UK companies are profiting from supply chains that destroy precious forests worldwide, threaten wildlife, accelerate climate change, and violate the rights of local communities.
The everyday products we buy in the UK – from furniture to food – often have a hidden cost. Whether it's timber for furniture, soy for animal feed, or palm oil in processed foods, we're often unknowingly buying products with devastating environmental and human impacts across the globe.
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| Photo Credit: Shaun Rumbelow 24 May 2025 |
Precious forests around the world are being destroyed at an alarming rate. From the Amazon to Southeast Asia, UK companies profit from global supply chains that drive this destruction, threatening iconic wildlife like orangutans and jaguars while accelerating climate change.
Indigenous communities and local people around the world are having their land stolen, their homes destroyed, livelihoods disrupted, and their rights violated. And all the while, UK companies have no legal liability for the destruction caused by their own supply chains. Extractive industries are wreaking wildlife habitats and threatening people's lives and livelihoods.
To draw attention to the campaign, seven volunteers from Sheffield Friends of the Earth headed off to the Winter Gardens on Saturday 24 May to perform a stunt to get media coverage.
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| Picture Credit: Shaun Rumbelow |
Shaun Rumbelow from Sheffield Friends of the Earth, said:
“The everyday products we buy in Sheffield – from cosmetics to food – often have a hidden cost. Few of us realise that many of our favourite products are linked to devastating deforestation across the world.“Communities are losing their homes and forests, while UK companies reap billions of pounds in profits and face almost no consequences. A new law could change this.
“83% of the British public, as well as over 50 companies, including Sainsbury’s and Aviva, support new laws that would stop environmental abuses in supply chains. The time for stronger regulation is now.
“We invite the public to join us in urging their MP to support a new law that ensures UK company supply chains do not contribute to the destruction of overseas forests.”