IKEA furniture destroys some of Europe’s last remaining ancient forests

Manufacturers producing for furniture giant IKEA are sourcing wood from some of Europe’s last remaining old-growth forests in the Romanian Carpathians, a new investigation by Greenpeace has found. The environmental organisation calls on the Swedish company to take responsibility for the planet and review its supply chains.

Greenpeace says several IKEA products are likely to have been made from wood from ecologically valuable forests in the Romanian Carpathians, where some of the last vast forests barely affected by humans lie. According to the report, even Natura 2000 protected areas are exploited.

The report, called Assemble the Truth, investigated the supply chains of IKEA in Romania using data from satellite images and site visits. Seven manufacturers producing IKEA’s leading products have been linked to the destruction of high-conservation value forests in the area. One of these companies supplies IKEA exclusively, the others largely. 

At least 30 products from those suppliers have been found in IKEA shops in 13 countries, including Belgium. The furniture giant has said it will study the findings in detail and that illegal logging and poor forest management have no place in its supply chain. If this is indeed the case, it will take action and possibly halt cooperation. 

Extracting timber from primary forests is not illegal, one of the suppliers says in response to the investigation. It acknowledges having processed wood from a Natura 2000 site but says that the destruction of that forest is not illegal. Greenpeace hopes to push European policymakers to step up the protection of old-growth forests.

^{© BELGA PHOTO THIERRY ROGE}