A major wood-pulp company is misleading the public over its commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions through a carbon conservation project in Sumatra, claims Greenomics, an Indonesian activist group.
Greenomics says Asia Pulp & Paper’s carbon conservation project on the Kampar Peninsula—announced with much fanfare in early October—is little more than “an attempt to dupe the public into believing that the company is ‘going green.'” Greenomics said PT Putra Riau Perkasa, a supplier of Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), never intended to develop the land for pulp plantations because the company concluded “the land satisfied all the legal requirements for designation as a protected zone.” Therefore APP’s claim that it is voluntarily setting aside the land for conservation is without merit, according to the group.
Greenomics says APP could face “legal consequences” over its claims.
The charge comes at a difficult time for APP, one of Indonesia’s largest pulp and paper suppliers. The APP brand has suffered a wave of customer defections due to complaints over its environmental record in Sumatra, which has lost about half of its natural forest cover since 1985, according to an assessment released this week by WWF. APP has also been criticized for greenwashing, including the use of front groups to launch public attacks on companies that have dropped its products and NGOs that have raised concerns about its environmental conduct.
APP maintains it is committed to cleaning up its operations.
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