Ikea: Going 100% renewable makes “good business sense”
Ikea, the Swedish furniture giant, has committed to producing as much clean energy as it consumes at its retail stores and factories. Eco-Business speaks to Ikea’s chief sustainability officer Steve Howard about the company’s renewable energy policy.
As part of its plan to go 100 per cent renewable, Swedish home furnishings giant Ikea has installed more than 700,000 solar panels on Ikea buildings and signed up to own and operate 314 wind turbines around the world.
By Jean Chua
Monday 27 July 2015
Ikea, the Swedish home furnishing firm, was built on the vision to “create a better everyday life for the many people” and to date, it has grown into a retail giant with more than 350 stores and 150,000 employees globally. The family-owned company is recognised not only for its functional and affordable furniture but is also building a name for itself with its trail-blazing efforts in its green energy and corporate sustainability strategies.The company is part of RE100, an initiative of The Climate Group and CDP, to encourage the world’s most influential firms to commit to going 100 per cent renewable.Under its ‘People and Planet Positive’ sustainability strategy launched in 2012, it made the commitment to produce as much clean energy as it consumes by 2020.From using sustainable cotton to recycling more than 87 per cent of the waste it generates, Ikea has won many accolades for its efforts, including the Guardian Sustainable Business Award and the BusinessGreen Leaders Awards’ Company of the Year.It has already invested 1.5 billion euros on wind and solar power installations since 2009, and will continue to invest another one billion euros into producing renewable energy over the next few years, the company said in June.
The company already boasts 700,000 solar panels on its roofs and has signed up to own and operate 314 wind turbines. The Ikea Foundation, the charitable arm of the family-owned group, will also invest 400 million euros by 2020 to support communities in nations vulnerable to impacts of climate change such as floods, droughts and desertification.
Steve Howard, the company’s chief sustainability officer, says investing in renewable energy makes good business sense and helps to protect the firm from fluctuations in energy costs.
In this exclusive interview with Eco-Business, Howard shares his thoughts on Ikea’s policy on renewable energy, its philosophy on sustainability, and its fastest-growing market: China.
What’s the reason for this ambitious target of powering 100 per cent of your energy consumption with your own renewable energy (RE) production? When and how did this initiative on sustainability begin at Ikea?
Sustainability has always been at the core of Ikea’s business, and we acknowledge the fact that climate change is one of the most challenging problems facing society. Ikea is very focused on helping to tackle climate change in our own operations and in our supply chain, and we also try to inspire and enable our customers to live more sustainably at home. As well as being good for the planet, investing in our own renewable energy makes good business sense, and can help to protect us from variations in energy costs.
As a large international company we also think it is important to play a leadership role. This way, we can encourage other businesses and government leaders to be more active in tackling climate change. That is why we have become more vocal in the last two years. However we have been on the road towards a more sustainable business since IKEA was founded seventy years ago.
Where would the bulk of your RE investments be in? Ikea has allocated US$1.9 billion in RE projects by the end of 2015 and a lot of them are in wind power. Why the preference for wind compared to other clean energy sources?
We believe that wind is a fantastic resource and investing in wind farms can be the best way to increase our production of renewable electricity, from both a cost and environmental perspective. It can also help us manage our power bills.
We have now committed to own 314 wind turbines in nine countries. But wind is not the only source of renewable energy that we utilise. Ikea Group also uses solar and energy from biomass. We invest heavily in solar installations and have now installed 700,000 solar panels globally.
Folgt: Can you share with us Ikea’s progress on meeting the 2020 target?