Within the past two decades, the forest biomass industry — cutting forests to make wood pellets to be burned in power plants — has been booming as countries strive to meet global energy demands. This growth comes despite scientists’ warnings over the industry’s harm to the climate and its contribution to deforestation — increasingly in the tropics.
In 2024, Mongabay reported extensively about this practice, including in Indonesia’s Gorontalo province. There, Mongabay’s Indonesia-based news bureau’s investigative reporting on increased deforestation called attention to the existence of two palm oil companies that after their forest cutting permits were revoked, reapplied under the nation’s energy plantation forest scheme. In mid-August, Mongabay visited the area to ground truth satellite imagery indicating deforestation and documented firsthand the activities of the companies. By September, Mongabay Indonesia released another report (also adapted into English) detailing the opaque activities of the wood pellet processing company in Gorontalo that was sourcing raw materials from both companies.
Mongabay’s findings showed the alleged deforestation as likely violating sustainability principles and that some of the exported wood pellets were not recorded in the Ministry of Environment and Forestry’s system. Furthermore, the processing company’s transshipment activities are suspected to be in marine conservation areas, raising serious questions about the legality of its operations. The wood pellets being produced were destined for burning by biomass energy plants in East Asia, most likely Japan or South Korea. Collectively, the reportage raised alarms about environmental and regulatory violations, and additional international media coverage, including by the Associated Press, shortly followed. The investigation also prompted the company to send a letter of denial.
