The World's Leading Services for Sustainable Supply Chain

The partnership was established in 2018, with a shared vision – to understand and improve Unilever’s supply chain dynamics. With a dedicated joint team, we embarked on a journey together, focusing on traceability, supplier profiling, risk-analysis, and deforestation monitoring. This quickly evolved into a transformative partnership.

Over the years, our joint efforts expanded and deepened, reflecting a commitment towards meaningful change. This partnership took on increasing prominence, including traceability of supplies of commodities to the plantation level, addressing smallholder inclusion priorities through farm legalization initiatives, as well as contributing to Unilever’s nature restoration goals with an innovative grower recovery program that utilized social forestry as a powerful tool for change.

A critical role of Earthqualizer/Inovasi Digital has been the contribution of palm oil grower concession maps to Unilever, empowering our partner with the tools needed for internal capacity building (by enabling them to conduct their own geospatial analysis)—a crucial step toward ensuring transparency and accountability throughout the supply chain. Unilever’s continuous and consistent commitment to ‘on-the-ground’ impacts, particularly through smallholder and recovery programs, has put Unilever as an industry leader in sustainability.

We’ve been working closely with SIPEF to support the implementation of their No Deforestation and No Peat (NDP) commitment across all their estates and suppliers in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Our collaboration involves both historical and near real-time satellite monitoring to detect land cover changes that may indicate potential non-compliance with SIPEF’s sustainability commitments. In addition to monitoring, we also support SIPEF with recovery and liability assessments—identifying the root causes of verified alerts and helping to design appropriate corrective actions where needed.

As of 31 December 2022, we’ve been monitoring over 157,700 hectares of land across SIPEF’s concessions and supply chain. This includes all their plantations, SBI areas, and smallholder groups. Through our monitoring, the total verified tree cover loss identified during the reporting period was 42.6 hectares. We’re also supporting SIPEF in reaching their target to complete their historical NDP assessment, which remains on track for completion by 2023.

Earthqualizer Group (EQ/ID) and Bumitama Agri Ltd. have been working together in Ketapang Regency for a decade to build a vision and mission for sustainable landscape management, maintaining biodiversity in the landscape around Bumitama Agri Ltd.’s operations, and also fostering collaboration with village communities and stakeholders at the local level.

Through the social forestry scheme, Earthqualizer Group and Bumitama Agri Ltd combine the needs and sustainability commitments of Bumitama through the Production, Protection, and Inclusion approach. Currently, over 11,000 hectares of social forestry areas in three villages in Ketapang Regency have gained legal access to social forestry under the village forest scheme, where communities have received long-term support and collaboration.

This collaboration is also beginning to provide ecological, economic, and social benefits to the surrounding communities. This collaboration program provides an opportunity for Bumitama Agri Ltd. to contribute to cross-sector collaboration for long-term landscape management and to continue being the Conservation Lead in the sustainability commitments of the palm oil industry in Indonesia.

Since 2018, Earthqualizer/Inovasi Digital (EQ/ID) has assisted SD Guthrie with its Supplier Group Monitoring Program (SGMP). This collaboration has helped SD Guthrie identify its exposure to deforestation risks posed by third-party suppliers.

SD Guthrie’s grievance management system addresses complaints related to its No Deforestation, No Peat, and No Exploitation (NDPE) commitments from various stakeholders. To ensure a deforestation-free supply chain, the company utilises biweekly deforestation monitoring data from EQ/ID, covering all of its sourcing regions. This monitoring employs Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 satellite imagery to identify land-use changes within oil palm concessions and assess impacts on High Carbon Stock (HCS) and High Conservation Value (HCV) areas.

One notable opportunity proposed by EQ/ID to the SD Guthrie team in 2019 involved engaging the Minamas division and its third-party suppliers to support the Indonesian Government’s goal of expanding Social Forestry to 12.7 million hectares. This complements broader land reform initiatives, including the TORA program and the recognition of customary forest rights (hutan adat). As many oil palm concessions under SD Guthrie and its suppliers border rural communities, the company is well-positioned to help these communities apply for and manage land rights sustainably.

