The existing links between the buyer of Resolute and a company already excluded from FSC environmental certification, Asia Pulp
The environmentalist pressure group Greenpeace Canada and its counterpart in Indonesia, Auriga Nusantara, are calling on one of the most influential global standards bodies in sustainable forestry, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), to dissociate itself from the company Paper Excellence – recent purchaser of Domtar and Resolute Forest Products in Canada – due to its shareholder relationship with a company already excluded from the FSC, Asia Pulp
In a complaint filed with the FSC, and made public Wednesday morning, Greenpeace Canada and Auriga Nusantara maintain that “the FSC has formally dissociated itself from Asia Pulp
Citing “tangible and irrefutable evidence” accumulated over the past two years, Greenpeace Canada and Auriga Nusantara call on the FSC to “publicly recognize the corporate links between Paper Excellence and APP and to take appropriate measures to also disassociate itself from Paper Excellence and of its affiliated companies”, including Resolute Forest Products and Domtar in Canada and the United States.
According to information collected by Greenpeace, Paper Excellence has grown considerably in recent years through major acquisitions in the forest products industry in North America and Europe.
According to Greenpeace, this privately owned Asian-owned company now owns 42 pulp, paper and lumber mills in Canada, the United States and France that are certified to FSC sustainable forestry standards. .
In Canada alone, according to Greenpeace, “Paper Excellence is now present in five provinces and manages some 22 million hectares of forests, including approximately 7.3 million hectares in Quebec and Ontario that are certified [to FSC standards] . »
Greenpeace also maintains that, since its acquisition of Resolute Forest Products at the beginning of the year, “Paper Excellence even sits on the board of directors of FSC Canada” through the seat previously occupied by Resolute.
However, still according to Greenpeace, “the FSC association policy prohibits companies linked to dissociated companies from obtaining its certification. This policy specifically includes parent companies, subsidiaries and sister companies.”
In the opinion of Shane Moffatt, campaign manager at Greenpeace Canada, the FSC must “recognize that Paper Excellence and Asia Pulp
“To maintain its credibility, we expect the FSC to apply its own policies and dissociate itself from Paper Excellence,” says Timer Manurung, director of Auriga Nusantara.
“Just like people in Indonesia, Canadians deserve to know that Paper Excellence’s sister company, Asia Pulp
Called to comment on these demands from Greenpeace Canada and Auriga Nusantara with regard to Paper Excellence, the CEO of the Canadian section of the FSC, François Dufresne, told La Presse that the situation of Paper Excellence was already the subject of ‘review on a regular basis’ mainly due to its growth in the forest products industry.
But as for his ties to Asia Pulp
“If Greenpeace has new information to communicate to us in this regard, we are obviously very interested in learning about it, as are our many members or interlocutors in the forestry sector,” indicated the CEO of FSC Canada.
