Indonesian Forestry Titan Royal Golden Eagle has failed to adhere to no-deforestation commitments, creating liability for global brands and banks still doing business with the rogue company
Nearly two years after being exposed for driving deforestation in one of the most important forests left on the planet – the Singkil Bengkung region of Indonesia’s Leuser Ecosystem – major brands and banks are once again implicated for failing to end deforestation in their palm oil supply chains and financial portfolios.
The notorious forestry titan Royal Golden Eagle (RGE), connected to a vast web of international banks and brands, has been caught sourcing from a palm oil mill and producer that have been expelled from much of the global palm oil marketplace due to breaches of anti-deforestation and peatland destruction policies.
This latest investigation by Rainforest Action Network (RAN) proves that RGE Group remains one of the most controversial actors in the Indonesian forestry and palm oil sectors.
Despite its failure to adhere to No Deforestation, No Peatland and No Exploitation (NDPE) policies, RGE Group continues to supply palm oil to Unilever, Kao, Procter and Gamble, PepsiCo, Mondelēz, Nestlé and Colgate-Palmolive, as well as receive financing from MUFG, ABN Amro, and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC).
RGE Group’s palm oil arm APICAL also maintains its joint venture partnership with Kao despite its proven sourcing of Conflict Palm Oil from producers destroying the last habitat for Sumatran elephants and orangutans in the Leuser Ecosystem.
The forests of the Singkil-Bengkung region are home to the highest density population of Sumatran orangutans left on the planet.
Major brands and banks are complicit in driving the destruction of this orangutan capital of the world.
RAN’s undercover field investigators have collected evidence showing that oil palm fruits grown in the plantation operated by the rogue palm oil company PT.
Laot Bangko has been harvested and transported to a discredited mill operated by PT.
Global Sawit Semesta. In turn, PT. Global Sawit Semesta has sold the crude palm oil to a refinery operated by RGE’s palm oil arm.
This is the second time in a year that RGE Group has been exposed for its role in the destruction of the Leuser Ecosystem.