Carbon, Net Zero, and SRV 2030 were the three main topics for this year’s Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) Sinar Mas 11th Stakeholders Advisory Forum (SAF). Held virtually over Zoom, SAF 2022 attracted more than two hundred attendees who tuned in to get the latest updates on our sustainability progress on June 23.
To kick off the event, APP’s Stakeholder Engagement Manager Veronika Renyaan delivered key updates from the updated Sustainability Roadmap Vision 2030, an evolution of the previous SRV 2020. SRV 2030 underlines our three pillars of priority: Production, Forest, and People.
She highlighted that 100% of APP’s raw materials – pulp, pulpwood, and pallets – come only from sustainably-managed plantation. With our Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) policy in place, we’ve managed to keep 82% of natural forests in our concession areas in good condition. By 2030, we want this number to reach 95%, through enrichment, eradication, and natural regeneration efforts.
Thanks to the capacity improvement of regional firefighters and quicker response methods, only around 0.025% of our supplier concession areas were impacted by fire last year.
Attendees were reminded to access the independently-verified Forest Monitoring System, implemented in 2017, to keep an eye on forest cover change over time. In 2021, there was 0.25% in forest cover change in our protected area, a decrease from the previous year where 0.28% was recorded.
An important element of our operations is People and, in this department, Veronika underlined that we will continue our initiatives for community empowerment through community group partnership.
Jefri Simamora, Sustainability Data Manager at APP, then expanded on the company’s carbon reduction roadmap. He said that compared to 2018, we have reduced our emissions by 13%, halfway to meeting our 2030 target. At the same time, we’re also working with consultants to calculate the amount of carbon we must secure through restorative and protective measures.
To highlight our achievements, Jefri gave the example of the OKI Pulp & Paper mill in South Sumatera. The pulp and paper plant is designated as a “Green Pulp Mill” as it fully runs on biomass. On top of that, the carbon intensity in this mill is extremely low, with efficient usage of power plant and recovery boiler.
Jefri acknowledged that it will be difficult to replicate this in older mills in Java, but said that APP is exploring other alternative innovations to align the outdated processes to our 2030 Vision.
CEO of Landscape Indonesia Agus P. Sari as the guest speaker gave us a dose of reality with the current climate challenges, but also said that mitigating the impacts of climate change must be done in a balanced manner that also considers production, the community, and the environment. A balance must be found to “ensure consistent finance flows while forging a pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development”, Agus said.
In a lively question and answer session that followed the speakers’ presentations, we found that stakeholders were curious about what lies ahead for APP. We underlined we are committed to FOLU NET SINK 2030, a journey APP has embarked on since 2012. Based on sustainable forest management, environmental governance, and carbon governance, APP is well-placed to support the Indonesian government’s vision.
Chief Sustainability Officer Elim Sritaba told forum attendees that she sees strong demand and growth for paper-based items, especially with current trends.
“With governments and consumers demanding more sustainable options for food and product packaging, there is strong demand and growth…the increasing trend for e-commerce, deliveries, and takeaways have also strengthened the need for versatile, safe, and durable paper-based and plastic-free packaging,” Elim explained.
She also assured that while there are talks of expanding operations, there is also strong focus to increase the use of renewables and cleaner energy as well as to reduce reliance on coal.
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