Asia Pulp & Paper

Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) is an Indonesian pulp and paper company based in Jakarta, Indonesia. One of the largest pulp and paper companies in the world, it was founded as Tjiwi Kimia by Eka Tjipta Widjaja in 1972. Asia Pulp & Paper is a subsidiary of Sinar Mas Group and was officially formed in 1994 when Sinar combined its paper and pulp operations from Tjiwi Kimia and PT Inda Kiat Pulp & Paper.

History

Asia Pulp & Paper was founded as Tjiwi Kimia by Eka Tjipta Widjaja who at the time was a refiner of coconut oil. In 1972 he started Pabrik Kertas Tjiwi Kimia along with Taiwanese investors with the purpose of making paper.[1] Widjaja was already operating what became known as Sinar Mas Group, and started Tjiwi Kimia based on his success in commodities.[2]

In December 1976, Indah Kiat was formed as a joint venture between CV Berkat (an Indonesian company), Chung Hwa Pulp Corporation, and Yuen Foong Yu Paper Manufacturing Company. Sinar Mas acquired 67 per cent of the venture's total shares.

Operations

Activist criticism

Asia Pulp & Paper has been the focus of campaigns by groups like Greenpeace and Rainforest Action Network, including accusations by Greenpeace of logging natural forests.[10][11]

Asia Pulp & Paper has entered into agreements with NGOs for monitoring of its sustainability practices. As a result of the announcement of APP's zero deforestation plan, Greenpeace, Rainforest Action Network and other NGOs welcomed the company's Forest Conservation Policy while expressing cautious optimism.[12] Greenpeace also agreed to halt its global campaign against APP and open discussions to ensure that the company properly implements its policy.[13]

In 2003, APP signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the World Wildlife Fund. This ended six months later based on WWF refusing to approve the environmental management plan.[14] APP entered into a five-year partnership with Rainforest Alliance in 2005 to identify and monitoring high conservation areas. The agreement was terminated in 2007,[15] but Rainforest Alliance re-engaged with APP in 2014 to evaluate the progress of its conservation policy.[16][17][18] In September 2015, the Singaporean National Environment Agency (NEA) named APP as one of five companies possibly responsible for the 2015 Southeast Asian Haze.[19] The Singapore Environment Council instituted a temporary restriction on the use of Singapore Green label certifications for APP products in response, causing companies such as NTUC FairPrice to pull products sourced by APP.[20] In response, APP implemented better fire suppression strategies, by investing US$100 million in an Integrated Fire Management System which claimed to reduce forest fires since 2015[21]

Sustainability

In 2012, APP announced its Sustainability Roadmap Vision 2020 plan. The company pledged to be wholly reliant on raw materials from plantations and have all its suppliers operate by High Conservation Value Forest (HCVF) standards by 2015, using independent audits to track progress.[24][25][26] By 2012, all of APP's Indonesian mills had received SVLK timber legality certification, which is the Indonesian Timber Legality Assurance System, designed to ensure the mills only receive and process timber from legal sources, and that all products exported from the country are traceable to verifiable points of origin. Following such, APP was authorized by the European Commission to import fiber products.[27]

By February 2013, APP had halted the clearing of natural forests across its supply chain.[28][29]

Conservation

In 2010, APP created Senepis Buluhala Tiger Sanctuary, a 106,000-hectare sanctuary to help conserve the endangered Sumatran tiger.[36]

APP continues construction and logging in Sumatra's Kampar peninsula. In February 2013, APP committed to improving forest conservation, which it dubbed its Forest Conservation Policy. However, from 2013 to the present, APP also planned and/or implemented several major expansions to increase production capacity. Because overcapacity has been linked to negative environmental and social impacts, APP partners raised concerns that the commitments outlined in the Forest Conservation Policy could not be met.[37]

In response to these concerns, APP commissioned an independent study to analyze whether it would be able to meet its commitments. According to APP, the September 2014 unpublished results from The Growth & Yield – Wood Supply Study "confirmed that Asia Pulp and Paper Group (APP) has sufficient plantation resources to meet the pulp requirements of its existing mills as well as its future mill in OKI, South Sumatra". However, since the results were never published it is not possible to verify the results of the study, nor can the claim of independence be verified.[38]

type	Private
founder	Eka Tjipta Widjaja, Singgih Wahab Kwik (Kowik)
area served	Worldwide
industry	Pulp and paper
products	Packaging, paper, tissue
parent	Sinar Mas Group
homepage	https://app.co.id/