What’s the connection with Ikea? It is now the world’s largest single consumer of wood, and its appetite is growing by two million trees a year. Half of all Romanian timber is harvested illegally. To meet its needs, Ikea enters into contracts with manufacturers, who must acquire sufficient wood to manufacture furniture parts to fulfill their contracts. Manufacturers call on sawmills, which have to find enough wood to supply the mills. “Once they’ve made that commitment, they have to find the wood for Ikea by any means necessary” and “that can often mean cutting corners on the environment or legality”.
