supplementary tools that will support members in putting the assurance model into practice, like a due diligence framework and national risk assessments, amongst others.

‘’Having a system that can verify and cross check the implementation of our members’ commitments has always been our overarching goal at GPSNR. With the voting in of the Assurance Model structure, our members have demonstrated their intent to deliver on their sustainability promises. I am especially proud of the multistakeholder nature in which the assurance model has been agreed on, keeping in mind the practical position of each member category.’’ said Stefano Savi, GPSNR’s Platform Director.

GPSNR’s membership is meeting next week in Singapore to iron out the details of the minimum requirements spelt out in the Assurance Model checklist, the nature of the claims that can be made, the feedback from the pilots and the assurance protocol for third party assessors.

END

About GPSNR:

GPSNR is an international membership driven platform set up to define sustainability for the natural rubber value chain. It brings together various stakeholders to a common ground based on fairness, equity and environmental sustainability. More on sustainablenaturalrubber.org

For more information, please contact:

Bani Bains

Communications Manager

Email: bani.bains@gpsnr.org

Ph: +65 97268165

GPSNR Secretariat June 20, 2024