World's Largest Viscose Producers Royal Golden Eagle / Sateri Ravaging Indonesia's Endangered Rainforests

The Details: This investigation reveals that RGE’s pulp mill in China has been using wood from companies that have recently cleared large tracts of tropical rainforest in Kalimantan, Indonesia’s territory on the island of Borneo. 

• Much of the rainforest, before it was destroyed, was habitat for endangered Bornean orangutans, according to data published by Indonesia’s Ministry of Environment and Forestry. 
• Evidence presented in this report has been obtained through analysis of satellite imagery, and the review of shipment-level trade data, vessel tracking reports and supplier disclosure data. 
• The investigation found that in 2021 and 2022, Asia Symbol’s pulp and paper mill in Rizhao, China, received wood from companies in Borneo that cleared tropical rainforest via PT Balikpapan Chip Lestari, a woodchip mill in Kalimantan linked to RGE. 
• Since June 2015, when RGE’s Forestry, Fibre, Pulp & Paper Sustainability Framework – which prohibits deforestation – took effect, suppliers to this woodchip mill have cleared 37,105 ha of natural forest in Central, East, and North Kalimantan according to Nusantara Atlas, amounting to an area over half the size of Singapore. 
• Neither of the parties responsible for monitoring APRIL’s implementation of its own sustainability policies – namely, its Stakeholder Advisory Committee (SAC) and the global accounting firm KPMG – has publicly reported this deforestation in the RGE supply chain. 
• Both the SAC and KPMG issue regular reports on APRIL’s sustainability performance in the pulp sector. In response to the findings of this report, both SAC and KPMG denied it was their responsibility to monitor and report on the activities of RGE Group companies other than APRIL. 
• One of the SAC’s co-chairs, Dr. Jeffrey Sayer, responded that most of the issues raised “fall outside of the SAC mandate, but they are none the less of interest and we will continue to review them at our future meetings. The issues will be on the agenda for our face to face meeting in June of this year.” KPMG responded, “The scope of our assessment does not include the broader RGE Group or other mills. _ how will this quote be placed?
• Also located in China, RGE-owned Sateri has emerged as the world’s largest producer of viscose fibre. Sateri’s customers apparently include textile retailers around the world, including well-known fashion brands and household retailers. 
• In 2020, Sateri, in collaboration with Asia Symbol, commenced production of lyocell, a wood pulp-based textile produced in a closed-loop process with more environmentally-friendly chemicals than conventional viscose rayon.

About RGE: RGE, through its companies Sateri and Asia Pacific Rayon, is the world’s largest producer of viscose, a material made from dissolving wood pulp which is used in the manufacture of synthetic textiles for clothing and other products. 

• RGE is also a leading producer in the global pulp, paper and packaging sectors through its subsidiaries Asia Pacific Resources International Limited (APRIL) in Indonesia, Asia Symbol in China, and Bracell in Brazil. 

WHAT THEY SAID:

The Phoenix mill is expected to drive the development of large areas of monoculture pulpwood plantations, placing pressures on natural forests. The demand for wood to feed this mill threatens communities in these regions, as well as biodiversity loss and greenhouse gas emissions. This mill is a flashing red-alert signal for a new wave of industrial-scale deforestation, this time in Kalimantan and Papua. In Sumatra, the demand for wood from mega-scale pulp mills drove catastrophic and irreversible deforestation.

— Syahrul Fitra
Senior Forest Campaigner
Greenpeace Indonesia

RGE’s role in forest destruction is only made possible by those bankrolling and excusing their destructive practices. RGE’s top 15 banks have pumped more than USD 5 billion into the group’s forest-sector operations since 2016. For example, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group has provided more than USD 430 million — despite the bank having policies against financing deforestation. Meanwhile, the Forest Stewardship Council is pushing to bring APRIL back into the FSC system despite these links to ongoing deforestation. These banks and other facilitators must stop willfully ignoring the deforestation which remains part of RGE’s business model.

— Tom Picken
Campaign Director (Forests & Finance)
Rainforest Action Network 

The RGE Group and its subsidiaries, APRIL, Sateri, Asia Pacific Rayon, and Asia Symbol promised that RGE companies have eliminated deforestation in their supply chains, but this report shows that promise has not been kept. Ordinary people around the world are using these companies’ products in their everyday lives: the viscose is in clothes from global fashion brands, paper packaging in grocery stores, and tissue products in our kitchens and bathrooms.

— Sergio Baffoni
Senior Campaign Coordinator
Environmental Paper Network