APP’s Regenesis: Can Forest Conservation and Industrial Growth Move Together?

A visit to APP Group’s forestry and manufacturing operations in Indonesia offered a closer look at the company’s approach to forest protection, decarbonisation, community development and sustainable packaging. Its commitments are substantial, but progress will ultimately be judged by measurable results across its operations and supply chain.

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Plantation forestry, fire prevention, wildlife conservation and industrial manufacturing may appear to be separate activities. For a major pulp and paper producer, however, they are closely connected. Fiber supply depends on plantation productivity; forestry practices influence the surrounding landscape; mills require significant energy and water; and customers increasingly expect evidence of responsible sourcing and lower environmental impact.

These connections were central to APP Group’s 2026 Indonesia Media Tour, during which Pulp and Paper Chronicle visited forestry research and nursery facilities, fire-management infrastructure, an arboretum, a community development programme and manufacturing operations. Discussions in Jakarta also covered the company’s sustainability strategy, packaging business and preparations for evolving customer and regulatory requirements.

One initiative ran through much of the programme: Regenesis, APP’s sustainability platform launched in September 2025. It brings together the company’s stated ambitions for forest restoration, biodiversity protection, community livelihoods and collaboration across the value chain.

APP has committed US$30 million annually over the next 10 years to initiatives intended to deliver benefits in these areas. The platform builds on the company’s Sustainability Roadmap Vision 2030 (SRV 2030) and its earlier forest-conservation commitments.

The ambition is broad. The more important question is how these commitments translate into operational decisions, measurable environmental outcomes and lasting benefits for communities.

From forest conservation to restoration

APP’s sustainability presentation traced its journey back to the establishment of its Environment Division in 2004. Subsequent milestones included the launch of its Forest Conservation Policy in 2012, the development of Sustainability Roadmap Vision 2020 and the introduction of SRV 2030 in 2020.

The company’s Forest Conservation Policy marked a significant point in its stated approach to fiber sourcing. APP said its pulpwood suppliers halted the conversion of natural forest to plantations in 2013. The company has since developed monitoring and management programmes covering forest protection, peatland, fire prevention and biodiversity.

Regenesis builds on that foundation. Its Forest Positive Policy is intended to extend the focus beyond preventing forest loss towards conservation and restoration across APP’s operations and value chain.

During the Jakarta briefing, company representatives described Regenesis as an overarching platform rather than a replacement for the existing sustainability roadmap. They also indicated that longer-term targets beyond 2030 were being considered, although these had not yet been finalised at the time of the presentation.

The distinction between conservation and restoration is important. Preventing the conversion of natural forest, protecting existing habitats and restoring degraded land involve different activities and require different measures of progress. A credible assessment needs to establish what is being protected or restored, how the condition of those areas is changing and how results are monitored over time.

For APP, this work takes place alongside the continued management of plantation fiber supply for its pulp, paper and packaging businesses.

Managing plantations and protected landscapes

APP’s presentation described a combined operational and supplier footprint exceeding 2.6 million hectares, including approximately 1.4 million hectares of production areas. The remaining land is allocated to conservation, restoration, community purposes and infrastructure, according to the company.

Representatives explained that the land is held under government-issued licences rather than owned outright by APP. Management therefore takes place within Indonesia’s concession and regulatory framework.

The company reported that approximately 600,000 hectares of natural forest within its concession areas have been designated as protected areas. It also reported that 38,000 hectares of critical peat dome areas had been restored and were being monitored by the government.

These figures illustrate the scale of the landscape-management responsibilities described during the briefing. They also point to a central issue for plantation-based industries: production areas cannot be considered independently of the forests, peatlands, wildlife habitats and communities around them.

APP said its fiber supply comes from sustainably managed plantations and highlighted plantation productivity as an important part of its forestry approach. Research, nursery management and the selection and performance of plantation trees can influence the amount of fiber produced from a given area.

Higher productivity can support the fiber supply chain, but it does not by itself demonstrate that a landscape is being managed sustainably. That assessment also depends on the protection of natural ecosystems, compliance by suppliers and the effectiveness of monitoring and corrective action.

