Blog: Forests

It's July so the last thing any sane person will be thinking about is Christmas. Not so for those in the toy business because, with only 165 shopping days to go, they're looking ahead to the festive season.

Take Hasbro, for instance. Today, product and marketing managers have been showing off the new lines for Christmas to retailers and journalists and we thought we'd pop along as well.

When Ken dumped Barbie last month, Mattel was not the only toy company put under the spotlight for their role in rainforest destruction. Our investigation showed that Hasbro, Lego and Disney are also wrapping toys in paper products coming from Indonesian rainforests.

The first of these toy companies to announce more substantive action is Lego, who have released a new statement on this issue today.

Thanks for all the Barbie reviews posted on Amazon - there were some excellent comments. The moderators have since removed them, but they'll have given Mattel something else to think about. Mattel has created many careers for Barbie over the years - vet, fashion designer, architect - but this latest career move as rainforest destroyer means she needs a whole new look.

Back in April, we revealed serious defects in national plans to reduce carbon emissions from deforestation, due to the influence of global mega-consultancy firm McKinsey. Incredibly, McKinsey’s advice to forest nations could actually lead to increased deforestation, more carbon emissions, huge loss of biodiversity and violations of human rights. Now we’ve taken another step in building pressure on McKinsey.