21 AAK Sustainable Palm Oil Policy implementation protocol AAK’s Sustainable Palm Oil Policy identifies a number of commitments relating to the traceability and sustainable sourcing of palm oil. Recently, AAK adopted an implementation protocol defining the mechanisms used by AAK in implementation of the Sustainable Palm Oil Policy. The protocol covers traceability, risk assessment and mill level verification. Establishing traceability to palm oil mills enables AAK to take the steps necessary to ensure that these known sources meet our policy requirements. Risk assessment is necessary in order to allow us to prioritize our efforts, by identifying those origins where there is any significant risk of policy non-compliance, and focusing greater scrutiny on highest-risk mills, including mill based verification. Our risk assessment and mill verification program follows a three-stage process: qualitative risk assessment, geospatial risk assessment and mill verification. The three stages are elaborated in the implementation protocol, together with supporting mechanisms and tools: Traceability process and definitions Risk assessment methodology Mill level verification approach, together with specific protocol and verification checklist Internal monitoring and reporting mechanisms, including grievance procedure Grievance procedure AAK is committed to high environmental and social standards in its supply chain, as evidenced in our Sustainable Palm Oil Policy and Supplier Code of Conduct. AAK also recognizes that the scale and complexity of our supply chains mean that full implementation of these policies can be challenging. Our grievance procedure being part of our implementation protocol is intended to allow stakeholders to highlight any perceived issues in AAK palm oil supply chains and facilitate solutions to them. It should be noted that AAK has a commitment to the RSPO grievance process that it will follow if any grievance is raised through that mechanism. This grievance procedure is an additional approach to ensure all grievances raised are approached in a timely, transparent and systematic manner. Objectives and scope The grievance procedure document is a guide for how grievances raised by external parties will be handled by AAK. The procedure encourages input and feedback from stakeholders, as AAK recognizes that this kind of engagement increases transparency and allows us to gauge the implementation status of our policies across our supply chains and work towards continuous improvement. The procedure is applicable to AAK operations worldwide and to all third-party palm oil suppliers. The procedure covers the steps of recording grievances and communicating with the relevant parties, developing plans to investigate a grievance, deploying a field verification team, and creating and implementing action and monitoring plans to resolve grievances. If a supplier that breaches AAK policies is not able to resolve the issue related to the grievance, AAK will terminate commercial relations with that supplier.
AAK - Sustainability Report 2014/2015
To see the actual publication please follow the link above