Stockholm, Sweden – Timber from irreplaceable Swedish forests is ending up in sawmills supplying wood for Ikea furniture production, reveals a new investigation from Greenpeace Nordic. Using tracking devices, investigators followed logs from eight logged forest areas in northern Sweden and documented links to manufacturers of Ikea’s popular IVAR and HEJNE shelving. Greenpeace is calling on Ikea, one of the world’s largest consumers of wood, to stop sourcing from forests that need protection, including in the company’s home country.

Frida Bengtsson, head of Greenpeace in Sweden said: “Ikea prides itself on high sustainability standards, and has a stated ambition to use its size to be a positive force for forests and halt biodiversity loss. It should go without saying that wood from forests that need protection has no place in Ikea’s products. No shelf or chair in the world is more important than saving irreplaceable forests. Ikea could make that decision today. All it takes is a clear instruction to its suppliers to stay away from these unique ecosystems.”

Several major international companies have already taken action over Swedish forestry practices. Between autumn 2025 and spring 2026, Nestlé, Zalando and L’Oréal announced plans to phase out wood fibre from SCA in their packaging supply chains.[1] The announcements followed criticism of the Swedish forestry company’s logging practices and their impacts on nature and the rights of the Indigenous Sámi people.

The new investigation from Greenpeace Nordic tracked logs to two sawmills operated by forestry company SCA. The logged areas are mapped as continuity forests – forests that have remained tree covered over a long period without ever being clear-cut. Wood from one of the sawmills, Munksund, was documented at Hedlunda, a manufacturer of Ikea’s IVAR shelving. The report also maps a supply chain from the other sawmill, Bollstabruk, through SCA to TräTeam, which manufactures HEJNE shelving. Tracking devices followed the logs from the forest areas to the sawmills. The onward links to furniture manufacturers and Ikea were established through company information, customs records, product labelling and field visits.

Karolina Carlsson, forest campaigner at Greenpeace Nordic and co-author of the investigation, said: “Our investigation reveals a clear pattern and maps how wood from some of Sweden’s last remaining continuity forests that need protection can end up in Ikea furniture that many of us have in our homes. I do not think this is something Ikea’s customers want, and it should be unacceptable to a company that puts so much effort into sustainability.”

Unlike the majority of the Swedish forest landscape which have been clear-cut and transformed for industrial production, continuity forests contain habitats that have developed over long periods of time, creating the best conditions for biodiversity, which cannot be replaced by planting new trees. The Swedish Forest Agency has concluded that logging of continuity forests needs to cease immediately if Sweden is to meet its national and international environmental objectives.[2] 

Greenpeace Nordic is calling on Ikea to immediately stop sourcing wood from forests that need protection in Europe, including all of Sweden’s remaining continuity forests, and to verify that this requirement is met throughout its supply chain.

The Swedish investigation follows two reports published on 13 October 2026. The Missing Manual examines gaps in Ikea’s sourcing rules, including their failure to exclude wood from forests that need protection.[3] A field investigation in Romania documented the logging of an approximately 170-year-old natural forest before proposed strict protection could take effect, and traced timber to a depot supplying an Ikea manufacturer.[4]

ENDS

Photos and Videos available from the Greenpeace Media Library

Vanishing forests (part 2) – How Ikea drives destruction in the boreal forest


Notes:

About the Swedish investigation: Tracking devices followed logs during spring 2026 from six logged forest areas in Norrbotten to SCA’s Munksund sawmill in Piteå, and from two areas in Västernorrland to SCA’s Bollstabruk sawmill. Onward links were documented to Hedlunda in Lycksele and TräTeam in Kramfors. Based on the combined evidence, Greenpeace Nordic assesses that wood from Swedish continuity forests that need protection is highly likely to regularly enter Ikea’s furniture production.

Previous Romanian investigation: Timber was traced to a depot supplying Masifpanel, which manufactures Ikea’s BEKVÄM step stool and SNIGLAR cot.

