Golden-Agri Resources (GAR) | |
Key People: | Franky Widjaja (Director and President) |
Location: | Singapore |
Golden-Agri Resources (GAR) is a Singaporean palm oil company, listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange since 1999.[1] In May 2015, its market capitalization was $4.1 billion.[2] Franky Widjaja, of the Sinar Mas family is its CEO. Alnoor is a subsidiary of GAR. Lew Syn Pau used to serve as a member of the Singaporean Parliament for 13 years and is a member of the board of directors of the firm.
[3] [4] According to Greenpeace, GAR has six concessions on peatlands in Riau, with an estimated total area of 20,000 hectares.[5] GAR was reported to have 1,880 hectares of peat in Central Kalimantan and 1,330 hectares in West Kalimantan, while claiming a zero-deforestation footprint.[6] Greenpeace also discovered 322 hotspots on five to GAR's concessions in Central Kalimantan.[7] GAR denied these accusations and said to have a zero-burning policy since 1997.[8] Interviews with senior officers revealed evidence to the contrary.[9] In about 2010, companies such as Burger King, Unilever and Nestlé cancelled their supplier contracts with Singapore-listed GAR subsidiaries due to unsustainable farming practices.[10] Golden owns a subsidiary in Liberia called Golden Veroleum, which in 2018 was removed from the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil for alleged land acquisition violations.[11]