Ikea, the Swedish furniture giant made a number of big announcements. The company pledged to invest 600M Euros in renewable energy projects in addition to an earlier 1.5B Euros cash injection and another 400M Euros to support communities that are vulnerable to climate change according to The Guardian.
The company says that they are going all in to have a net positive impact on the environment and the climate through renewable energy investments, cutting supply chain emissions, having energy-efficient measures and product changes designed to achieve behaviour change. The initiative already helped its suppliers to be 18% more energy efficient over the past 4 years. This happened by way of having a sustainability assessment tool and by having their suppliers together to get sustainability best practices.
Kea Plans to be an exporter of renewable energy within the next four years. At present, Ikea produces 53% of its energy from renewable sources. It operates 314 wind turbines and already installed 700,000 solar panels on their stores and their distribution centres. In Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Poland and Sweden, Ikea already produces energy that is equivalent to what it uses in its daily operations. In Canada operations, its wind farm produces more than double its consumption thus, they are covered.
Another of Ikea’s core strategy is to support consumers in making their environmental choices. The company changed its entire lighting range to LED in September of last year and estimates that by the year 2020, the electricity saved will be equal to the yearly needs of every household in Paris and London.
Click here to read the full story on The Guardian
Solar Trust Centre Team
