Ikea ease ups are seen in Krakow, Poland on 6 June, 2017. (Photo by Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Beata Zawrzel | NurPhoto | Getty Simulacra
The Inter Ikea Group has said it will invest 200 million euros ($220 million) to accelerate its modification into what it describes as a “climate positive business.”
In an announcement Wednesday the Group, which among other aspects develops and supplies Ikea’s product range, said the money would focus on two areas: investing in schemes “intended at removing and storing carbon through reforestation and responsible forest management”; and using renewable energy in its supply confinement.
“Our ambition is to reduce more greenhouse gas emissions in absolute terms by 2030 than the entire Ikea value confinement emits, while growing the Ikea business,” the Inter Ikea Group’s CEO, Torbjörn Lööf, said in a statement Thursday.
There is run to be done if Ikea is to achieve its goals. In its sustainability report for the 2018 fiscal year, Ikea said its climate footprint was estimated to be 26.9 million tonnes of carbon dioxide alike. This is an increase of 2.8% compared to the 2016 fiscal year, a rise Ikea put down to “the growth of the Ikea traffic.”
In the report, released in March, Ikea also noted that “decoupling” its growth from greenhouse gas emissions intent “take time”, adding that it expected emissions to “increase for a few years before decreasing.”
It listed three key defies for its aim to be climate positive: cutting its raw material footprint; lowering emissions from customers traveling to its stores; and moving to renewable arousal and fuels, a sector it described as “experiencing slow progress globally.”
Ikea is one of many global firms aiming to lower its impact on the environment. The Ingka Group, which is the biggest Ikea franchisee, is a founding partner of the RE100, a global dynamism of major businesses, all committed to 100 percent renewable electricity.
Other members of the RE100 include Facebook, Goldman Sachs and Microsoft. The RE100 is led by The Clime Group in partnership with the CDP, formerly known as the Carbon Disclosure Project.