[1] Nestlé, Zalando and L’Oréal announce plans to phase out wood fibre from SCA in their packaging supply chains

[2] Swedish Forest Agency: Biologisk mångfald i skogen, report 2026/07, revised edition (in Swedish)

[3] The Missing Manual – new investigation from Greenpeace Nordic

[4] Europe’s Vanishing Forests (Part 1) – Romanian case study by Greenpeace CEE

Contact:

Ludvig Tillman, Communications Lead, Greenpeace in Sweden, +46 70 271 64 37, ludvig.tillman@greenpeace.org

Greenpeace International Press Desk, +31 (0)20 718 2470 (available 24 hours), pressdesk.int@greenpeace.org 

Amsterdam, Netherlands – Over 80 leading global health, environment, and food advocacy organisations including Greenpeace International, the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems and the World Organization of Family Doctors have issued an open letter to the World Health Organization (WHO) urging a review of international drinking water standards for nitrate to protect public health from the growing threat of agricultural pollution.

Amanda Larsson, Global Project Lead for Agriculture at Greenpeace said: “Water should be life-giving, not life-threatening. We cannot protect human health without protecting the groundwater and rivers that sustain us. Governments must take decisive action to curb the growth of intensive livestock farming and actively support producers in transitioning to ecological farming practices – ensuring that clean, safe drinking water isn’t a luxury but a guarantee.”

Timed to coincide with World One Health Day, marked by the WHO and three other UN bodies to highlight the interdependence between human, animal, and ecosystem health, the coalition is calling on the WHO Secretariat and its Guideline Development Group to formally prioritise nitrate for full evaluation in its upcoming review of global drinking water quality guidelines.[1]

The letter argues that current guidelines are outdated and risk exposing the public to a range of adverse health risks. The existing guideline of 50 mg/L NO₃ (11.3 mg/L NO₃-N) was established in 1958  specifically to prevent infant methemoglobinemia, also known as “blue-baby syndrome”. However, a growing body of 21st-century epidemiological research links chronic, low-level exposure to nitrate in drinking water to increased risks of colorectal cancer, preterm birth, and birth defects at concentrations far below the existing threshold.

Dr Pratyush Kumar, Chair of the World Organization of Family Doctors (WONCA) Working Party on Rural Practice said: “Studies now link nitrate in drinking water, at levels well below the current WHO limit, to bowel cancer and premature birth. As a rural family doctor, I support the call to update these limits so that farming families can trust the water they drink. In low-resource areas, that must come with international support, helping communities achieve both chemical and essential microbial safety.”

Last year, an international expert panel commissioned by the Danish government concluded that current international standards are insufficient to protect public health, recommending a dramatic reduction of the national nitrate limit to 6 mg/L NO₃ – nearly ten times lower than current WHO benchmark.[2] Following its 2026 election, Denmark committed to revising its national limit in line with this scientific advice. Intensive livestock production and synthetic nitrogen fertilisers are among the primary drivers of nitrate leaching into groundwater and surface water worldwide. Beyond human health risks, excessive nitrogen runoff degrades freshwater ecosystems, accelerates soil degradation, and drives biodiversity loss. 

The coalition points to the benefits of source water protection for human and ecosystem health, climate mitigation and nature protection and encourages the WHO to adopt a ‘One Health’ approach to drinking water nitrate guidelines – one that considers broader ecosystem and long-term public health impacts alongside traditional toxicological limits.

Because national governments generally peg their own drinking water standards to WHO guidelines, the coalition’s open letter emphasises that an updated WHO standard is vital for global policy reform.

Olivier De Schutter, co-chair of IPES-Food said: 

“Industrial food production is highly dependent on fossil fuels, particularly via synthetic nitrogen fertilisers. This dependence is contributing to climate change, polluting drinking water, harming health, and leaving us vulnerable to volatile energy prices and costly imports. Updating WHO guidelines to reflect the latest science can go hand in hand with a shift towards agroecology – protecting public health, reducing fossil fuel dependence, and building more resilient, self-reliant food systems.”

