Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) is to sell paper and board made from PEFC-certified Indonesian wood fibre for the first time. 

The move, expected by the end of the year, follows the award of Indonesian Forestry Certification Cooperation (IFCC) certification to cover 306,400 hectares of APP suppliers’ plantations.

A further 1m hectares is in the final stages of certification, the group of paper and pulp manufacturers in Indonesia and China said. Previously APP imported its PEFC supply. The certification is the latest step in APP’s initiative to rehabilitate its reputation, launched in 2013, by halting use of virgin rainforest and pushing for the end of all deforestation on the archipelago.

It has since started work with “critical partner” NGOs such as Greenpeace and the Indonesian government in a bid to become 100% certified. In February, the Rainforest Alliance concluded APP had “many building blocks essential for change” in place but that there was still much to achieve in implementation of policies in the field.

The group has developed an online ‘dashboard’ so customers can track where their supply comes from. In the short term, the company, which has 15 mills in Indonesia and China, with another under construction plans to focus on developing products, some bespoke, in its core market of graphical board for packaging applications. Currently this represents 75% of APPs European sales, saving its lower-return commodity products for home markets.

“The Rainforest Alliance report was critical. We were social pariahs and environmental pariahs among certain groups and we’ve had a complete mindset gear change,”  said European director, sustainability Lee Henderson.  “We’ve had to introduce these measures not only from a commercial point of view but also from a business health and vitality point of view. We want to be here. We want to have a sustainable business for the next 80 or 100 years.”