Choosing the most sustainable options for your boat can leave you feeling confused, but don’t worry, you’re in good company. Shortly after Jeff Bezos launched his Earth Fund programme – a 10 billion dollar initiative to conserve nature and combat climate change – his yacht, Koro, was launched, covered in expanses of beautiful teak decking. The yacht’s Dutch builder, Oceanco defended its use by stating that ‘all teak used on our projects meets EU requirements and is third-party verified to ensure due diligence’.
Whilst verifying the environmental credentials of teak from Myanmar has long been recognised as a difficult issue, in 2021 a brutal military coup changed everything. No longer was teak from Myanmar just an environmental issue, it was now a human rights disaster too. The EU, UK, US, Canada and Switzerland imposed sanctions on the country to prevent money reaching the military junta via sales of the state-controlled timber monopoly. Sadly the sanctions seem not
