Ikea Suspended by Forest Stewardship Council

by | Feb 26, 2014

This article is included in these additional categories:

IKEAIkea has reportedly had its certificate suspended by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) after the discovery that the furniture chain has been cutting 600-year-old trees in Russia.

The FSC alleged that protected forests in Karelia, Russia, were not being sustainably harvested by Swedwood, Ikea’s forestry subsidiary

It comes after the FSC investigated Swedwood’s operations in north Karelia, near the Russian-Finnish border.

The region is home to one of Europe’s last great forests and Swedwood has leases to log 700,000 acres provided it avoids old trees and does not clear steep slopes, which erode without tree cover, the Sunday Times reported.

However, an audit found a number of ‘major deviations’ from the rules, including the harvesting of ‘key biotopes’, or older trees, The Sunday Times reported.

An IKEA spokeswoman confirmed the suspension. “We see the suspension of the certificate as highly temporary. ‘The deviations mainly cover issues related to facilities and equipment for our co-workers, forestry management as well as training of our forestry co-workers,” the Times reported. The company said it has already corrected most of the violations.

Additional articles you will be interested in.

Stay Informed

Get E+E Leader Articles delivered via Newsletter right to your inbox!

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Share This