Demand that IKEA use 100% FSC certified timber NOW, not in 2020!

Illustration by Leslie Dean Brown

I visited one of your stores [Tempe] half way through 2015 and noticed a great big sign on the wall in your foyeur that read "50% FSC". Or something like that (I've lost the photo).

Regardless, as soon as I hear the phrase "50% FSC-sourced timber", I wonder where the hell the other 50% comes from!!

I just read your 2015 sustainability report. I notice that Peter Agnefjäll is smiling a real lot on page 5 of that report. But the Chief Sustainability Officer on page 6, Steve Howard, isn't quite so enthusiastic. Now I think I know why.

"By August 2017, at least 50% of our wood  will come from more sustainable sources"

"In 2015, 50% of our wood was from more sustainable  sources, meaning that we met our 2017 target two years  ahead of schedule"

What does this tell me?

It tells me that you aren't setting high enough goals for yourselves. You set easy-to-reach goals and then you all give yourselves a pat on the back when you appear ahead of schedule.

"In 2015, 72% of wood suppliers were certified to FSC Chain of Custody standards."

100 - 72 = 28.

28% of your timber is not FSC certified.

In your sustainability report, you state:

"FSC has many benefits, such as: combating illegal timber trade and promoting responsible trade in forest products; halting and reversing forest degradation and deforestation; protecting the natural environment  and its biodiversity; raising awareness of and implementing responsible forestry management plans".

What this reads to me is that you're basically still selling products that you know aren't 100% FSC certified and aren't sourced using best environmental practices.

You're continuing to profit while the environment is as stake. I don't think that is very responsible at all.

You've been accused fairly recently of logging old-growth forests in Russia. What is really going on with the other 28% then?

Why does it have to take 5 years to go from 50% FSC-sourced timber to 100% FSC-sourced timber? That sounds like an awefully long time to me. I know you're a big company, but still, I think in a world with increasing habitiat destruction, 5 years is WAY too long.

I'm not prepared to wait that long, hence this petition.

More info about FSC wood: Forest Stewardship Council