Activists criticize the Swedish furniture company, which reports that it wants to buy Romanian forests to gain access to the country’s valuable wood supply.
The furniture giant is currently running an initiative to promote responsible agriculture, focus on protecting endangered species and replace deforestation, and reduce waste from furniture.
According to Ikea’s website, most of its wood is sourced from Sweden, Poland, Russia, Lithuania and Germany, New Republic However, she did mention that up to 10 percent of the company’s wood may come from Romania, and they have doubled their wood use in the past 10 years.
Based on this, it is assumed that since Ikea began acquiring forest areas in Romania in 2015, it may be responsible for the fact that up to two-thirds of the country’s forests have disappeared since 2007. Agent Green, a non-profit organization, has filed a complaint against Ikea claiming to have photographic evidence that the company is logging in an Ikea-owned forest without an EIA permit.
An IKEA spokesperson said they would not accept illegally harvested timber under any circumstances, as they have strict requirements for their suppliers to document the origin of the timber, and timber and forestry professionals perform more than 200 inspections a year.
The Forest Stewardship Council found that Ikea did not break any rules, but agent Green suspects this because the company is not in its first dispute. In 2021, the Earthsight environmental team determined that Ikea may have used illegally sourced Russian wood for children’s furniture for years, and in 2012 a report by the United Nations Environment Program and Interpol found that 15 to 30 percent of wood sold worldwide was sourced. sourced illegally.
The company then announced that it would not accept timber from a subsidiary of a supplier accused of illegally supplying timber, and their spokesperson added that they remained committed to using their presence to improve the situation.
