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Luxury toilet paper used by millions of people in the UK is destroying endangered reindeer habitats, Greenpeace has claimed.

Velvet toilet paper is being produced using pulp from protected forest areas of north Sweden, a study found. The area is home to reindeer, wolves and lynx.

The Greenpeace report said that Essity, Velvet’s owner, is sourcing pulp from mills supplied by logging companies that are clear-cutting some of the region’s last remaining old-growth trees, a crucial habitat for reindeer.

Entitled "Wiping out the boreal", the Greenpeace report says Essity is destroying the sub-arctic coniferous Boreal forest, which is the world’s largest carbon storage and home to 1,300 red-listed species.

Essity is the world’s second-largest toilet paper producer. Velvet has been running its Three Trees Promise campaign, a commitment to replace three trees for each one it uses, since 2009, but Greenpeace say the campaign is just "clever marketing".

Jamie Woolley, Greenpeace UK forests campaigner, said: “Velvet’s ‘three tree promise’ suggests the company cares about the environment and sustainability. But its owner, Essity, is sourcing pulp from the last remain in gold growth Swedish forests, home to locally endangered species including wolves and lynx. It’s got to stop."

In response to the Greenpeace report, Essity reiterated its commitment to promoting sustainable forestry.

The company said: "All fresh wood fibre in our products is to be FSC or PEFC certified, or fulfil the FSC’s standard for controlled wood.

"The Forest Stewardship Council, an independent, international certification organisation, promotes the environmentally friendly, socially responsible and economically viable management of the world’s forests.”

The firm is currently in talks with Greenpeace.