Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) strongly rejects the unsubstantiated allegations suggested by Auriga in its report titled “APP and APRIL violate zero-deforestation policies with wood purchases from Djarum Group concessions in East Kalimantan”. The report contains factual errors and presents incomplete information which must be corrected.
APP is not engaged in deforestation, either directly, through companies owned by APP, or indirectly, through third parties. All fibre suppliers to APP must meet our stringent sustainability criteria set out in our Responsible Fibre Procurement and Processing Policy (RFPPP) and verified by our Supplier Evaluation and Risk Assessment (SERA) process.
APP does not own or control PT Sarana Bina Semesta Alam (PT SBSA), which is alleged to have acquired fibre supply from PT Silva Rimba Lestari (PT SRL) and PT Fajar Surya Swadaya (PT FSS).
Neither PT SRL nor PT FSS are approved suppliers of fibre to APP. APP did conduct a SERA evaluation on PT FSS from March 2017 - November 2017, but it was not eventually approved as a supplier.
In an administrative lapse, APP did purchase a quantity of wood from PT FSS. A pilot shipment was delivered after the supplier passed the SERA desktop assessment, but before the SERA onsite assessments were completed.
This pilot shipment was delivered to APP's Indah Kiat Pulp & Paper (IKPP) mill in Perawang on 1st November 2017. However, as the SERA onsite assessment surfaced issues surrounding FSS, the delivery was flagged and quarantined. To date, the shipment remains quarantined in IKPP’s log yard. No fibre from this shipment has entered APP’s production supply.
This administrative lapse and our quarantine response, was shared with our FCP implementation partner, TFT. Additionally, the lessons learnt from this incident were shared openly with interested parties at a stakeholder workshop to address stakeholder concerns in May 2018. 25 NGOs, Financial Institutions, multilateral development agencies, academics and customers, attended the event, held on 30th May 2018 in Pullman hotel, Jakarta.
The report also repeats previously debunked theories that APP owns or controls PT Muara Sungai Landak (PT MSL) and PT Bangun Rimba Sejahtera (PT BRS). APP has no ownership, financial or legal relationships with either company, and our previous statements on this issue can be found at www.asiapulppaper.com.
Finally, the report repeats unsubstantiated allegations that the demands of APP mills will drive the company to deforest. We have also addressed these allegations in previous statements.
We believe in continuous improvement and as part of the lessons learnt, improvement is always possible. As part of that effort, as per July 2018, we have included a 14 days public notification regarding our potential supplier.
APP remains firmly committed to its Forest Conservation Policy and zero-deforestation pledge. From the time we made this commitment in 2013, we can prove that only 100% plantation wood from responsible sources has been used in APP mills.