Mongabay collaboration contributes to improved accountability in Indonesia’s palm oil sector

3 Apr 2025

In late 2023, London-based investigative journalism organization, The Gecko Project, published “Chasing Shadows,” a report that strengthened civil society efforts to keep private sector actors tied to a high risk of tropical deforestation accountable. The investigation was carried out under a Mongabay project that also was part of a reporting collaboration coordinated by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, involving a team from 28 countries.

Building on long-standing expertise, networks and reporting in Indonesia, the investigation and follow-up articles demonstrably contributed to much-needed transparency in the sustainable palm oil sector. It exposed how one of the world’s largest palm oil producers had presented itself as a sustainable company while simultaneously managing entire ‘shadow’ groups of companies with opaque ownership structures that have collectively cleared more rainforest than any other company for palm oil in the past half-decade.

Oil palm plantation in Indonesia. Photo by Rhett A. Butler.
Oil palm plantation in Indonesia. Photo by Rhett A. Butler.

As part of the investigation, 22 consumer goods firms and commodities traders who source palm oil from this producer received media inquiries that highlighted their exposure to this problem. As part of an external evaluation completed in mid-2024 on Mongabay’s tropical deforestation coverage, evaluators confirmed that a growing list of those firms had begun investigations and/or suspended purchases.

The evaluators also spoke to representatives of multiple organizations that have been centrally involved in the fight against shadow companies. All representatives interviewed stressed the high quality and thoroughness of the reporting on an issue that is often seen as “too complex to cover” by regular media outlets, according to Gemma Tillack, Forest Policy Director of the Rainforest Action Network.

Evaluators were also made aware that the investigation added energy and impetus to move an ongoing complaint against the producer forward at the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), which had contracted an independent investigator. Likewise, in light of the investigation, the producer hired consultants to improve its public image given the increased attention and questioning.

Tillack shared that the investigation was “critical” in terms of exposing how the producer was using shadow companies to continue destroying Indonesian rainforests for new palm oil plantations. “It is also contributing to CSOs efforts to create new precedents for community users and producers to take a corporate group approach to implementing NDPE (“No Deforestation, No Peat and No Exploitation”) policies,” she said.

Bornean orangutan in Central Kalimantan. Photo by Rhett A. Butler.
Bornean orangutan in Central Kalimantan. Photo by Rhett A. Butler.

More broadly, the investigation helped push for transparency policies globally. Tillack told evaluators that it has been very helpful to their efforts in pushing for increased transparency in disclosure of the extent of corporate agribusiness groups in Southeast Asia. It helped elevate the importance of transparent reporting by major commodity users on how they are responding to non-compliance in their supply chains, or by corporate groups that they do business with, she explained.

According to the evaluators, the investigation is a “striking example of the value of investigative journalistic work and how it builds on and contributes further to civil society efforts to clean up supply chains.” In addition to providing the resources needed to do the investigation, Mongabay provided the publishing platform to draw much needed public attention to the issue.

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Banner image: Deforestation in East Kalimantan for oil palm plantations. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.