Asia Pacific Resources International Limited (APRIL) has hired the former director general (DG) of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), Kim Carstensen, as senior sustainability advisor, Eco-Business has learnt.
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The Indonesian pulp and paper company, which been criticised for alleged deforestation and human rights violations, has been actively working to reassociate itself with the forest products eco-certifier. Carstensen’s appointment could be instrumental in helping the company work towards re-certification.
APRIL’s parent company, Royal Golden Eagle (RGE), confirmed the news and said Carstensen joins a group of senior advisors that it engages “to deepen expertise and provide independent perspectives across our businesses.”
Carstensen’s advisory role will be effective across the RGE group, a company source confirmed.
Although Carstensen stepped down from the top job at FSC in December 2024, he remains an individual member of the organisation. This means he can vote in electing members to the board of directors and on policy motions.
In response to questions about a potential conflict of interest in Carstensen’s appointment, FSC told Eco-Business that its members’ meetings are conducted under Chatham House rules, so it could not disclose details about members’ attendance or any statements they may have made during these meetings.
Non-government groups have previously voiced concern over FSC’s conflict of interest policy, most recently concerning the appointment of a legal firm used by FSC-certified Canadian forestry giant Paper Excellence to investigate the same firm’s potential ties to Asia Pulp & Paper, an Indonesian pulpwood company with a checkered environmental track record.
FSC banned APRIL from using its famous trademark in 2013 after complaints from non-government organisations (NGOs) concerning deforestation and human rights violations in its supply chain. At the time, APRIL said it had left the certification scheme of its own volition, as it was in the “in the process of plantation establishment” and did not qualify for a policy that required no land conversion over a five-year period.
In 2020, APRIL sent an “acknowledgement of harm” letter to FSC, in which it committed to remediate for past harm in Riau, Indonesia, where it has operated since the early 1990s. Then FSC managing director, Carstensen called the remediation process “highly significant for the forests of Indonesia and the people who depend on them.”
APRIL signed a memorandum of understanding with FSC in 2023, initiating a process to end their disassociation and work towards regaining FSC certification, which is considered the gold standard among wood products eco-labels.
NGOs have objected to the reassociation process, citing evidence that implicates APRIL’s parent company, Indonesian conglomerate Royal Golden Eagle (RGE), in ongoing deforestation and conflict with local communities, which violates the company’s no-deforestation, peatlands or exploitation (NDPE) pledge made in 2015.
Recertification of APRIL by FSC would amount to “greenwashing on an industrial scale,” NGOs Earthsight and Auriga Nusantara said last year.
The most recent investigation into RGE by Greenpeace, links the company and its Tanoto family owners to “shadow” companies, some of which it alleges are responsible for forest loss in Indonesia.
RGE has denied these connections.
RGE said the investigation repeated past “unsubstantiated” claims that the company has addressed and refuted, adding that the allegations stem from a desire among NGOs to sabotage APRIL’s efforts to get certified by FSC.
Carstensen retired from FSC in April after more than 12 years as director general. He was replaced by former Reserve Bank of India and United Nations executive Dr Subhra Bhattacharjee.
Under Carstensen’s leadership, the organisation grew to certify land covering nearly 216 million hectares of land in 89 countries. It established FSC Investment & Partnerships, FSC’s investment arm, and the FSC Indigenous Foundation, set up to serve the protect the interests of Indigenous peoples and their lands.
He also oversaw the organisation through controversy. An investigation by Earthsight in 2021 found problems at FSC-certified concessions ranging from forest destruction to human rights abuses. NGOs said these problems stem from flaws that enable rogue companies to benefit from certification.
Before joining FSC, the Dane spent more than a decade as CEO of WWF Denmark. He started out with the conservation group as a programme officer in the late 1980s.
