Pulp Finance - Environmental Paper Network

‘Food estate’ projects eating up Indonesia’s forests: cascading threats on global environment and communities unveiled

Indonesia’s government recently announced plans for several new ‘food estate’ projects in Central Kalimantan, Papua and North Sumatra Provinces. Despite their name, these developments are not about securing ‘food’: a new report reveals that, once in place, they would wipe out hundreds of thousands of hectares of land, including some of the world’s last remaining […]

Social conflict, abuses and intimidation in the Jambi region, Indonesia – a chronology of pulp industry actions and events

Tension is increasing around global paper giant Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) pulpwood concessions in Indonesia. Lately, Indigenous communities have been facing recurrent acts of intimidation, criminalisation and episodes of violence have escalated, contributing to a climate of insecurity and constant threat. Despite a commitment taken back in 2013 to respect local communities land rights, […]

The cost of violence in Indonesia – new data indicate USD 1.2 to 10 billion risk from social conflicts involving pulp and paper suppliers

When they went to work in their gardens, the residents of Lubuk Mandarsah village in the Indonesian province of Jambi found drones flying over their crops and spraying poison. This is the way the pulp plantation company PT Wirakarya Sakti, a subsidiary of Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) resolved its conflict with the local community: […]

Uruguayan citizens opposing UPM’s new pulp mill appeal to the Finnish government

In Uruguay, the citizen opposition to a new pulp mill planned by the Finnish paper giant UPM continues to grow. Last Friday, a citizen movement calling itself as the “national coordination of social organisations against UPM”, representing more than 40 organisations and campaigning under #UPM2NO, went to the Consulate of Finland in Uruguay. They handed […]

UPM’s Paso de los Toros mill poses financial and reputational risks

In Uruguay, protests are rising against the installation of UPM’s planned new pulp mill project in Paso de los Toros. There has been strong social criticism on the conditions of the contract that the government signed with UPM, on the expected impacts of the pulp mill as well as on the impacts of the associate […]

Green bonds used to finance damaging industrial tree plantations

Green Bonds are used to finance business-as-usual tree plantations and operations of the paper & pulp industry and claiming exaggerated CO2 savings, a new briefing by the Environmental Paper Network (EPN) shows. The briefing presents a case study of a Green Bond issued by the Brazilian pulp & paper giant Fibria, even though the company […]

Warning issued to investors: Forest biomass is risky business

Briefing by environmental groups highlights serious financial, legal and reputational risks 02 May 2019 – The Environmental Paper Network, Global Forest Coalition and Biofuelwatch have today issued a Briefing to investors that highlights the serious reputational, regulatory, legal, and financial risks associated with bioenergy projects that rely on wood from forests and tree plantations. The […]

Uruguayan and Finnish organisations issue statement against UPM’s plans for new pulp mill in Uruguay

Uruguayan and Finnish social and environmental organisations released a joint statement last week stating their opposition to the plans of the Finnish pulp and paper company UPM to build a new pulp mill in Uruguay (UPM also has an existing mill in Fray Bentos). This new mill would have a capacity of around 2 million […]