According to new climate action research* published by Ingka Group, the main IKEA retailer, 7 out of 10 people are worried about climate change, and 9 out of 10 people are willing to take individual action. The biggest barriers are not getting enough support from governments and businesses, that climate action is too expensive, and not knowing what to do.
IKEA is taking action to become climate positive by 2030**, reducing more greenhouse gas emissions than the IKEA value chain emits, while growing the business. In addition to a range of actions across the business to reduce emissions, as well as investments into renewable energy, IKEA has an opportunity to inspire and enable the billions of people it reaches to take climate action in their own lives.
As one step to inspire and enable customers to live a more sustainable life at home, Ingka Group is now implementing a new Sustainable Living Shop across its 32 markets. The dedicated space in the store will focus on highlighting accessible and affordable products and solutions among the existing IKEA range that will support people to take small steps and reduce their climate impact and household costs by using less energy, reducing single use, creating less waste, using less water and caring, repairing, reselling and recycling.
Jesper Brodin, CEO of Ingka Group, states:
“For me this is personal, we all need to take responsibility for climate action. As a business we are deeply committed to become climate positive by 2030 and through our actions we managed to reduce our own footprint. In addition, we want to make more sustainable choices affordable and accessible for people and invite everyone to be part of the solution. With small changes in everyday life – reducing energy, water and waste, we can have a big collective impact. We know that no one can do everything, but all of us can do something”, he says.
IKEA is already testing a number of services and solutions for a more sustainable life at home, including buy back and take back services, in-store circular hubs, and online platforms for second-hand products. Now the company is launching its next Green Friday campaign to encourage people to save more than money by asking customers to bring back their pre-loved IKEA products. In addition to taking back furniture, customers will be offered the chance to choose among second-hand items when shopping at IKEA online as well as in store. Last year, more than 155,000 pieces of furniture were returned, recovered and given the chance of a new life.
As part of its climate ambitions IKEA is an official partner of COP26, the United Nations Climate Change Conference, taking place between 31 October and 12 November, which will be a pivotal moment to turn the tide on climate change. During the conference, the company is engaging in different activities to demonstrate its support for ambitious climate action and to inspire and enable more people to live a more sustainable life at home, including a climate solutions exhibition, Assembling a better future, an action-focused stakeholder event, One Home One Planet, and Sustainable Living Hubs, across the city of Glasgow, in addition to other actions.
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* Research conducted by GlobeScan and Ingka Group in different countries to understand how IKEA can help people take climate action in their everyday lives.
** IKEA climate positive means to reduce more greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions than the IKEA value chain emits by 2030, while growing the IKEA business. IKEA is committed to the Paris Agreement and to contribute to limiting the global temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. This includes a commitment to halve the absolute net GHG emissions from the total IKEA value chain by 2030. We will achieve this by drastically reducing GHG emissions through science-based targets and by removing carbon from the atmosphere through natural processes and storing it in land, plants and products through better forest and agriculture management within the IKEA value chain. We will contribute to further greenhouse emission reductions in society by going beyond IKEA, such as enabling customers to generate renewable energy at home.
Other key IKEA climate actions:
- Renewable energy: Phasing out fossil fuels and striving towards 100% renewable energy (electricity, heating, cooling and fuels) across the IKEA value chain by 2030. By 2025 Ingka Group will aim to secure 100% renewable electricity consumption across its own operations and recently announced a 4 BEUR investment into renewable energy that will support reducing the company’s footprint and a broader transition to a net-zero society.
- Low carbon transport and logistics: By 2030, IKEA aims to reduce its absolute greenhouse gas emissions from product transport by 15% compared to 2017. Ingka Group will aim for 100% zero-emission home deliveries by 2025 across its 32 countries.
- Sustainable sourcing and circular design: IKEA aims to become a circular business, using only renewable and recycled materials with lower climate footprint and designing products for circularity by 2030.
- Enabling customers to live more healthy and sustainable lives: By 2030, IKEA aims to inspire and enable more than 1 billion people to live better lives within the boundaries of the planet
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