Posted on November, 27 2024

The recent filing to the European Commission by Indonesia-based Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) has proven what WWF, many other NGOs, and the media have repeatedly stated: the Wijaya family, which has controlled the Sinar Mas Group’s APP since 1984, also controls the Paper Excellence Group, recently rebranded as Domtar. The Group – which includes Paper Excellence, Domtar and Resolute Forest Products – owns 60 locations across the Americas and Europe. WWF previously raised concerns about Paper Excellence’s acquisition of Domtar in 2021.
 
As detailed in numerous reports and articles by conservation and civil society organizations and media over the years, APP has a legacy of deforestation, destruction of wildlife habitat, fires and greenhouse gas emissions from peat development, and conflicts with local communities related to land grabbing, forest clearance, and pulpwood plantation development in Sumatra and Kalimantan, Indonesia. The Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®), the leading global certification system for forests and forest products, disassociated from APP in 2007 after finding the company in violation of FSC’s Policy for Association.
 
WWF calls on FSC to rigorously apply the Policy for Association requirements and immediately terminate FSC certificates for Paper Excellence, Domtar and Resolute.
 
We also call on FSC, the Wijaya family, APP, and Domtar/Paper Excellence to focus all their efforts and resources – with urgency - to successfully and quickly remedy past environmental and social damages that APP and its subsidiaries have caused, and eventually be eligible for FSC certification again. This is critical for nature and people who have been affected by these damages.