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IKEA and the Forest Stewardship Council: “Don’t believe the greenwashing”

A recent documentary on Arte revealed the serious impact that the world’s largest consumer of timber, IKEA, has on forests around the world.

Of course, you wouldn’t know anything about these impacts from looking at IKEA’s website which tells us that,

“At IKEA, we believe we can accomplish more by working together. For many years, we have been committed to working together with different stakeholders to protect and strengthen the world’s forests. One of our key partners is the Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®) – an organisation that brings together different voices that represent a wide range of needs for responsible forest management. IKEA was one of several founders in 1994.“

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FSC board stops GE trees learning process

In March 2023, FSC’s Board decided to discontinue the FSC Genetic Engineering Learning Process. The bias in favour of GE trees was clearly revealed by the fact that FSC’s “expert” panel for the learning process included Professor Steven Strauss of Oregon State University. Strauss has spent his career researching and promoting genetically engineered trees, and has has actively lobbied for FSC’s ban on commercial planting of GE trees by FSC-certified companies to be lifted.

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“FSC is no longer fit for purpose”. Open letter to the FSC demands immediate reform

In recent years, the UK-based NGO Earthsight has produced a series of investigative reports featuring the problems with the Forest Stewardship Council. These include exposing illegal Russian timber and illegal Ukrainian timber, both certified as legal and sustainable by FSC and sold by IKEA; and illegal Peruvian timber, FSC-certified and on sale by Robinson Lumber in the USA.

At the start of last year’s FSC General Assembly Earthsight coordinated an open letter to FSC, highlighting what’s wrong with FSC and demanding immediate reforms. The letter was signed by 34 organisations.

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When is recycled toilet paper not recycled? When it carries an FSC Recycled label

Hoarding of toilet paper started in early February 2020 in Hong Kong after consumers panicked themselves into believing that the coronavirus outbreak in China would disrupt supplies. Within days, toilet paper shelves were empty in the supermarkets. Social media helped fuel the hoarding, which quickly spread across the world from Sydney to London to Washington DC.

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FSC rejects complaint against Roseburg Forest Products. Carstensen says rights issues raised are “outside forestry operations”

On 27 February 2019, the organisation Water for Citizens of Weed, California (WCWC) filed a complaint with the Forest Stewardship Council against timber company Roseburg Forest Products.

WCWC argued that FSC should dissociate from Roseburg because the company was attempting to profit from the town’s water supply, by selling it to a bottled water company called Crystal Geyser Alpine Spring.

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How can products from an Asia Pulp and Paper company have carried an FSC label for the past seven years, when FSC disassociated from APP in 2007?

“FSC controlled wood is material from acceptable sources that can be mixed with FSC-certified material in products that carry the FSC Mix label.”

That’s how FSC describes “Controlled wood” on its website. The reality is that FSC is no guarantee of legality.

In fact, “controlled wood” doesn’t even exclude products from companies that FSC has disassociated itself from.

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Greenpeace International leaves FSC, “due to failures to protect forests”

Greenpeace International has (at long last) decided to leave the Forest Stewardship Council. In an statement, Greenpeace International announces the decision:

Greenpeace International was a founding member of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), but now has decided not to renew its FSC membership due to inconsistent implementation and failures to protect forests.

This is a massive blow to FSC’s credibility.

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So, does FSC really work?

“Based on a review of 40 studies, we found that certified tropical forests are overall better for the environment than forests managed conventionally.”

That’s the opening sentence of a recent article on Mongabay, titled, “Does forest certification really work?”

But the conclusion is based far more on wishful thinking than on any scientific evidence. The opening line of the article was amended within a week of being posted to include the words “of variable quality”.

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