Corporate Social Responsibility in Global Governance – A Driver for Change towards Environmental Sustainability? : An Embedded-Case Study on the Sustainability Discourse in the Palm Oil Industry

Abstract: The planet’s biodiversity is in a worrying state. Palm oil production significantly contributes to biodiversity loss in Southeast Asia, especially in Indonesia. Unfortunately, the different forms of public and private regulation in place have had limited success in regulating the sector and protecting the environment. Three of the biggest palm oil traders – Cargill, Musim Mas, and Wilmar International – were chosen as subjects of an embedded case study to answer whether their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) efforts have the potential to drive transformation in the palm oil sector towards more environmental sustainability.  This thesis contributes to the debate around the role of business actors in Global Governance and their ability to tackle social and environmental problems caused by their business models with CSR. The thesis engages deductively with capitalism-critical theories on CSR. Carol Bacchi’s “What’s the Problem Represented to be?” (WPR) approach will guide a discourse analysis of the 2019 sustainability reports of the three companies regarding their efforts to improve sustainability in the palm oil sector. A comparison with research articles and NGO reports reaches the conclusion that the measures taken by Cargill, Musim Mas, and Wilmar are not enough to improve sustainability sufficiently.