& paper company s logo type private industry pulp and paper founder eka tjipta widjaja singgih wahab kwik kowik area served worldwide products packaging paper tissue parent sinar mas group website asiapulppaper.com asia pulp & paper also known in the paper industry as app based in jakarta indonesia is one of the largest pulp and paper companies in the world . 1 it was founded by eka tjipta widjaja with the help of co founder singgih wahab kwik kowik who was also the adviser of the previous owners of indah kiat and former head of commissary and deputy of sinar mas group who had significant ties to the soeharto ruling family in indonesia . with 14 major companies in indonesia and china app has a current annual combined pulp paper and packaging grade capacity of more than 18 million tons per year and markets its products to more than 120 countries across six continents . 2 contents 1 history 1.1 sustainability roadmap vision 2020 and forest conservation policy 2 indah kiat perawang 3 financial issues 4 environmental issues and the sustainability roadmap vision 2020 4.1 ngo and activist criticism 4.2 previous greenpeace campaigns 4.2.1 mattel 4.2.2 sumatran tiger incident 4.2.3 ramin logging 4.3 operational criticism 5 see also 6 references 7 external links history edit asia pulp & paper app has its roots in 1972 when eka tjipta widjaja founded a small caustic soda manufacturer called tjiwi kimia . in 1978 tjiwi kimia commenced paper production of 12 000 tons year . 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 ltd. from taiwan . in april 1979 indah kiat tangerang mill s paper machine 1 and 2 started with a production of 100 tons day of wood free paper . by march 1984 indah kiat perawang mill s pulp machine 1 started producing bleached hardwood kraft pulp with an initial capacity of 250 tons day . in may 1986 sinar mas group acquired 67 % of indah kiat s total shares by the order of singgih wahab kwik kowik . chung hwa and yuen foong yu had 23 % and 10 % shares respectively . in 1987 the first cast coating machine installed at tjiwi kimia and in april 1990 tjiwi kimia was listed on the jakarta and surabaya stock exchange . in 1991 tjiwi kimia s pm 9 started operation with an annual capacity of 207 000 tons . the following year indah kiat acquired pt sinar dunia makmur a manufacturer of industrial paper located in serang with a production capacity of 900 tons day . tjiwi kimia commissioned the carbonless paper plant in march 1993 as an experiment . the company pindo deli under control of cpp in february 1994 and by 1997 its paper machine no. 8 and no. 9 would both have begun operation with production capacity of 240 000 tons per year . in 1998 paper machine no. 11 started tissue production in pindo deli with annual production capacity of 400 000 tons started to operate . app china began investing in china in 1992 with an emphasis on the yangtze and pearl river deltas . app china s pulp and paper mills now include ningbo zhonghua goldeast paper ningbo asia gold huasheng gold hongye hainan jinhai pulp and paper and guangxi jingui pulp & paper . 3 app china was registered in singapore in october 1994 . app china employs over 37 000 people and created 5 000 new jobs in 2009 . 4 on 4 january 2016 asia pulp and paper announced that it had hired jose raymond as its vice president of corporate affairs singapore . jose raymond was the former chief executive of the singapore environment council who had also served as senior director of corporate communications and stakeholder management at the singapore sports hub . 5 sustainability roadmap vision 2020 and forest conservation policy edit on june 5 2012 app announced its sustainability roadmap vision 2020 plan in which the company pledged to be wholly reliant on raw materials from plantations and that all its suppliers must operate by high conservation value forest hcvf standards by 2015 following independent audits . 6 7 8 as part of the company s roadmap on 14 november 2012 app announced that all nine of its indonesian mills had received svlk timber legality certification which is the indonesian timber legality assurance system a rigorous chain of custody process 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 . app was the first indonesian business to fully achieve svlk compliance which allowed the company and the country of indonesia to be recognized by the european commission as importing legal fiber products . 9 on 5 february 2013 app announced its forest conservation policy which included an immediate halt of natural forest clearance across its entire supply chain . 10 11 12 app also revealed a partnership with the non profit organisation the forest trust 13 which is assisting the company with high conservation value hcv and high carbon stock hcs assessments to identify forested areas for protection . tft worked with app and greenpeace to design app s forest conservation policy and will be monitoring and reporting on app s progress towards achieving its commitments . in addition app s policy specifically welcomes third party observers to verify the implementation a first for app and for the industry . 14 as a result of the announcement of its zero deforestation plan greenpeace rainforest action network and other ngos expressed cautious optimism and welcomed the company s forest conservation policy . 15 greenpeace also agreed to halt its global campaign against app and open discussions to ensure that the company properly implements its policy . 16 on 5 june 2013 app announced an absolute deadline of 31 august 2013 for all natural forest wood felled prior to 1 february 2013 to be accepted at its pulp mills . 