Garden lovers know bamboo as a crop that quietly works its way through every crevice and cranny and, in the long run, can no longer be kept small. But the tough and climate-friendly grass also conquers more and more corners of our economy with a variety of applications.

Thanks to the combination of favourable ecological and economic properties, bamboo has a foot ahead of wood. With a growth cycle of just four to five years, an annual harvest is possible. This rapid growth makes it an efficient storage buffer for the greenhouse gas CO2 and its increasing use does not lead to deforestation. Provided, of course, that bamboo plantations do not replace existing forests. IKEA, which sources the bulk of its bamboo from China, operates a code of conduct for suppliers that includes controls on sustainable extraction of the wood.

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