ENDS

Notes:

Full letter is available here.

Greenpeace media briefing on nitrate pollution in drinking water available here. Organizations wishing to join the open letter can email people.power@greenpeace.org  

[1] World Health Organization. (2026). Guidelines for drinking-water quality: Fourth edition incorporating the first, second and third addenda. 

[2] Evaluation of the parametric value for Nitrate in drinking water. Report delivered to the Ministry of Environment and Gender Equality of Denmark on November 24, 2025.

Contacts:

Joe Evans, Global Comms Lead for Agriculture, Greenpeace UK, +44 7890 595387, joe.evans@greenpeace.org 

Greenpeace International Press Desk, +31 (0)20 718 2470 (available 24 hours), pressdesk.int@greenpeace.org.

Amsterdam — Greenpeace International and Greenpeace organisations in the US are preparing to file their appeals of the absurd US$345 million judgment in Energy Transfer’s abusive SLAPP lawsuit after the North Dakota District Court denied a motion for a new trial today. From the biased jury through the flawed verdict form, the trial in Morton County was marred by major errors. The Greenpeace defendants will appeal this case to the North Dakota Supreme Court.

Greenpeace International General Counsel Kristin Casper said:

“We continue to demand accountability for one of the largest miscarriages of justice in North Dakota’s history. Since the District Court refuses to right the wrongs committed at trial, we will next appeal the many wrongly decided and unresolved errors in the case to the North Dakota Supreme Court. We will never stop trying to ensure the rights and freedoms promised under the US constitution are protected.”

“There remains no question the Greenpeace defendants were denied a fair trial. We will not rest until justice is served and Big Oil can no longer use and abuse the legal system in North Dakota or anywhere else.” 

Energy Transfer’s back-to-back SLAPP lawsuits are attempts to erase Indigenous leadership of the Standing Rock movement, punish solidarity with the ongoing resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline, and intimidate environmental activists from speaking out against Big Oil companies.  

Marco Simons, Greenpeace Inc. and Greenpeace Fund General Counsel, said:

“Speaking out against harm is not an injustice — but denying us a new trial after the widely documented improprieties in that courtroom produced a damages award with no evidentiary basis, absolutely is. The law is on our side. We will continue protecting people and the planet through the appeals process, and we will challenge this unjust and unfounded damages award at every opportunity. So long as the courts apply the law, we will prevail.”

The cases have been monitored by numerous observers worldwide, and received scrutiny by legal experts for inconsistencies, flaws, and unfair proceedings. Among the numerous egregious flaws documented in the North Dakota District Court trial:

1. The Greenpeace defendants could not receive a fair and impartial trial in Morton County, whose residents experienced direct, disruptive impacts during the historic Standing Rock protests.
2. Seven out of nine jurors that decided the case had clear ties to the fossil fuel industry, direct experiences with the Standing Rock protests, and/or preexisting negative views of the Greenpeace defendants.
3. Despite the fact that thousands of individuals and hundreds of organisations were involved in actions at Standing Rock and speaking out against DAPL – and North Dakota law clearly requires damages to be split among everyone who contributes to alleged harms – the jury and the court assigned 100% of the claimed damages to the Greenpeace defendants. 
4. The jury’s verdict was contrary to the weight of the evidence on each and every count. 
5. The jury verdict was tainted by the court’s admission of inadmissible, prejudicial information. 
6. The jury was improperly prevented from hearing relevant, admissible evidence that was favourable to the Greenpeace defendants. 
7. The jury was provided erroneous and incomplete instructions and a flawed verdict form.

