Terms of Reference: Analysis of GHG in Sabah, Malaysia

The palm oil industry in Sabah state contributes significantly to the state’s revenue (9.6% of Sabah’s overall GDP in 2022), having the largest production (4.3 mil tonnes CPO) in Malaysia and accounting for 5.76% of global palm oil production. The trade-off between the need to enhance food security while reducing GHG emissions from palm oil production necessitates transition to production systems that are more productive, use input more efficiently and are resilient to short- and long-term climate variability.

As part of IDH’s landscapes approach, the convening of palm actors primarily revealed a short-term focus on emissions reduction across their Scope 1 & 2 as such GHGs impacts are within their direct control vs addressing their Scope 3 GHGs emissions which are currently more vaguely measured/ unavailable. As such, this project is aiming to be “a Scope 3 learning project”, complementing an existing project led by our palm oil partner to assess their Scope 1 & 2 GHGs emissions baseline for their refinery and the three selected mills.

To that end, we are excited to invite a consultant to conduct a Scope 3 baseline study representative of the palm oil industry in Sabah, Malaysia: specifically to deliver a high-level physical and transition risk analysis, Scope 3 GHG emissions at mill & refinery level and accordingly, develop a costed mitigation action plan aligned to the 2050 Net Zero ambitions.

See the full Terms of Reference and submit your proposals here.

• Deadline for submissions: 16 July 2025