The company’s approach therefore combines plantation management with measures intended to protect natural forests and other ecologically important areas.

Monitoring forests and managing fire risk

Satellite monitoring featured prominently in APP’s description of its forest-protection system. The company said it uses satellite imagery and automated alerts to identify changes in forest cover across protected areas within its own and supplier concessions.

Its presentation referred to Sentinel-1 synthetic aperture radar imagery with a stated spatial resolution of 10 metres. APP said the imagery is processed to help identify potential changes that may require further investigation.

The company also described its Forest Monitoring Dashboard, which provides public access to forest-cover-change information for supplier concession areas. According to the presentation, EY had been engaged to verify historical data for 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2024.

Such systems can extend monitoring across large and sometimes difficult-to-access areas. Their value, however, depends on what happens after an alert is generated: whether a change is investigated, whether its cause is established and whether corrective action follows where required.

Supplier oversight is another part of this process. APP said it assesses suppliers against a set of indicators and requires geolocation information and evidence of relevant policies and controls. During the sustainability discussion, representatives also described ending a supplier relationship after the supplier failed to align with the company’s policy requirements.

The approach reflects the importance of extending environmental expectations beyond a company’s directly managed operations. In a complex fiber supply chain, the effectiveness of a policy depends on its consistent application to suppliers as well as the quality of the information used to assess compliance.

Fire prevention presents a related challenge, particularly in Indonesia’s dry-season conditions and peatland landscapes.

During the tour, the programme included a visit to fire-management infrastructure. APP described an integrated system combining prevention, preparedness, detection and response. Its measures include fire towers, patrols, firefighting teams, satellite hotspot monitoring and coordination with government agencies.

The company reported that it had invested US$250 million in integrated fire management since 2015. It also stated that 0.007% of its total concession areas were affected by fire in 2025, against a target of keeping the fire-affected area below 2%.

These are APP-reported figures. Annual fire outcomes can also be influenced by weather, drought, peatland conditions and activities beyond individual concession boundaries. Long-term assessment therefore requires more than a single year’s result; it should consider prevention, response capability and trends across successive fire seasons.

Biodiversity and community livelihoods

Forest management also involves the species that depend on these landscapes and the people who live alongside them.

APP identified Sumatran tigers, Sumatran elephants and Bornean orangutans as priority species in its sustainability presentation. The company reported that more than 360 individuals of these species use its concession areas as roaming habitat.

Its described monitoring methods include camera traps, patrols, drones, GPS collars and collaboration with conservation partners. APP also discussed efforts to reduce human–wildlife conflict through community awareness, habitat connectivity and measures intended to support elephant movement.

These interventions address a practical problem in landscapes where industrial plantations, forest habitat and settlements coexist. Protecting a designated area is one part of conservation; maintaining habitat connectivity and reducing dangerous encounters between wildlife and people are separate challenges.

The company’s Regenesis platform also includes partnerships intended to support conservation and restoration at a broader landscape level. One initiative discussed during the briefing was PROTECT30, launched in February 2026 in the Bukit Tigapuluh landscape. APP described it as a collaborative programme linking conservation, restoration and community empowerment.

The initiative was presented as involving organisations including Proforest, WWF-Indonesia and local conservation partners. Specific project areas, partner responsibilities and restoration figures should be confirmed against official programme documentation before being reported in detail.

Alongside biodiversity, APP’s community development work focuses on the economic conditions that can influence how land is used.

During the tour, Pulp and Paper Chronicle visited a community programme associated with Desa Makmur Peduli Alam (DMPA). APP introduced the initiative in 2016 following the severe forest-fire events in Indonesia in 2015. According to the company, the programme aims to strengthen community livelihoods and reduce land conversion associated with fire.

Activities can include agriculture, fisheries, beekeeping and other locally relevant income-generating opportunities. The approach recognises that forest protection is connected to the availability of viable livelihoods and the ability of communities to participate in managing their local environment.

APP’s October 2026 presentation reported partnerships with 5,075 community groups as of the end of 2025, an increase of 78% compared with its 2020 baseline. The company also reported that 82% of DMPA beneficiary areas were free from, or had significantly reduced, fire incidents in 2025.

