Apr 16, 2025
Behind closed doors, Kazakhstan challenges decades-old deal with $160 billion claim against Big Oil
A secret ruling hints at the huge stakes in the arbitration case, which is expected to stretch until 2028.
Environment
Dec 02, 2024
Dutch yacht maker that built Jeff Bezos’ $500 million superyacht fined for Myanmar teak usage
Prosecutors imposed a hefty fine on the company for violating Europe’s law against illegal timber products, according to ICIJ media partner NRC.
Nov 26, 2024
Owner of Canada’s largest pulp and paper company to take over controversial Asian conglomerate
Canadian lawmakers say they’ve been “played for suckers” by Paper Excellence owner Jackson Wijaya, who continues to claim that the Canadian company operates independently of his family’s Indonesian business, Asia Pulp & Paper.
Nov 22, 2024
Putin’s pipeline: How the Kremlin outmaneuvered Western oil companies to wrest control of vast flows of Kazakhstan’s crude
Chevron and partners prioritized profits, enabling runaway costs and ballooning budgets worth billions as Russia deployed strong-arm tactics and steered contracts to cronies.
Nov 22, 2024
The lost village: Western oil companies enriched Kazakhstan’s power brokers — and left a community in ruins
Ten years ago a mysterious health crisis ushered in the end of Berezovka. Former residents are still grappling with chronic illness and broken promises.
Nov 22, 2024
About the Caspian Cabals investigation
Caspian Cabals exposes how Western companies desperate for new oil reserves catered to Russian power, enriching Putin cronies and Kazakh elites and ignoring corruption risks to keep the oil moving.
Nov 05, 2024
Oxfam says $41 billion of the World Bank’s climate spending ‘effectively unaccounted for’
The bank has pledged tens of billions to climate projects but can’t say how much was actually spent due to poor record-keeping, a new report found.
Oct 30, 2024
Indonesian billionaire family accused of controlling ‘shadow company’ group linked to major deforestation
Former employees of the group said that the Tanotos — who own a “sustainable” pulp and paper giant — were allegedly secretly undermining the conglomerate’s environmental commitments.
Sep 10, 2024
As new EU law looms, researchers find many ‘green labels’ fall short of sustainability promises
For decades, businesses have promoted their sustainability credentials based on voluntary certifications, but a new study identified gaps in such schemes, including some that previously came under scrutiny from ICIJ.
Aug 05, 2024
New US Treasury plan targets criminal groups profiting from the destruction of the Amazon
A group of six countries has agreed to work together to shut down money laundering operations tied to logging, mining and wildlife harvesting wreaking havoc on the rainforest.
Mar 19, 2024
An ‘anonymous’ company secretly linked to an Indonesian billionaire is destroying Borneo’s rainforests, environmentalists say
A new report by Greenpeace and others alleges that Sukanto Tanoto’s Royal Golden Eagle masks its ties to an Indonesian pulpwood company accused of unprecedented destruction of forests and orangutan habitats.
Mar 05, 2024
EU efforts to slow the influx of illegal Russian timber marred by poor enforcement
ICIJ partners in Europe report that, a year after Deforestation Inc., regulators are struggling to uphold sanctions on Russia’s massive forestry industry.
Feb 29, 2024
Myanmar’s controversial timber trade persists, despite Western sanctions
One year after the Deforestation Inc. exposé, ICIJ and its media partners found wood products have continued to flow from the military-controlled country into Europe and the U.S.
Dec 21, 2023
As regulators clamp down on forest destruction, conservationists flag greenwashing concerns
In a year when governments announced new policies and renewed focus on stopping deforestation, the credibility of key "green" certification schemes in a $220 billion industry remains in question.
Nov 20, 2023
New investigation casts doubt on a Singapore-listed palm oil giant’s green claims
Interviews with former workers by ICIJ partner The Gecko Project reveal new links between First Resources, the billionaire family that owns it, and a trio of companies that have reportedly cleared more forest for palm oil than any other firm in Southeast Asia.
Nov 08, 2023
NGOs call for Forest Stewardship Council to cut ties with Canadian pulp and paper giant
Investigations by ICIJ partners and others have previously linked Paper Excellence to Asia Pulp & Paper, a Chinese-Indonesian forestry company accused of deforestation and human rights abuses.
Oct 26, 2023
US ‘perfect playground’ for laundering money linked to environmental crimes, new report finds
The United States’ reputation as a hub of financial secrecy has attracted criminals from around the world, including those profiting from the destruction of the Amazon.
Jun 05, 2023
Government probe into Canadian forestry giant intensifies as company’s owner evades public scrutiny
Paper Excellence claims to be owned by one individual. But as questions swirl about his whereabouts, Canadian lawmakers weigh their options.
May 23, 2023
New Justice Department-led task force pledges global crackdown on illegal timber trade
Formed after the ICIJ’s Deforestation Inc. probe, the interagency group will coordinate with other governments to combat trafficking in wood linked to environmental crimes and human rights abuses.
Mar 23, 2023
Companies making false ‘green’ claims in Europe face punishment under proposed new rule
After ICIJ’s Deforestation Inc. investigation revealed widespread issues with environmental certification schemes, a draft new rule would force companies to substantiate the claims they use to market to European consumers.
Mar 22, 2023
Canadian lawmakers call for probe into pulp and paper giant following Deforestation Inc. revelations
ICIJ and partners uncovered hidden links between Canada’s Paper Excellence and troubled Indonesian company Asia Pulp & Paper.
Mar 14, 2023
Deforestation Inc. reporters checked global promises to end forest loss. This is what they found
From Europe to Asia to North America, even as leaders and governments made new sustainability pledges, authorities were failing on a number of key forest protection measures.
Mar 07, 2023
From Taiwan to Turkey and beyond: How Deforestation Inc exposed the teak trade from Myanmar
Deforestation Inc. reporters in a dozen countries investigated weak government efforts and loopholes allowing companies to keep trading Myanmar teak, a natural resource controlled by the military junta.
Mar 02, 2023
Western firms certified as socially responsible trade in Myanmar teak linked to the military regime
Records show how environmental certification firms and middlemen legitimize deals that start with Myanmar’s brutal junta and end as yacht decks.
Mar 01, 2023
Green forestry claims tested
As part of its Deforestation Inc. reporting, ICIJ and its media partners uncovered dozens of forestry product companies that publicly promoted their green credentials to consumers and investors, all the while parts of their operations were linked to questionable suppliers or facing allegations of environmental wrongdoing.