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IKEA joins Canopy to keep endangered forests safe

Canopy and IKEA will join forces to keep ancient and endangered forests out of the viscose supply for home textiles and to work toward supply chain transformation. Source: Timberbiz

By joining the CanopyStyle initiative, IKEA is continuing its commitment to the world’s forests and procuring viscose for home textiles only from producers that have achieved the highest ranking in Canopy’s Hot Button Report. IKEA is the first major retailer focused on the home textile and furnishing space to join CanopyStyle.

The world’s ancient and endangered forests are not required to make fabrics like viscose and rayon for fashion and home fabrics. These vital forest ecosystems are home to most of the world’s life on land and are highly effective at capturing and storing carbon.

Forests have been identified by leading scientists as a major part of the climate solution, and they are critical to addressing the biodiversity crisis.

“At IKEA, we are guided by our forest agenda and want to ramp up our work to further enhance biodiversity, mitigate climate change and drive innovation to use wood in even smarter ways as the pressure on the world’s forests continues to grow. In this endeavour, we are glad to work closely with Canopy and all of the retailers united through this initiative,” said Lena Bischoff, Material & Innovation Area Manager, Inter IKEA Group.

“The home textiles sector needs to step-up and ensure that the forest-derived textiles, like viscose and lyocell, only come from responsibly managed forests, and make a shift towards lower-impact alternatives.”

Nicole Rycroft, Canopy’s Executive Director said that the work with IKEA heralds a new era for the lower-carbon and forest-friendly sourcing of viscose for home products and furnishings. It will allow all of us to sleep more comfortably with vital forests kept out of the supply and Next Gen alternatives scaled in our bed sheets and beyond.

The CanopyStyle initiative now has over 520 global brands.