An Earthsight investigation published today reveals how Ikea’s fast-furniture empire has been propped up with illegal timber used to make some of its most popular products.
Flatpacked Forests: Ikea’s Illegal Timber Problem and the Flawed Green Label Behind It has found the world’s largest furniture retailer to be selling thousands of chairs and other items linked to illicit tree felling in Ukraine.
Using official files, on-the-ground reporting, satellite imagery and whistleblower accounts, Earthsight followed supplies of suspect wood from Ukraine’s Carpathian forests to stores in the UK, US, Germany and elsewhere.