Continual scrutiny of and attacks on the palm oil industry in Indonesia have been ongoing for decades. The constant arguments against the palm oil industry have always touched on the issues of environmental sustainability, including deforestation and biodiversity loss, human rights issues, and various unsustainable practices. Even though many major palm oil players have voluntarily joined the RSPO, as well as the mandatory ISPO, with both certification bodies covering the environmental sustainability contexts of community development and human rights, constant attacks from stakeholders are mounting. This paper argues that besides fulfilling all of these requirements, there is a need for the industry as a whole to apply the right approach to green marketing or sustainable marketing as a means of strategy and business sustainability. Without a proper green marketing strategy and platform, the message of sustainability will not be delivered efficiently to the intended targets. There needs to be an understanding in regard to the market and also collaborative action between various stakeholders—including competitors and NGOs—to create and execute a fruitful green marketing strategy that can cross boundaries and be well received by the intended market.

The concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) first started from the enactment of Law No. 40 of 2007 on Limited Liability Company, in particular Article 74. Implementation of CSR in the Indonesian palm oil plantation industry has always been integrated into the industry standards as well as relevant government regulations. This article also analyzes the decisions of the constitutional court regarding CSR in the plantation industry. Despite fulfilling all the necessary requirements demanded by the market and regulatory bodies, the industry is still and always has been under attack by Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and the general public. Therefore, this paper attempts to conceptualize the importance of further research in developing co-opetition strategy among competitors in the palm oil industry and between the industry players with the NGOs as part of the stakeholder management. This paper is written using the normative-juridical method with focus on legal research regarding on legal aspect on CSR in plantation industry.

Palm oil plantation businesses have always been the subject of heavy scrutiny and are accused of causing the most environmental and social mishaps in Indonesia. Such condemnation comes from within the country and outside as well. Even though the palm oil industry is one of Indonesia’s biggest GDP contributors, the opposition in the past decade outweighs the support, and many attempts at reasoning fall on deaf ears. This article will argue that the need for transformation of the industry in order to support the nations’ sustainability development goals is an effort that involves all constituents. The relationship that is built upon the palm oil companies and its stakeholders must be met with certain legalities and support from the government in order to foster a green growth relationship that will sustain the economy and the environment, which will ultimately support Indonesia’s sustainable development goals.

The qualitative study aims to find out the strategy to overcome challenges of palm oil plantation expansion business in relation to environmental sustainability issues. The contribution of palm oil plantation related business has been an essential part in developing the Indonesian economy for decades. With its contribution to Indonesia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) surmounting to more than 15 billion USD in terms of export on the year 2020 (GAPKI, 2020), and with more than 40 billion USD in terms of foreign exchange revenue to Indonesia on the year 2021 (Astra, 2021), it is no doubt the importance of Crude Palm Oil (CPO) which is the by-product of palm oil tree (Elaeis guineensis) has the utmost significant contribution to the Indonesian economy. The palm oil plantation has also significant contribution to the livelihood of the Indonesian citizen by providing jobs for more than 16 million people (CNN, 2021) especially when the pandemic Covid-19 era is happening throughout the world, and the industry also increases the social welfare of its farmers by programs that enrich the farmers with its nucleus-plasma program which fosters a partnership between the palm oil plantation companies and its local communities in a profit sharing mechanism that