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Royal Golden Eagle Group (RGE)Singapore
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On record

This profile is no longer actively maintained, with the information now possibly out of date

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By: BankTrack
Created before Nov 2016
Last update: 2021-03-16 00:00:00

Contact:

climate@banktrack.org


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RGE's head office at UOB Plaza, Singapore. Photo: Zairon via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY SA 4.0)
Sector Agriculture for Palm Oil, Oil and Gas Extraction, Pulp, Paper and Paperboard Mills
Headquarters
Ownership

The company is owned by its founder Sukanto Tanoto, listed by Forbes as one of Indonesia's richest businessmen.

Subsidiaries
Apical Group – Indonesia
April – Indonesia (profile)
Asia Symbol – China
Asian Agri – Indonesia
Bracell – Singapore
Pacific Oil and Gas – Singapore
Sateri Holdings – China
Website http://www.rgei.com

About Royal Golden Eagle Group (RGE)

Royal Golden Eagle Group (RGE), previously known as Raja Garuda Mas, is a global resources-based manufacturing group with companies operating in the palm oil, pulp and paper, cellulose, gas and oil industries. The company was founded in 1973 in Singapore, by Sukanto Tanoto, who still chairs  it. The company employs some 50,000 people and has assets of more than USD 15 billion. Its subsidiaries, affiliates and brands include APRIL. Please refer to the APRIL dodgy deal profile for updates. 

Latest developments

Indonesia’s Royal Golden Eagle Group involved in deforestation, despite its sustainability commitments

2021-03-16 00:00:00

Bracell (part of RGE) starts a major expansion project in the state of São Paulo

2019-05-09 00:00:00

Why this profile?

Royal Golden Eagle Group owns several companies (APRIL, Toba Pulp Lestari) which have severe adverse impacts on people and the environment due to deforestation and human rights violations.

Impacts

Social and human rights impacts

The paper mills run by APRIL and Toba Pulp have had serious impacts on local communities, as a result of forest concessions being granted for industrial exploitation without the free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) of the people with claims on the land and dependent on the forest resources for their livelihoods. This situation has led to significant social conflict and human rights violations. With the Constitutional Court ruling "MK 35" last year, there is also a material risk that areas in concessions allocated to APRIL, Toba Pulp Lestari and their suppliers and claimed by indigenous communities may be illegal.

Environmental and climate impacts

RGE daughter company APRIL, the affiliated company Toba Pulp Lestari (which is also owned by Mr. Tanoto) and their suppliers, are having profound negative impacts on biodiversity and the climate. Many concessions supplying the mills owned by Mr. Tanoto are in areas representing some of the last refuges for the critically endangered Sumatran elephant and Sumatran tiger. Forest clearance of these areas pushes these species closer towards extinction. Drainage of deep peat soils both for natural forest clearance and for plantation establishment is an issue of global concern due to greenhouse gas emissions: a study released by the University of Helsinki, shows that APRIL's Acacia plantations on peatland in Sumatra release around 80 tons of carbon dioxide per hectare per year. Additional concerns include the continued subsidence of peatland areas, caused by drainage, leading to longer terms risks of flooding and inundation.

Other impacts

In 2012, the founder and chairman of RGE, Sukanto Tanotom was involved in one of the biggest tax evasion cases in Indonesian history. RGE daughter company Asian Agri Group, one of Asia's largest palm oil producers, was found guilty of tax evasion. The company  agreed to pay 2.5 trillion rupiah (S$ 250 million) in fines after the Attorney General's Office threatened to seize its assets.

 

Governance

Timeline

Indonesia’s Royal Golden Eagle Group involved in deforestation, despite its sustainability commitments

2021-03-16 00:00:00

One of Indonesia’s largest companies, the Royal Golden Eagle (RGE) group, is connected to 9,400 hectares of deforestation in 2020. RGE is among Indonesia’s largest companies in palm oil, pulp, paper and textile fibers. It claims to have a no-deforestation commitment.

Bracell (part of RGE) starts a major expansion project in the state of São Paulo

2019-05-09 00:00:00

Bracell’s pulp mill in Lençóis Paulista (formerly Lwarcel) has also officially launched ‘Project Star’, an ambitious expansion effort to increase its current production capacity of 250,000 by an additional 1,250,000 per annum to reach 1.5m ton per annum. Work on the expansion has already begun, and is expected to be completed by the end of 2021. By the time of its completion, Project Star is expected to represent the largest private investment in the state of São Paulo in the last 20 years. Bracell also announced that Bahia Specialty Cellulose (BSC) in Camacari, Bahia, and Lwarcel Celulose in Lençóis Paulista, São Paulo, will now operate under the unified Bracell brand.

