By Ayman Okeil
Behind the luxurious furniture and products produced by the Swedish furniture giant IKEA lie accusations of the company’s role in deforestation in Romania and its contribution to environmental damage, exacerbating the climate change crisis. Forests are nature’s gift to combat climate change. IKEA’s operations threaten to erase the beautiful cherry and oak trees in Romania’s virgin forests and contradict the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, as well as the OECD guidelines on responsible business conduct for multinational enterprises. These operations also clash with IKEA’s own claims of commitment to human rights due diligence and transparency in global supply chains. This should not be interpreted as an objection to the furniture industry itself, which is generally seen as a suitable means of utilizing wood, storing carbon, and maximizing the benefits from raw materials. However, this should not be at the expense of Romania’s virgin forests.
Looking at IKEA’s interest in Romania’s forests, since 2015, the company has begun acquiring forest lands in Romania, becoming the largest private forest owner in the country with approximately 51,000 hectares of forest. Forest lands are defined as areas where tree crown cover is between 5% and 10% of trees capable of reaching a height of at least 5 meters. Reports indicate that many of the factories contracted to manufacture furniture for IKEA rely on wood sourced from “clear-cutting” trees in protected areas of Romania’s forests. IKEA’s insatiable appetite for wood has led to unprecedented logging operations in Romania’s Carpathian Mountains, a mountain range located in Eastern Europe that extends through Romania. IKEA has historically relied on Eastern Europe to secure the majority of its wood needs. While the quality of wood and low labor costs play a role in IKEA’s eagerness to continue these practices, rising levels of corruption have also contributed to a continued influx of low-cost wood to IKEA.
IKEA claims that it does not engage in “deforestation,” according to definitions set by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and asserts that it applies the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. It states that its commitments include the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the two International Covenants, alongside the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which prohibits the worst forms of child labor in global supply chains. The company also claims that it does not accept any form of forced labor within its supply chain, and the IKEA Supplier Code of Conduct prohibits the use of forced labor. Each supplier is said to undergo an individual annual risk assessment to identify human rights-related risks. However, investigations reveal that some IKEA furniture is suspected to be made by detainees in correctional facilities in Belarus under forced labor conditions, which contradicts the company’s claims.
An investigative report based on a year-long field study of forests owned by “IKEA” and its contractors found that the company sources its wood through destructive practices, involving even protected sites. Romanian forests, once exemplars of biodiversity, face extinction and degradation, with some turning into barren lands. The once-protected ancient forests have ended up as furniture wrapped in cardboard boxes sold in IKEA stores worldwide.
Therefore, IKEA, whose furniture and products I love, must not only rely on its commitments and promises to respect human rights in its supply chains. It has to conduct a real impact assessment of its operations to avoid further harming Romania’s virgin forests, endangering animals that have never harmed humans, and contributing to more crises affecting trees and people alike.
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