Piloting regenerative palm oil project in Malaysia

World Wide Fund for Nature Malaysia (WWF-Malaysia) and SD Guthrie are piloting a five-year regenerative agriculture programme for palm oil in Sabah, Malaysia, the first such initiative of its kind for the industry.
This transformational partnership is part of WWF-Malaysia’s larger initiative to deliver landscape-scale level biodiversity and climate-positive outcomes in the region.
The partnership will focus on a landscape in Tawau, Sabah, covering approximately 13,000 hectares across five Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)-certified Guthrie estates.
This initiative will serve as a pilot under WWF’s Reconnect Borneo Initiative, which is a regional effort to restore ecological connectivity across Borneo through a network of wildlife corridors.
As part of the collaboration, WWF-Malaysia and Guthrie will work together to establish a wildlife corridor, strengthen biodiversity conservation, and implement WWF’s global regenerative palm oil framework, in real operating conditions.
This initiative is designed to move beyond certification towards measurable improvements for biodiversity, climate resilience, and communities while optimising long-term productivity.
“Through this ground-breaking partnership, WWF-Malaysia and SD Guthrie are taking a decisive step to pilot regenerative palm oil practices and deliver landscape-scale biodiversity and climate outcomes in a priority area of Sabah,” said Sophia Lim, WWF-Malaysia's chief executive officer.