Review of APRIL’s Sustainable Forest Management Policy 2.0 Assurance Indicators

The Sustainable Forest Management Policy (SFMP) 2.0 was established in 2015 and continues to be a key policy for APRIL Group. The policy describes the commitments made by APRIL in relation to sustainable forest management practices and its business operations. SFMP 2.0 applies to APRIL’s operations, current and future fibre suppliers, and future acquisitions or partnerships. A Stakeholder Advisory Committee (SAC) of independent forestry and social experts was founded in 2014 to monitor and provide transparency over APRIL’s implementation of SFMP 2.0 and to oversee independent verification of progress.

In 2014, to track the implementation of APRIL Group’s SFMP 2.0 commitments, 44 SFMP 2.0 performance indicators were developed by APRIL with the input of its independent Stakeholder Advisory Committee (SAC) to provide quantitative information on APRIL’s progress in implementing its commitments. The development process for the indicators also included inputs from other local and international stakeholders.

The SAC appointed KPMG Performance Registrar Inc. (KPMG PRI), an independent verification auditor, to conduct specified assurance procedures to assess implementation and progress over the performance indicators presented by APRIL in relation to its SFMP 2.0 performance indicators. The findings and conclusions from this annual assurance are publicly available on the APRIL Sustainability Dashboard (SFMP 2.0 Assurance Reports). Since 2015, there have been eight separate independent assurance reports published.

Over time, several addenda to the SFMP 2.0 have been made by APRIL as endorsed by the SAC and after consultations with internal and external stakeholders. The SFMP 2.0 Performance Indicators have also been revised and updated periodically, following the implementation of corrective actions on non-conformities (NC) and opportunities for improvement (OFI) (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. Assurance Indicators and results

In June 2022, following stakeholder meetings in Jakarta and Pangkalan Kerinci, in Riau Province, Sumatra, the SAC suggested that a comprehensive review of the SFMP 2.0 indicators was required to ensure APRIL Group continued to align with industry’s best practices and organization changes.. A working group which included KPMG PRI, APRIL Group and  SAC members was tasked to review the 44 performance indicators while considering results of past KPMG Assurance and matters raised during SAC stakeholder forums.

The result of the comprehensive review and recommendations on the assurance indicators were presented to SAC during the December 2022 meeting. In summary, the indicator review has proposed the following:

• 19 indicators to be assessed annually, replacing the full and partial cycle;
• The 19 indicators cover all nine SFMP2.0 topics as well as two of the four addenda;

A few indicators have been consolidated; 13 were considered no longer a high risk and removed altogether.

Table 1 lists the updated SFMP 2.0 performance indicators endorsed by the SAC.

Table 2 lists the 2014 SFMP 2.0 performance indicators endorsed by the SAC and the actions taken following the review by the working group.

The updated SFMP 2.0 performance indicators will be used as the basis for the 2023 review and assurance. The SAC encourages comments and feedback on these revised indicators from stakeholders by 31st January 2023. Please email your comments and feedback to sustainability_april@aprilasia.com.