These figures describe the company’s reported programme reach and outcomes. Further evidence would be needed to assess how benefits are distributed, whether new livelihoods remain viable over time and how much changes in fire incidence can be attributed to the programme.

The underlying principle is straightforward: conservation measures are more likely to endure when they account for the needs and economic circumstances of the communities living in the landscape.

The manufacturing challenge: reducing emissions and resource use

The sustainability discussions in Jakarta also addressed the environmental footprint of pulp and paper manufacturing. Unlike forest-conservation programmes, which often operate over large areas, industrial decarbonisation requires changes to equipment, energy systems and operating practices at individual facilities.

APP’s SRV 2030 includes objectives relating to lower-carbon operations, energy efficiency, water use, waste reduction, fiber sourcing and product innovation.

In its presentation, the company reported the following performance indicators, with data stated as of December 2025:

• A 15% reduction in carbon intensity compared with 2018.

• 58% of the total energy mix from renewable fuels.

• A 5% reduction in energy intensity.

• An 18% reduction in water intensity.

• A 92% reduction in waste sent to landfill.

• Recycled fiber accounting for 47% of fiber composition.

APP also reported chemical oxygen demand emissions 19% below the applicable government regulatory level. These indicators are presented here as company-reported results and should be read within their respective calculation methods, baselines and reporting boundaries.

During the briefing, company representatives described differences in the energy profiles of individual mills. The OKI mill was said to obtain approximately 98% of its energy from renewable sources. Other facilities still rely partly on coal, and replacing existing systems can require substantial capital investment.

The discussion highlighted a challenge familiar to many industrial producers: the route to lower emissions is not identical for every site. Access to renewable energy, the availability and cost of alternative fuels, the age of equipment and the investment required for upgrades all influence the options available.

Energy efficiency and process improvements can reduce consumption, while changes in fuel and energy supply can reduce emissions. But the pace and cost of these measures depend on local infrastructure and the characteristics of each facility.

APP’s presentation also set out its emissions targets under the Science Based Targets initiative. The company committed to reducing absolute Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse-gas emissions by 54.6% by 2033 from a 2023 base year, and absolute Scope 3 emissions by 32.5% over the same period.

The presentation stated that these targets cover energy and industrial emissions, while forest, land and agriculture-related emissions are excluded from the current target boundary. APP said it intends to establish a separate target for these emissions when an appropriate pathway for timber and wood fiber becomes available.

Scope 3 emissions are particularly difficult to address because they extend across suppliers and other parts of the value chain. Progress requires better data, supplier participation and collaboration with customers.

APP said it is mapping key suppliers and working to improve awareness and engagement around emissions reduction. Representatives also discussed the difficulty of comparing life-cycle assessments when studies use different boundaries and assumptions, including how transportation and production energy are counted.

For buyers and manufacturers, consistent methodology matters. Comparisons between products can be misleading if one assessment includes stages or emissions sources that another excludes. Clear boundaries and transparent assumptions are essential if life-cycle data is to inform purchasing and product-design decisions.

Certification, traceability and changing customer requirements

Responsible fiber sourcing remains a significant issue for customers, particularly those with formal procurement policies and certification requirements.

APP’s presentation listed several certifications and management systems relevant to its operations and products, including PEFC-related certification, Indonesia’s SVLK legality verification system and the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI). The scope of each system varies, so certification claims need to be matched to the specific operations, products and supply chains covered.

The company also provided an update on its ongoing process under the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Remedy Framework.

According to APP’s presentation, the company and FSC signed a memorandum of understanding in 2024 to begin the process. The presentation described a suspension associated with ownership and share transfers in 2025, followed by the lifting of that suspension in July 2025. APP said a baseline environmental and social assessment began in November 2025, involving an independent assessor and third-party verification. The agreement was extended for another two years in March 2026.

The process remains ongoing; APP did not present itself as having completed the framework or obtained FSC certification.

This distinction matters because the existence of a process is not the same as its completion. Customers may have different certification requirements, and the implications for procurement depend on the formal status of the relevant certification or remedy process.