APRIL, RGE finally commit to zero deforestation

2015-06-04 00:00:00

Indonesian paper company APRIl and its parent RGE group have joined the growing industry movement to tackle deforestation, with new policies that promise to end development on forest and forested peatlands (source: eco-business.com).

News

| |
Type:
Year:
blog
external news
our news

Global bank policies ‘dangerously inadequate’ to prevent financing of deforestation, climate chaos and human rights abuses

As the climate and biodiversity crisis intensifies, credit to forest-risk commodity companies increased 160% between 2020 and 2021.
2022-10-18 | Forests & Finance Coalition
blog
external news
our news

Sustainability issues of a wood pulp giant: Indonesian Royal Golden Eagle Group

2022-06-20 | Amsterdam | Aid Environment
blog
external news
our news

Toba Pulp Lestari: In depth on one of the worst actors in pulp and paper

2021-06-24 | Rainforest Action Network
blog
external news
our news

Banks are fueling deadly fires, Covid-19 threatens to compound the risks

2020-09-08 | forestsandfinance.org
blog
external news
our news

Japan’s megabanks complicit in destroying critical carbon sinks & fueling illegality

2020-01-31 | Tokyo | Rainforest Action Network
blog
external news
our news

Bracell Group rebrands Bahia Specialty Cellulose and Lwarcel Celulose under ‘Bracell’ Brand

2019-05-09 | Brazil
blog
external news
our news

More peatland fire disasters for Indonesia?

2019-02-12 | Indonesia
blog
external news
our news

Defeat RAPP and the Importance of Sustainable Finance

2018-02-03 | Indonesia
blog
external news
our news

Advisory to Buyers and Investors of Royal Golden Eagle / Asia Pacific Resources International Limited (RGE/APRIL)

2016-12-09 | WWF-Indonesia
blog
external news
our news

APRIL, RGE finally commit to zero deforestation

2015-06-04 | Eco-business.com
blog
external news
our news

Indonesia Lawmakers Draft Bill to Slash Foreign Ownership of Plantations

2014-08-15 | The Jakarta Globe
blog
external news
our news

6 myths Indonesia's biggest forest destroyer wants you to believe

2014-07-10 | Greenpeace UK
blog
external news
our news
private

Indonesian palm oil firm Asian Agri to pay $250 million tax fine

2014-01-30 | Indonesa | Strait Times
blog
external news
our news

Royal Golden Eagle’s Next Generation Seeks New Leaf

2013-07-25 | The Jakarta Globe

Documents

Type:
Year:
ngo documents
2021-03-16 00:00:00

The industrial tree operations of the Nusantara Fiber group.

2021-03-16 00:00:00 | Aidenvironment
ngo documents
2021-01-18 00:00:00

The Need for Free, Prior and Informed Consent:

An Evaluation of the Policies and Standard Operating Procedures of Ten Major Corporate Groups involved in Forest-Risk Commodity Supply Chains in Southeast Asia
2021-01-18 00:00:00 | Rainforest Action Network
ngo documents
2019-11-29 00:00:00

Conflict Plantations

Chapter 2: revealing Asia Pacific Resources International Limited’s trail of disputes across Indonesia
2019-11-29 00:00:00 | Environmental Paper Network
ngo documents
2017-06-13 00:00:00

Japanese and Malaysian banks and investors continue to pump billions of dollars into forest-risk companies, without adequate environmental and social safeguards

2017-06-13 00:00:00 | RAN, TuK Indonesia & Profundo
ngo documents
2015-05-06 00:00:00

West Papua palm oil atlas

The companies behind the plantation explosion
2015-05-06 00:00:00 | Y.L. Franky and Selwyn Morgan
ngo documents
2014-02-01 00:00:00

P&G's Dirty Secret

Media briefing on Greenpeace International’s investigation of how P&G’s palm oil suppliers are pushing Sumatran tigers and orang-utans closer to extinction
2014-02-01 00:00:00 | Greenpeace
ngo documents
2014-02-01 00:00:00

Procte & Gamble's Dirty Secret

2014-02-01 00:00:00 | Greenpeace

Media

RGE

Links

List of RGE and its Affiliates by EPN

http://rge.environmentalpaper.org/

RGE Sustainability framework

http://www.rgei.com/sustainability/sustainability-framework

SPOTT - ESG policy transparency assessments for Toba Pulp Lestari

https://www.spott.org/timber-pulp/toba-pulp-lestari-tbk-pt/

SPOTT - ESG policy transparency assessments for APRIL

https://www.spott.org/timber-pulp/april-group/

FSC Watch

https://fsc-watch.com/

Statement on RGE’s Engagement with TPL

https://www.rgei.com/attachments/article/1805/RGE%20statement%20on%20TPL_25%20April%202022.pdf
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