IKEA says: Home is where it all begins
We say: Don’t let our homes be where old-growth forests end
To Jon Abrahamsson Ring,
CEO of Inter IKEA group
Our lives depend on healthy nature, but we are on a path of mass production and overconsumption that is driving its destruction. And IKEA, the company you are the CEO of, is still part of the problem.
A Greenpeace CEE investigation revealed that some of your suppliers are sourcing wood from old-growth forests in the Romanian Carpathians and thus contributing to the destruction of high conservation value forests, in two cases even in Natura 2000 protected areas. They produce some of your all time favourite products, such as INGOLF, EKTORP or SNIGLAR, that we found in your stores across Europe and beyond.
The Carpathian forests with old-growth and other high conservation value forests play a vital role in the global fight against the climate crisis and are vital to the health of the planet. They are a biodiversity hotspot and home to Europe’s largest population of brown bears outside Russia. Lynx and wolves roam these forests, as do wildcats and European bison. Around 140 species of birds populate their trees and skies. Instead of destroying the Carpathian forests, we need to protect them.
Jon, you and IKEA have a chance to step up and show responsibility for our planet. Instead of being part of the problem, be part of the solution and clean up your supply chain of forest destroyers. It’s time for IKEA to become a frontrunner for the political action needed and call on politicians to effectively protect our last old-growth forests on European grounds.
A brighter future for all is within our grasp, if you are bold and brave enough to make it happen.
The choice we all have to make is clear: we must restore our relationship with life on this planet, because we are nature.
With power and unity,
About the investigation
The investigation Assemble the truth: Old-growth forest destruction in Romania was undertaken by Greenpeace CEE in Romania. Investigation teams followed the supply chain from destruction sites in the forest in Romania via the manufacturer companies and finally to IKEA stores all across Europe and beyond.
Products made by manufacturers that source from old-growth forests were found in IKEA stores in Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and Israel.
Greenpeace calls on IKEA to be part of the solution and stop being part of the problem of the climate and biodiversity crisis. IKEA and others must become corporate frontrunners for the needed political action to implement legally binding and effective biodiversity protection measures to fulfil Europe’s biodiversity target. Learn more about the importance of old-growth forests: