In June 2012, Asia’s largest paper company, Asia Pulp & Paper Group, published its sustainability strategy and goals for the next decade in the Sustainability Roadmap Vision 2020. Addressing environmental performance, biodiversity conservation, and the protection of community rights, the landmark roadmap represents AP&P’s attempt to develop its own certification standards for responsible forestry based on international best practices. Unique to its strategy is the roadmap’s transparency: Not only did AP&P solicit input from a multitude of NGOs—some of which, like Greenpeace, have been highly critical of its forestry practices in the past—but it also invited those NGOs to monitor its progress.
Among the main goals cited by the roadmap in relation to fiber sourcing are the following:
• 100% independent third-party verification for pulpwood legality
• Zero use of High Conservation Value Fiber (HCVF)
• Use of 100% plantation wood for its pulp production
• Use of 100% Sustainable Forest Management (SFM)-certified pulpwood
• Maintenance of a sustainable proportion of recovered fiber in addition to renewable virgin fiber