The company’s preparations for regulation and customer due diligence were another focus of the briefing. APP described an internal product-tracking application intended to support compliance with the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). According to the company, the system is designed to connect products with the forest plots supplying the relevant raw material and provide customers with geolocation information and supporting documentation.

APP said it had worked with European customers to test and refine the information supplied through the system. The company also discussed preparations for the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), including mapping materials, collecting supplier declarations and technical documentation, and coordinating work across procurement, mills, legal, commercial and sustainability teams.

These developments reflect a shift in the demands placed on suppliers. Customers increasingly need detailed information about material origin, product composition and the documentation supporting environmental and regulatory claims.

Traceability systems can help organise that information, but their effectiveness depends on the accuracy and completeness of the underlying data and on cooperation across the supply chain. Companies should also verify applicable requirements and implementation dates against current official EU guidance.

Packaging and the move towards fiber-based alternatives

The Jakarta programme included a briefing on sustainable packaging markets and Foopak, APP’s paperboard-based food-service packaging brand.

Paperboard can serve as an alternative to conventional plastic in selected applications, but suitability depends on the requirements of the product and its intended use. Food-service packaging may need to resist moisture and grease, tolerate heat and handling, maintain its shape and meet food-contact requirements.

The performance of a package depends not only on its base material but also on coatings, barrier properties, converting processes and the conditions under which it will be used and disposed of.

For Foopak and other fiber-based packaging solutions, the commercial opportunity therefore depends on meeting customer performance requirements while providing credible information about end-of-life options. A paper-based package is not automatically recyclable or compostable in every market; coatings, food contamination and local waste-management infrastructure can all affect its disposal route.

The broader industry task is to evaluate packaging as a complete system. Material composition, product protection, manufacturing efficiency, transport and end-of-life management all influence its overall performance.

We visited Indah Kiat - Perawang mill and Indah Kiat - Serang mill for the media tour. These visits placed the sustainability briefing in the context of APP’s manufacturing and product operations.

Corporate targets are ultimately implemented at facility level through process control, equipment, maintenance, energy decisions, sourcing and investment. Similarly, packaging strategies must be translated into products that perform reliably in converting and end-use applications while meeting cost, quality and regulatory requirements.

The connection between strategy and execution is particularly important in an industry where mills operate with significant infrastructure and capital requirements, and where product performance cannot be compromised.

Measuring progress beyond commitments

APP’s Indonesia programme brought together issues that are often discussed separately: plantation productivity, forest protection, fire prevention, wildlife conservation, community livelihoods, industrial emissions, certification, traceability and packaging development.

Regenesis is intended to connect these priorities under a single sustainability platform, supported by the company’s stated US$30 million annual investment commitment over the next decade.

The challenge is to show how that commitment translates into results. Investment figures and programme participation demonstrate scale, but they do not by themselves establish environmental or social impact. That requires clear baselines, consistent measurement, credible verification and transparent reporting of outcomes.

The same principle applies to manufacturing. Emissions targets need to be assessed against their stated boundaries and timelines, while resource-efficiency indicators should be interpreted using their underlying methodologies. Certification and regulatory readiness must likewise be distinguished from completed certification or demonstrated compliance.

For the pulp, paper and packaging industry, these questions will become increasingly important as customers seek renewable materials while demanding greater transparency about fiber origin, manufacturing impacts and product end-of-life.

The Indonesia visit offered a closer look at how APP says it is addressing these interconnected responsibilities. The next measure of Regenesis will be the evidence of progress over time—and the extent to which its conservation, community and industrial initiatives can demonstrate lasting results.

For APP, as for the wider industry, sustainability will ultimately be judged not by the breadth of the commitments alone, but by what can be demonstrated on the ground and across the value chain.

Editorial note: This feature is based on Pulp & Paper Chronicle’s participation in APP Group’s October 2026 Indonesia Media Tour, the company’s October 2026 sustainability presentation and discussions with company representatives. Quantitative performance figures and programme outcomes are attributed to APP and have not been independently verified. Technical, certification and regulatory details should be confirmed against current official documentation before publication.