Ikea, one of the world's largest consumers of wood, is fuelling the destruction of Europe's most valuable forests while hiding behind flawed certification schemes, a new report released today by Greenpeace Nordic shows. The report, The Missing Manual: What Ikea Must Do to Protect Europe's Forests, reveals a huge gap between Ikea's promises to use its size and scale to make a positive difference and its operational realities on the ground, and that the company fails to measure the true environmental footprint of its supply chain.[1]
Frida Bengtsson, head of Greenpeace in Sweden said: "Ikea says it wants to use its size to make sustainable wood sourcing the global norm. That ambition must start with a clear commitment: no wood from forests that need protection. Ikea has the power to help change an entire industry. It needs to lead by example, starting with the wood in its own furniture."
Despite corporate obligations under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), market giants remain unaccountable. With world leaders meeting at the UN Biodiversity Conference (CBD COP17) in Yerevan next week, Ikea's practices offer a sobering reminder that voluntary promises are failing to save Earth's precious nature, including forests in Europe.
"Governments are failing to protect our forests, but let's be clear: industry giants are driving the global nature crisis. Every two seconds, a tree is felled to feed Ikea's supply chain, making them both one of the biggest beneficiaries and one of the biggest threats to our forests. It's time for Ikea to show what their commitment to transform the forestry industry means on the ground; for now it's not more than a statement of good intentions. Stop hiding behind flawed certifications: true corporate leadership means keeping your saws out of precious forests," added Bengtsson.
An accompanying field investigation by Greenpeace Romania, Europe's Vanishing Forests: (Part 1): How Ikea is driving forest destruction the Carpathians, provides damning evidence from the Romanian Carpathians: investigators documented the clear-cutting of an ecologically critical, biodiverse forest area to produce popular Ikea items like the SNIGLAR bed and BEKVÄM step stool.[2] Despite being slated for strict protection in early 2025, the Rusca Montană forest was logged in 2026 and then stripped of its proposed conservation status before legal protections could take effect.
Valentin Salageanu, spokesperson for Greenpeace Romania said: "This isn't responsible forestry; it's an ecological tragedy. We walked through areas proposed for strict protection, only to find endless fresh stumps where precious, biodiverse forests stood months ago. Ikea's hunger for wood is grinding up Europe's natural heritage. This has to stop today.".
Greenpeace is calling on Ikea to immediately stop sourcing wood from forests with high biodiversity, that qualify for protection, and to institute binding, board-level biodiversity targets across its entire global supply chain. They are also urging Ikea to track and ensure the health and resilience of forest ecosystems, while actively supporting political frameworks to protect at least 30% of land-including 10% under strict protection-by 2030.
Greenpeace Nordic and Greenpeace Romania submitted drafts to Ikea for review and comment prior to publication. In their response Ikea returned to noting their compliance with local legal requirements and FSC standards while largely rejecting the report's key conclusions and recommendations for an immediate logging moratorium in the proposed protected areas. Ikea did not contest the clearcutting of the forest that "was considered for possible future protection" nor the supply chain linkage to Ikea's products.
