Please share with us some of your key initiatives and investments in RE and their impact, as well as new projects? Can you share with us Ikea’s progress on meeting the 2020 target?
Last year, the Ikea Group announced the purchase of two wind farms in the United States – a 165-megawatt wind farm in Cameron County, Texas, and a 98-megawatt wind farm in Hoopeston, Illinois. Together, the Ikea Hoopeston and Cameron wind farms are expected to generate nearly 1,000 gigawatt hours of electricity per year, which is equivalent to the average annual electricity consumption of around 90,000 American households.
In February this year, the Ikea Group announced the acquisition of a new wind farm and a commitment to buy two existing ones in Poland. Once operational, the six Ikea Group wind farms in Poland will produce an annual equivalent of the electricity needs of 225,000 average Polish households.
Ikea Group’s operations in Poland is now set to become energy independent by the end of the year – meaning, we are producing more energy from renewable sources than we are consuming in our buildings.
Our US operations are also on track for energy independence this year.
This May, following the inauguration of a new wind farm in Glötesvålen, Sweden, our operations in the Nordic countries became energy independent. Ikea Group operations in Canada became energy independent in 2014. All these moves are part of the overall Ikea Group goal to become energy independent globally by 2020.
Would you be able to share with us the success of solar-panel sales at your stores in the UK, Netherlands, and Switzerland? How many panels have been sold and would you have plans to broaden this to other stores?
We strive to introduce to our customers new ways to live more sustainably, and the solar panel offer is one of them. We aim to make solar affordable and attractive to as many people as possible.
Last year, Ikea UK and Ireland completed the roll-out of the solar panel offer to all 18 UK stores. Our panels are being bought by people with smaller homes than the average UK residential solar customer. Our competitive prices and pay-as-you-earn Solarloan mean households who were previously priced out to the market can now invest in solar. This scheme allows customers to take 15-year loans at an interest rate that will allow panels to generate enough savings in energy bills to cover loan payments.
The offer has been successfully introduced in the UK, the Netherlands and Switzerland, and that has given us valuable insights to be able to create a growth plan that can be translated into other countries in future.
What do you think is the potential for your global RE effort to be implemented in Asia? Which markets in this region are the most interesting to Ikea?
Ikea is a large international retailer, and we want to have a positive impact on people and the planet where ever we are present. This includes investing in renewable energy where possible for our operations in Asia.
Together with our suppliers, we have also made good progress with improving energy efficiency and increasing the share of renewable energy used in the production of our products in Asia.