IKEA LOVE WOOD – Sustainability or deceit?

Every second – year around – a tree is felled to be used by IKEA in the furniture giant’s production.
That’s enough trees to circular the globe seven times a year.
And close to 100 % is certified by the Forest Stewardship Counsel (FSC).

The obvious question is: Is that sustainable? And can you as a consumer rely on the nice words on paper or flashy cooperate videos where IKEA claims that you can mass produce cheap and fast furniture and still be sustainable.
Several times the documentary crew visited one of the hotspots in European forestry, Romania.

Here in the Carpathian Mountains, some of the last remaining old growth and un-touched forests still exists, where lynx, bisons, wolves and bears still are seen and the biodiversity still is healthy. Somewhere!

With around 51,000 hectares of forest IKEA is the largest private forest owner in Romania and we asked for months and months to invite IKEA to come to Romania and show us how they do their forestry in – what they say – the bestsustainable way.
Large clear cuts, devastating erosion, lack of biotope trees, obstructions of waterways and monocultural planting were just some of the things the film crew observed in forests owned by IKEA.

In a very rare appearance, IKEA said yes to the invitation to join the film crew in Romania, and they claim that everything is approved by the authorities and the FSC.
That said, Romania is one of the most corrupted countries in the EU, and illegal logging is larger than the legal. Killing of official forests guards, beatings of journalists and environmental activists is some of the consequences of the “wood mafia’s” work.

But IKEA denies any connection and claims that they have a zero tolerance when it comes to affiliation with corruption and/or illegal logging companies.
Based on what the film crew documented in this rare and thorough investigative documentary film, one can ask:
What do you think?