IKEA Group Unveils New Sustainability Strategy: People & Planet Positive

NETHERLANDS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The IKEA Group today released a new, ambitious sustainability strategy, People & Planet Positive. The strategy is an integrated part of the IKEA Group long-term growth direction and builds on the company’s long history of working with sustainability by outlining a new set of goals and actions for delivery up to 2020.

People & Planet Positive has three key focus areas:

Inspiring and enabling millions of people to live a more sustainable life at home, offering products and solutions that help customers to save money by using less energy and water and reducing waste. Examples include: converting all lighting to LED that last for 20 years and use up to 85% less electricity; offering the most energy efficient home appliances on the market at the lowest price; creating low price, functional and easy to use solutions for sorting and minimizing waste and using less water at home.
Becoming energy and resource independent, which includes producing as much renewable energy as is consumed in IKEA Group stores and buildings, building on the €1.5 billion ($1.8 US billion) allocated to wind and solar projects. It also includes improving the energy efficiency in IKEA Group operations by at least 20% and encouraging suppliers to do the same. Continuously developing the IKEA range, making products more sustainable by ensuring all main home furnishing materials, including packaging, are renewable, recyclable or recycled.
Taking the lead in creating a better life for the people and communities, which includes supporting the development of good places to work throughout the IKEA Group supply chain - encouraging suppliers to not only focus on compliance but also shared values. It also includes going beyond the immediate reach of the supply chain and helping to support human rights.

“We want to create a better every day for the many people. A better life includes living more sustainably. We have been working towards that goal for many years and have already done a lot, and we are now ready to take the next big step. People & Planet Positive will help us to do that; transforming our business and having an even greater positive impact on the world,” said Mikael Ohlsson, President and CEO, IKEA Group.

One of the biggest challenges for the 21st Century is how to address resource scarcity and climate change whilst providing a great quality of life for people around the world. People & Planet Positive will help IKEA Group to play a small but significant part in meeting those challenges. In addition to contributing to the quality of life of people and communities where it operates, it will use resources with the utmost efficiency and turn waste into resources. Only renewable energy will be used in IKEA Group operations, while safe chemicals, responsible stewardship of forests, water and farmlands will be the base of its supply chain.

“We believe that sustainability should not be a luxury good – it should be affordable for everyone. With over 770 million visitors to our stores, we are excited by the opportunity to help our customers fulfill their dreams at home with beautiful products that help them save money on their household bills by reducing energy and water use, as well as reducing waste. People & Planet Positive will also enable us to take our responsibilities in the supply chain further over the coming years by, for example, only using renewable energy to power our buildings and advocating for children’s rights,” said Steve Howard, Chief Sustainability Officer, IKEA Group.

In the US, IKEA has increased the number of solar installations to 34 stores and distribution centers, with 5 more underway; which represents 90% solar presence in the US. Additionally, there are 33 electric vehicle charging stations at 9 stores in western US.

About IKEA:

IKEA, the world’s leading home furnishings company, was founded in 1943 in Sweden. Since then, IKEA, the Life Improvement Store has offered home furnishings and accessories of great design and quality with functional living solutions at everyday low prices. Currently there are more than 298 IKEA Group stores in 26 countries, including 50 in North America (11 in Canada; 38 in the US; 1 in the Dominican Republic). IKEA has six distribution centers in North America. The IKEA Group employs 131,000 coworkers and had 655 million visitors in FY 11. IKEA incorporates environmentally friendly efforts into day-to-day business and continuously supports initiatives that benefit causes such as children and the environment including UNICEF, Save the Children and American Forests. To visit the IKEA Web site, please go to www.IKEA-usa.com and also learn more about IKEA environmental and social responsibility actions and programs. Also visit www.Facebook.com/IKEAUSA.

To view the People & Planet Positive film on YouTube, please visit: www.youtube.com/IKEA