FSC certification alone won’t be enough to ensure IKEA is compliant with Europe’s incoming deforestation regulation \u2014 and the furniture giant needs to fundamentally overhaul how it traces timber back to harvest. That is according to the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) \u2014 the independent environmental watchdog \u2014 whose senior commodities policy manager, Rick Jacobsen, warns the voluntary certification model won’t be enough to be EUDR-ready.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Fundamentally, the reason we need laws like the EUDR is because voluntary certification schemes have not worked,” Jacobsen told the US-based Mongabay today<\/a>. “They haven’t been able to bring enough of the sector \u2014 or even really a significant amount of the sector \u2014 toward more environmentally sustainable practices.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n It comes as IKEA \u2014 a founding member of the Forest Stewardship Council \u2014 last year processed 15 million cubic metres of wood. And of that, more than 96.5 per cent was FSC-certified or recycled. But Jacobsen said voluntary certification is not the same as proof.<\/p>\n\n\n\n