ENDS

Contacts: 

Greenpeace International Press Desk, +31 (0)20 718 2470 (available 24 hours), pressdesk.int@greenpeace.org

Join the Greenpeace SLAPP Trial WhatsApp Group for our latest updates

London, United Kingdom – Activists on board the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise have successfully placed giant boulders onto the seabed in the Southern North Sea – the UK’s most bottom-trawled offshore Marine Protected Area (MPA) – forming an underwater barrier to prevent the destructive fishing method. 

Using boulders signed by UK MPs and prominent figures including actors Simon Pegg and Benedict Cumberbatch, the Greenpeace UK activists formed an underwater barrier effectively closing 116 km² along England’s east coast, as new analysis by Greenpeace UK reveals bottom trawlers spent at least 37,200 hours in 2025 alone fishing in this MPA – created to protect harbour porpoises.[1][2]

A new Greenpeace International report found that at the current rate of progress, it could take 265 years to fully protect 30% of the ocean, which scientists say is the minimum required to give it a chance at recovery. The report shows only 3.5% of the world’s ocean is currently fully or highly protected, and just 1% of UK waters.[3] 

Will McCallum, co-executive director of Greenpeace UK said: “Destruction on a huge scale is happening near our shores out of sight, in places we’re told are ‘Marine Protected Areas’. Hulking great ships prowl our oceans day after day, stripping them of fish and killing precious wildlife like dolphins, sharks and sea birds.

“With our ship and a movement behind us, we’re doing what the government isn’t: Protecting our seas. We’re setting a bold challenge to ministers: Ban destructive fishing across all our protected waters at home, and lead the charge for a network of global ocean sanctuaries across the Atlantic.”

New analysis from Greenpeace UK shows that in 2025, bottom trawlers and dredgers churned up a cumulative 55,600 km² of seabed inside the UK’s Marine Protected Areas, equivalent to almost the size of Croatia.[4] According to the findings, trawlers and dredgers spent at least 115,000 hours towing gear along the seabed inside these MPAs in 2025 – the equivalent of more than 13 years of non-stop fishing.

Despite its status as a ‘Marine Protected Area’, there are currently no restrictions on fishing activity in most of the Southern North Sea MPA, meaning bottom-trawlers, dredgers and other industrial vessels threaten the porpoise population daily. The Arctic Sunrise will remain in the area to monitor any other types of destructive industrial fishing.

Governments around the world committed to a global target to protect 30% of land and sea for nature by 2030. The Arctic Sunrise action comes as progress towards this target is revealed at the UN biodiversity conference (CBD COP17) in Armenia. 

ENDS

Photo and video are available in the Greenpeace Media Library

Notes: 

[1] Estimates based on an analysis of data from Global Fishing Watch. Methodology and calculations are available on request.

[2] The Southern North Sea MPA is identified as an area of importance for harbour porpoise.

[3] Press release: At current rate it will take 265 years to reach crucial target to protect 30% of the ocean – but sanctuary networks could save it. Report: WELL CONNECTED: Protecting the Atlantic High Seas through an ocean-wide sanctuary network  

Just over 10% (43 out of 378) of the UK’s MPAs are fully protected by law from destructive bottom-trawling.

[4] Greenpeace UK analysed Global Fishing Watch data on apparent fishing activity in 2025 and found that bottom-towed fishing gear was dragged across a cumulative 55,600 km² of seabed inside the UK’s offshore Marine Protected Areas. This figure counts every pass of the gear, so seabed trawled more than once is counted each time. It measures the total amount of bottom trawling, not the area of seabed that was trawled. Repeated trawling in an area compounds the damage to the ecosystem.

Contact:

Greenpeace UK Press Office, press.uk@greenpeace.org, 0207 865 8255

Greenpeace International Press Desk, +31 (0) 20 718 2470 (available 24 hours), pressdesk.int@greenpeace.org  

Note: This release was edited on 2/11/2026 to correct the equivalent size of seabed area inside the UK’s Marine Protected Areas churned up by bottom trawlers and dredgers in 2025 to almost the size of Croatia.