Re-building the future

FURNITURE RETAILER EMBRACES NEW PLANET-FRIENDLY LIFESTYLE

Once, when you heard the name 'IKEA', you may have thought 'flat-packed furniture' and 'forest destruction' but that is set to change. From renewable energy to forest stewardship, the world's largest furniture outlet (under its parent company - the INGKA group which manages 367 of its 423 worldwide stores) is turning the inside outside to embrace nature and the planet.

Just this month, January 2022, they announced the purchase of 3,200 acres of hurricane-destroyed forest in Florida, to restore it with Longleaf Pine which is important habitat for animals and birds. In 2021 they also bought 11,000 acres in Georgia where they teamed up with The Conservation Fund to stop habitat fragmentation and create sustainably managed forests with biodiversity corridors for wildlife. Having gradually accumulated more than 600,000 forested acres in the U.S, Europe and New Zealand, this is part of the retail giant's commitment to carbon neutrality in the next 8 years.

As well as using electric vans and less carbon-emitting materials, they're about to start a program of buying back used IKEA furniture from customers for resale. They've also installed nearly a million solar panels on their stores, and market their own IKEA-brand solar panels to 11 world markets. Back in 2016 they invested 2.5 billion Euros in renewable energy including 534 wind turbines in 14 countries, a wind farm in Romania and two solar parks in the U.S. IKEA customers living in Sweden can currently buy certified solar and wind electricity and use an app to track their usage. Those who have already bought IKEA solar panels can also track their own production in the app and sell back the electricity they don't use themselves.

Under fire in the past for illegal and ancient tree logging, now it appears they can 'see the wood from the trees' with a raft of initiatives aimed at them becoming circular and climate positive by 2030. IKEA shopping has taken on a new meaning.