Flatpack forests - IKEA’s practices in the Carpathian Mountains

DW Documentary – Season 10

IKEA is one of the world’s largest consumers of wood. Almost 15 million cubic meters of the material are used every year in cheap IKEA products — with millions of trees felled for the mass production machine. IKEA Loves Wood ('IKEA elsker træ') is a Danish investigative documentary from 2024 that looks at IKEA's forestry practices in the Rumanian Carpathian Mountains — an area with some of the last old-growth forests of Europe. Biologists, environmental groups and local activists say the Swedish furniture giant’s timber production is having a significant impact on old-growth forests and biodiversity. IKEA, however, states that it doesn’t tolerate illegal or unethical practices and that its suppliers are carefully selected.