Aiming for Environmentally and People-Friendly Use of Agricultural Resources
Agricultural products are a blessing of nature. The concept of cascade utilization is essential to utilize all of them as resources without throwing them away.
The Agricultural Resource Certification Council (ARC) was established to ensure that crop residues and by-products, which are part of nature's bounty, can be used with peace of mind while taking into consideration various issues such as sustainability and biodiversity.
The first step in this activity is the third-party certification system for PKS (Palm Kernel Shell).
Have you ever heard of the oil palm crop? Palm oil is grown mainly in Indonesia and Malaysia, and the palm oil obtained from its fruits and seeds is widely used in our daily lives as a raw material for margarine, snacks, instant foods, and soap.
PKS is the part of the seed shell that remains after the palm oil has been squeezed out. In the past, most of it was thrown away, but recently it is being used in cascades as fuel for biomass power generation. About 3 million tons of PKS is imported to Japan every year, supporting biomass power generation.
We, who import PKS from overseas and use it, cannot be indifferent to the various problems in the producing countries.
How can we proudly use resources obtained by destroying the environment and neglecting the rights of local people? What if people and animals in distant countries are suffering because of our pursuit of convenience in our lives?
The PKS third-party certification system of the Agricultural Resource Certification Council (ARC) is an effort to eliminate such concerns.
ARC requires certified organizations to create mechanisms such as a due diligence system to continuously check for issues such as environmental destruction and human rights violations in the field, listen to people's voices, and continue to improve the system with a view to field surveys in the future.
In addition, in order to increase the transparency of our operations, we will improve our relationship with each stakeholder and build a system to not only disseminate various information, but also to listen to your opinions widely.
Together with you, we will create a system for using agricultural resources that is friendly to both the environment and people, so that we can continue to use the blessings of nature in a sustainable manner and realize a society that continues to develop hand in hand with the producing countries.. This is the goal of ARC.
Click here to Opinion solicitation
Council outline
| Organization name | Agricultural Resource Certification Council |
|---|---|
| Address | #2F Nihombashikawamurabiru 4-5-8 Nihombashihongokucho, Chuo-ku, Tokyo-to 103-0021 Japan TEL: +81-3-6914-0517 |
| Structure |
* The council will be established during 2021
|
About the advisory board
| Representative Director | RENOVA, Inc. | Tobisawa Junichi |
|---|---|---|
| Representative Director | New Energy Development Co., Ltd. | Tanaka Yoshiaki |
| Representative Director | Former Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries | Nakayama Takahiro |
| Director | eREX Co.,Ltd. | Ito Kei |
| Director | NIPPON PAPER INDUSTRIES CO., LTD. | Tachikawa Hiroshi |
| Director | Summit Energy Corporation | Ezaki Tetsuro |
Nov, 2021
About the advisory board (third-party committee)
About the advisory board (third-party committee)
The drafting of the standards for the PKS third-party certification system was discussed by the Advisory Committee, which consists of the "Standards Review Committee" and the "Technical Subcommittee. Both of these committees are completely third-party committees, and they are designed to reflect the opinions of a wide range of stakeholders by asking them to propose revisions and amendments to the draft standards from the perspective of their respective fields of expertise.
In the Standards Review Committee, the opinions of experts from various industries and members from consumer groups are received, and in the Technical Subcommittee, the draft standards are discussed from the viewpoints of environmental protection organizations and LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) experts, and the contents are reported to the Standards Review Committee. The opinions of the two committees are reflected in the draft standard.
Standards
* The English version is currently being translated
1)P01 Basic document(PDF)
2)ST01 Application organization matters(PDF)
3)ST02 Due diligence matters(PDF)
4)ST03 Third party requirements(PDF)
5)G01 Guidelines(PDF)
Enrollment guidance
1)ARC articles of incorporation(PDF)
2)ARC membership rules(PDF)
Public Comments Recruitment Corner
The PKS third-party certification system of the Agricultural Resource Certification Council (ARC) invites public comments from time to time.
Public comments are made in order to collect opinions, information, and suggestions for improvement from the general public in advance of deciding on a system or plan, in order to help improve the operation of the system.
May 31, 2021 [End] The call for public comments on the draft standards for the pks third-party certification system has ended.
