There is an increasingly consistent view in the climate debate: our own actions can make a difference and politics can work with a whip and a carrot – but when it comes to large-scale green change, it is business that must take the lead.
From a Swedish perspective, it is therefore gratifying that a flagship such as IKEA takes sustainability seriously. The company’s goal is to become climate positive by the year 2030, ie to reduce more CO2 emissions than it creates.
IKEA is owned by Ingka Group, which in addition to 374 IKEA stores also owns 45 shopping centers in 15 countries. The third leg is Ingka Investments, and this is where the big capital is transformed into sustainable solutions.
Ingka not only invests in its own operations, but also enters as a partner in other companies that drive development forward. In addition, it owns a lot of renewable energy production: 546 wind turbines in 14 countries, two solar parks (with a total of 1.5 million solar panels), and 920,000 solar panels that sit on the roofs of the group’s department stores, offices and warehouses. The goal is to achieve 100 percent renewable energy in the business.
In a press release , Ingka Group now states that it has committed to invest an additional SEK 6 billion (about $685 million USD) in various types of sustainability initiatives – just in the coming year. In total, this means that the group has invested SEK 40 billion (over $4 billion USD) in sustainability.