Since 2015, Musim Mas has collaborated with Earthqualizer (EQ/ID) as a technical partner to strengthen efforts in monitoring deforestation within their supply base. This partnership extends beyond monitoring to include the promotion of inclusive smallholder initiatives and the support of social forestry programs, particularly in the districts of Aceh Singkil and Sambas. These efforts are part of Musim Mas’ broader commitment to sustainable landscape development through multi-stakeholder engagement at the landscape level. By working closely with local communities, governments, and other partners, we aim to foster more resilient, inclusive, and environmentally responsible palm oil production systems.

Leveraging TTP (Traceability to Plantation) data and concession boundaries, Musim Mas utilizes the Earthqualizer (EQ/ID) platform to proactively monitor priority landscapes and supply chain areas. The platform allows them to track land clearing activities, assess potential environmental risks, and identify non-compliance cases. Through this proactive monitoring system, Musim Mas are able to document evidence of deforestation or other violations, enabling it to take timely action and strengthen its commitment to NDPE (No Deforestation, No Peat, No Exploitation) principles across its operations and supplier networks.

KPN Plantation and the Earthqualizer/Inovasi Digital (EQ/ID) have collaborated with a shared commitment to implement the No Deforestation, No Peat, and No Exploitation (NDPE) Policy, aiming to execute a successful Recovery Plan. The objective is to demonstrate to the market that the industry’s transformation to sustainability is indeed a reality.

In 2021, the partnership between KPN Plantation and EQ/ID entered a new phase, intensifying efforts to implement and consolidate KPN Plantation’s NDPE policy and Recovery Plan. This expansion coincides with the group’s ventures into trading and refining, amid increasing expectations from the international market.

Our partnership with KPN Plantation focuses on key areas such as supply chain traceability, supplier compliance monitoring, recovery support, and strategic advice. The collaboration is ongoing and is anticipated to establish a robust foundation for the sustainable palm oil industry.

We have been working closely with KLK to support their commitment to sustainable sourcing by providing satellite-based monitoring of their supplier operations. Through our platform, we help KLK ensure that their suppliers do not engage in deforestation, peatland clearing, or activities that lead to fire hotspots. We deliver bi-weekly monitoring reports and regularly engage in discussions with KLK to review any alerts or potential non-compliance cases.

These collaborative efforts enable KLK to take timely and proactive action in validating findings and, when needed, developing appropriate follow-up or remediation plans with their suppliers. In 2022 alone, we supported KLK in monitoring approximately 11.1 million hectares of land linked to their supply chain, strengthening their ability to uphold NDPE (No Deforestation, No Peat, No Exploitation) commitments across their operations.

AEP decided to implement the Re-Entry Requirements to compensate for non-compliant land development and engaged Earthqualizer to carry out the process. Earthqualizer (EQ/ID) assessed a total Recovery Liability of 967 hectares, for which AEP has committed to a Recovery Plan in collaboration with us. Under this plan, Earthqualizer will assist AEP in identifying suitable recovery sites and in developing a comprehensive recovery strategy.

The proposed recovery area includes engagement with local Social Forestry Schemes. While the district of Muko-Muko, Bengkulu was initially considered, it was later substituted with an alternative location—Sinar Pagi Village in Seluma District, Bengkulu—to fulfill all required conditions. The new recovery site spans 1,072 hectares and remains a critical habitat for Rare, Threatened, and Endangered (RTE) species. The full implementation of this project is expected to take approximately two years, after which AEP will continue integrating the recovery efforts into the Social Forestry Scheme.

We’re working with Cargill to strengthen their commitment to no-deforestation and no-peat practices across their palm oil supply chain. Through our satellite-based monitoring system, we support Cargill in detecting land use changes in supplier areas and identifying any potential risks of non-compliance.

By integrating our independent analysis with Cargill’s internal protocols and sustainability frameworks, we help verify supplier compliance with their Policy on Sustainable Palm Oil. Our collaboration plays a key role in enhancing Cargill’s monitoring capabilities as they work toward achieving a fully deforestation-free supply chain by 2025.