Greenpeace calls for investigation into Sinarmas dealings

Associated Press in Washington Post
December 20, 2017
Category: Business & Politics
Region: International

JAKARTA, Indonesia — The environmental group Greenpeace has called for an investigation into the relationship between paper giant Sinarmas and its wood suppliers after The Associated Press found substantial ties between them despite the Indonesian conglomerate’s assertions the suppliers are independent. Among the suppliers described as independent are plantation companies accused of responsibility for devastating fires in Indonesia in 2015 that the World Bank estimated caused losses of $16 billion and which a Harvard and Columbia study said hastened 100,000 deaths. AP’s investigation also found that a plantation company owned by two Sinarmas Forestry employees has been cutting down tropical forest in Borneo since 2014 and that Sinarmas is recruiting a new wood supplier that is in conflict with dozens of villages.

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