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An ICIJ Investigation
Deforestation Inc.
An ICIJ-led cross-border investigation exposes how a lightly regulated sustainability industry overlooks forest destruction and human rights violations when granting environmental certifications.
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CONFLICT WOOD
Western firms certified as socially responsible trade in Myanmar teak linked to the military regime
By Scilla Alecci
March 2, 2023
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Accountability
New investigation casts doubt on a Singapore-listed palm oil giant’s green claims
By Scilla Alecci
November 20, 2023
- Environmental auditing and certification programs intended to promote responsible forestry and other social goals worldwide frequently validate products linked to deforestation, logging in conflict zones and other harmful activity.
- In the last two decades, dozens of environmental auditors certified as “sustainable” the products and operations of more than 340 forest-product companies that were later accused of environmental crimes or other wrongdoing by local communities, advocates and government agencies.
- Western governments’ efforts to stop the trade of wood logged in conflict zones such as Myanmar are failing, allowing authoritarian regimes to finance their violent rule.
- At the same time, certification firms allow companies at the center of such trade to hold sustainability certificates, providing the public with misleading assurances as to a product’s origins.
DEFORESTATION INC
![Janet Yellen stands behind a lectern in the center of a large room, with national flags from several South American countries and a screen reading Amazonia behind her.](https://media.icij.org/uploads/2024/08/Yellen-Amazon-GettyImages-2163229955.jpg)
Aug 05, 2024
New US Treasury plan targets criminal groups profiting from the destruction of the Amazon
ACCOUNTABILITY
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