Ikea‘s retail holding company, Ingka Group, will allocate an additional 4 billion euros to invest in renewable energy. In addition, investment vehicle Ikea Foundation is pumping another 1 billion euros into reducing carbon emissions.
Wind and solar energy projects
Ingka Group, the largest Ikea franchise holding company, plans to invest 4 billion euros in the transition to a future using renewable energy. With the money, Ikea wants to reduce its climate footprint further and evolve towards achieving 100 per cent renewable energy throughout its entire value chain. In doing so, the home furnishing chain aims to help limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, as agreed in the Paris Climate Agreement.
Using the additional 4 billion euros, Ikea will invest in wind and solar energy projects, especially in countries where this was not yet in place. New projects will also be added, such as energy storage, developing hydrogen fuel and charging infrastructure. Recently, Ingka Group already bought a 49 per cent stake in 8 solar PV parks in Russia, which can provide electricity to all 17 Ikea stores and part of the Mega shopping centres in the country.
Ikea Foundation also allocates an additional 1 billion euros over the next five years to reduce carbon emissions. The investment holding company plans to make investments in renewable energy sources and provide energy to various communities, among other things.
The most crucial decade in history
“We are in the most crucial decade in human history,” insists Jesper Brodin, CEO of Ingka Group. Today, the group has 547 wind turbines, 10 solar parks in 15 countries and 935,000 solar panels on the roofs of its stores. In Belgium, for example, solar and wind power already provides 65.9 per cent of all the company’s energy.
“Climate change is no longer something remote and something to be ignored. We all need to do our part to limit global warming to 1.5°C,” says Brodin. “The cost of inaction is too high and poses a significant risk both to our business and to humanity. We know that with the right investments, we can be part of the solution and limit the impact on our shared home -the earth- as we arm our company for the future.”
