Here’s what they say
If you look around your home, your workplace, or almost any place you frequent, you will find timber, paper and cardboard products that have become ubiquitous in our everyday lives.
In recent years, savvy consumers and astute investors have started paying more attention to how these items were made, and where they come from. Companies adorn their products with green labels — auditor-backed seals of approval attesting that their goods have environmentally sustainable and socially responsible origins.
But ICIJ’s newest investigation, Deforestation Inc., exposes how an elaborate global system meant to fight forest destruction and climate change is failing with alarming frequency.
Deforestation Inc. has found hundreds of companies in the forest-products industry that have sourced material from suppliers accused of violating environmental laws or other wrongdoing, even while their products were certified as “sustainable.”
“It’s the whole system that we rely on, on certifications in general, that doesn’t work,” Grégoire Jacob, a consultant working in the forest-products industry, told Radio France, an ICIJ partner. “We are led to believe we will have more virtuous products. Sometimes it’s true; sometimes it’s false.”
Working with a team of 140 journalists from 29 countries, ICIJ examined inspection records, environmental violation data and court filings, concerning companies in at least 50 countries. Reporters tramped Indigenous forestland in western Canada to uncover evidence of clearcuts. They followed the destructive path of illegal logging through Romania’s once lush forests. They inspected the teak fittings in luxury yachts at boat shows in Fort Lauderdale, Amsterdam and Paris and visited the warehouses of teak traders in India. They staked out wood pellet mills in North Carolina to follow the supply chain to energy plants in the Netherlands. And they used drones to capture the extent of deforestation in Finland, South Korea and Indonesia.
Today, ICIJ and its 39 global media partners are publishing the findings of their nine-month investigation, including:
- OVERVIEW: Environmental auditors approve green labels for products linked to deforestation and authoritarian regimes, new investigation finds
- THE AUDITORS: How auditing giant KPMG became a global sustainability leader while serving companies accused of forest destruction
- WATCH: How green labels can hide environmental harm
- EXPLORE: These companies made green claims, despite links to questionable suppliers or allegations of wrongdoing
- COLLABORATION: About Deforestation Inc., a global collaboration involving 140 journalists from dozens of media outlets
- FAQ: Common questions about Deforestation Inc., answered