Large shipments of timber entering the European Union can be traced to deforested and cleared areas on Indonesia’s Borneo island, a report published on Tuesday by British NGO Earthsight and its Indonesian partner Auriga Nusantara found, prompting the groups to urge the EU to stop delaying enforcement of the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR).
The investigation, Risky Business: EU timber imports linked to the destruction of Borneo’s forests, is based on nearly 10,000 unpublished government records that the NGOs say identify 65 mills and factories processing timber from the clearance of natural forests, mostly in Borneo. Earthsight and Auriga combined those documents with satellite imagery, company records and trade data to map supply chains and trace exports to Europe, the report says.
The groups say the five largest users of deforestated timber in 2024 sold a total of 23,272 cubic metres of plywood, garden decking and door frames to Europe, mostly to firms in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. The NGOs say all those shipments were legally documented, but that the consignments were at high risk of containing timber from recently cleared natural forest or selectively logged areas the groups identify as having been subject to damaging clearance.
“This report demonstrates why the EUDR is urgently needed in Europe’s timber sector: to ensure buyers can be confident in where their wood came from; to stop the flow of deforestation wood into Europe; and to end European complicity in the destruction of tropical forests,” the NGOs said. “It also serves as an urgent call to action for any company importing timber products from Indonesia to the EU: these firms must carefully examine their supply chains and eliminate risk that their imports may be tainted by deforestation wood,” the NGOs added.
Earthsight and Auriga say they filmed extensive recent clearances at supplier concessions in central Kalimantan and documented visits to four recently flattened natural forest sites that supplied the five manufacturers in 2024, showing thousands of hectares converted to plantations in areas that until recently formed part of one of the last orangutan strongholds. Local residents told investigators they had lost food, income and materials and described confrontations with loggers and police, saying they felt “powerless” and “just a spectator” in the destruction.
Aron White, Earthsight’s Southeast Asia team lead, said: “There is a real risk that European money is helping to destroy some of the last orangutan strongholds left on Earth.” Auriga campaigner Hilman Afif added: “The destruction of Borneo’s forests is not only an Indonesian tragedy, but also global. Orangutans being driven out, Indigenous peoples and local communities losing their space, and an increasingly unpredictable climate reflect the fragility of our forest governance.”
Companies named in the report — Dekker Hout, International Plywood BV, Seiton BV, Kurz KG, Fepco International and Impan GmbH — did not respond to requests for comment, and Earthsight says many European importers surveyed could not demonstrate the origin of their hardwood supplies or how they avoid deforestation timber. In some cases European retailers and wholesalers told investigators they would continue business with long-standing suppliers despite evidence of large clearances at harvest sites.
The report sets out recommendations including rapid implementation of the EUDR, strengthened supply-chain audits, mandatory due-diligence checks, publication of high-risk supplier lists, and targeted trade measures where links to illegal clearance are confirmed. Earthsight and Auriga say they shared findings with Indonesian authorities and European customs agencies; the report did not include a formal response from Indonesia’s forestry or trade ministries.
The EUDR, due to come into force on 30 December 2025, is intended to ban imports of commodities linked to recent forest clearance or produced illegally, but Brussels has already delayed the law once and is considering another postponement; the European Commission has said the logistical infrastructure for implementation is not yet ready. Environmental groups warn further delays will keep European borders open to high‑risk timber and undermine the bloc’s credibility on climate and biodiversity.
Deforestation in Borneo remains among the world’s highest, driven by logging, farming and plantation expansion, and the island hosts threatened species including orangutans and clouded leopards. Earthsight and Auriga say original footage of forest destruction, satellite time-lapses and a spreadsheet of trade flows supporting the report are available on request.
