A landmark joint investigation by Agence France-Presse (AFP) and non-profit investigative outlet The Gecko Project has uncovered massive deforestation of critically endangered orangutan habitat in Indonesian Borneo, linked to a supply chain that produces purportedly carbon-neutral packaging for major global consumer brands.
The clearing, which took place across nearly 30,000 hectares of biodiverse rainforest in Central Kalimantan Province — an area almost three times the size of Paris — has unfolded between 2016 and 2024, according to satellite imagery analysis, government audit documents, trade records, and on-the-ground reporting from the investigation team. The timber is sourced from government-permitted industrial plantations, processed at Indonesia’s Phoenix Resources International (PRI) mill, and then shipped to pulp and paper manufacturer Asia Symbol, a subsidiary of Singapore-based multinational conglomerate Royal Golden Eagle (RGE).
For years, RGE has positioned itself as a leader in sustainable supply chain management: the conglomerate pledged to eliminate deforestation from its operations by 2015, secured a $1 billion sustainability-linked loan in 2024, and is actively lobbying to regain Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification, which labels products as responsibly sourced. Asia Symbol, which supplies packaging to global pharmaceutical giant Haleon — maker of household brands Panadol and Sensodyne — also maintains a public no-deforestation policy.
The investigation’s findings directly contradict these high-profile sustainability pledges. Analysts traced pulp from plantations that cleared old-growth rainforest, home to the last remaining populations of Bornean orangutans, all the way to Asia Symbol’s production facilities in China. Satellite data confirms that thousands of hectares of natural forest have been cleared to make way for fast-growing acacia and eucalyptus plantations operated by Industrial Forest Plantation (IFP), one of the top suppliers to the PRI mill. Trade data and ship tracking confirm that PRI has regularly shipped pulp to Asia Symbol’s Chinese mills since January 2025, with one 2024 shipment even celebrated with a formal welcome ceremony and ceremonial cannons at the Chinese port of Rugao.
The environmental and human cost of the clearing has been severe for local communities. Indigenous and local residents who have relied on the Bornean rainforest for generations have lost access to traditional farming land and hunting grounds, with displaced residents forced to relocate to find work. Many families report that promised compensation for seized land has never materialized. Intact tree cover that once absorbed heavy rainfall has been removed, leading to a sharp increase in frequent and destructive flooding across the region. Local residents also report rising concerns over water pollution from plantation runoff, making once-safe river water unsafe to drink.
“My eyes well up remembering how it was,” Agau, 69-year-old secretary of Humbang Raya village located inside the IFP concession, told AFP investigators. “It’s hard to find anything like it used to be. Our lives, our livelihood here, depend on the forest that we have. That is our only hope.” Ika Magdalena, a pregnant mother of three who lost her farm to the concession, added: “They’ve already damaged our crops, and they don’t want to take responsibility. It breaks our hearts, but they just stay silent.”
Local government officials defended the concession, noting that IFP has not committed any formal violations of Indonesian forestry law and contributes tax revenue and reforestation funds to the region. But environmental campaigners say the permits prioritize corporate profit over community and ecological health, with almost none of the economic benefits of the concession reaching local residents. “Communities lose sources of livelihood, both food and income, and there are no alternative options,” said Bayu Herinata of the Central Kalimantan branch of Indonesian environmental group WALHI.
In response to the investigation’s findings, Asia Symbol stated that it is committed to its no-deforestation policy and has launched a focused review of its sourcing from the PRI mill, noting that the complexity of global supply chains “creates real due diligence challenges.” The company also claimed that its carbon-neutral packaging produced for Haleon did not include pulp from the PRI mill, but failed to provide evidence of how it segregates pulp from different sources. IFP and PRI did not respond to multiple requests for comment from investigators.
Environmental advocates say the case exposes a pattern of greenwashing by RGE, which has faced repeated allegations of deforestation and land conflict over the past decade. The company’s attempt to regain FSC certification stalled last year following allegations that affiliate staff attacked an Indigenous community, and a 2023 acknowledgement of deforestation in two other supply chain concessions never resulted in the promised policy changes. “Their commitments are nothing more than greenwashing to convince their buyers that they are cleaning up their act,” said Grant Rosoman, senior forest campaign advisor for Greenpeace International.
Robin Averbeck, forest programme director at the Rainforest Action Network, added that RGE has leveraged its unfulfilled sustainability pledges to access billions of dollars in discounted green financing from global banks. “The findings of this investigation indicate that RGE is still very much in the business of deforestation,” Averbeck said.
Following the release of the investigation, UK-based Haleon announced it would cut all ties with Asia Symbol. While the company stated its own internal investigations found no evidence of deforestation-linked material in its supply chain, it said it was “nevertheless very concerned by the allegations” and has ordered its suppliers to exclude all material from Asia Symbol and any other plantation linked to deforestation risk.
Indonesia consistently ranks among the countries with the highest annual tree cover loss globally, according to Global Forest Watch. Deforestation in the country not only threatens endangered species like the Bornean orangutan and undermines global climate goals, but also increases the risk of deadly natural disasters. Last year, deforestation-fueled floods and landslides killed more than 1,000 people across Sumatra, a disaster the Indonesian government publicly acknowledged was worsened by forest loss, yet no major policy changes to curb deforestation have been implemented nationwide.