Greenpeace accuses Ikea of harmful wood sourcing in European forests

Greenpeace International has accused Ikea of harmful wood sourcing practices in European forests, stating that the furniture retailer is not doing enough to protect biodiversity, according to Supply Chain Dive.

Ikea has faced criticism over its wood consumption for years, including accusations from U.K.-based Earthsight of selling chairs made from illegally harvested beech wood, and a 2024 report by Agent Green and Bruno Manser Fonds highlighting destructive logging in Romanian forests where Ikea sources wood.

Ikea has publicly committed to improving forest management and raising industry standards, partnering with the European Forest Institute and Preferred by Nature to allocate 16,000 hectares of forest for research aimed at enhancing forest resilience and biodiversity.

Despite these efforts, Greenpeace's report claims Ikea's actions fall short of protecting ecosystems and urges the company to leverage its influence to raise standards in wood sourcing practices.

Ikea responded by welcoming the discussion but disagreed with parts of Greenpeace's conclusions, stating the report does not fully reflect their sourcing efforts, as noted in their FY25 sustainability report focused on reducing negative impacts.