17 18 app also launched a pilot online monitoring dashboard which provides access to updated technical information to enable stakeholders and third parties to actively review its progress towards implementing the forest conservation policy . 19 on 5 february 2014 app launched its forest conservation policy fcp anniversary report with a call for ngos governments and businesses to work together in to help tackle deforestation in indonesia . 20 21 that same day app hosted an event in jakarta where it welcomed its supporters and critics . the panel was moderated by mongabay s rhett butler who stated my initial take away from the discussion is that sentiment toward app in the ngo community is generally improving as a result of its forestry conservation policy and its apparent greater openness . 22 norwegian ambassador to indonesia stig traavik stated that app s intentions presented in its sustainability policy are commendable and that app has been willing to open up for external review . initial reports about implementation and ability to address problems as they arise are encouraging . 23 on 5 february 2015 app recognised the 2nd anniversary of its forest conservation policy fcp with an independent evaluation completed by the rainforest alliance . the report concluded that app had achieved varying levels of success on its four main conservation targets with moderate success overall . 24 app confirmed that the rainforest alliance findings informed their 2015 fcp implementation plan in media statements following the report s release . app also stated that the company would improve measures as lessons were learned from implementation . 25 indah kiat perawang edit indah kiat perawang is app s largest pulp mill in indonesia . pulp is sold to app paper mills in indonesia and china . indah kiat perawang was increasing its pulp production from 2 million tonnes in 2009 to an estimated 2.3 million in 2010 2011 . 26 financial issues edit in 1994 the company moved its headquarters from indonesia to singapore and began to borrow money to expand aggressively . it was soon heavily leveraged ; from 1996 to 1998 it only produced 1.5 times as much cash flow as its interest costs . 27 in march 2001 during the asian debt crises it defaulted on its debt most of which was subsequently rescheduled at lower values . 28 in november 2003 jakarta based subsidiary indah kiat sued the underwriter and holders of an issue of debt in united states dollars it had issued in 1994 under new york law ; it sued however in indonesia and in february 2007 the indonesian court declared the debt invalid . 29 environmental issues and the sustainability roadmap vision 2020 edit ngo and activist criticism edit various ngos have criticized app on environmental grounds . according to a friends of the earth report from 2005 app has cleared over 280 000 hectares of rainforest in the past decade and planned to cut another 300 000 over the next five years . 30 the company has been at the center of many environmental controversies and has been accused of being involved in illegal logging in cambodia and in indonesia . the company is also known for defaulting on debt repayments in 2001 during a period of wide scale financial problems in the south east asia region . 31 in 2003 app signed a memorandum of understanding with the world wildlife fund but this ended six months later after wwf refused to approve the environmental management plan and questioned the figures app was supplying . 32 despite the failure of the wwf partnership app entered into a five year partnership with rainforest alliance in 2005 . this partnership was supposed to allow rainforest alliance to identify and monitor high conservation value forest within four concessions managed by app in pulau muda serapung siak and bukit batu and provide independent verification statements to attest to the scope and results of the company s efforts to protect these high conservation value areas . rainforest alliance made a number of requests for changes in the management of these areas in the first year of the contract and found that the situation had deteriorated by late 2006 and some areas had been cleared leading rainforest alliance to terminate the agreement in february 2007 stating the company has not demonstrated a comprehensive consistent or dedicated approach toward conservation management necessary to maintain or enhance the forest ecosystems fundamental to the survival of the high conservation value forests present there . 33 in february 2014 the rainforest alliance announced it will evaluate the progress of app s forest conservation policy and commitments including its pledge to stop clearing natural forests across it supply chains in indonesia . upon re engaging with app richard donovan the organization s vice president of forestry said there is strong commitment at the highest levels of the organization which signals that app is serious this time around . 34 35 in november 2007 forest stewardship council fsc formally disassociated itself with app rescinding the rights of app to use its logo . on the termination of all ties with the fsc in 2007 a spokesman for wwf commented apparently the company has decided to run a global propaganda campaign rather than protect forests with high conservation values . 36 in march 2008 an investigation by an environmental coalition called eyes on the forest 37 showed evidence of a new road built by app heading through the kampar peninsula one of the world s largest contiguous tropical peat swamp forests with more carbon per hectare than any other ecosystem on earth . the investigation found tracks on the new road of the critically endangered sumatran tiger whose wild population has been reduced to less than 500 individuals . app claimed that it was building this state of the art paved highway for the benefit of