Ikea reports progress in “transforming” the supply of key materials
04/02/2015
Measures the company took during the year included a commitment to install 87 new wind turbines at its facilities, bringing the total number it runs to 224. In addition, it installed 150,000 solar panels, taking its total to 700,000.
Ikea said these developments take the company a step closer to one of its goals, producing more renewable energy than the total energy it uses by 2020. By the end of 2015, Ikea aims to have invested or to have committed to invest EUR 1.5 billion in renewable energy projects.
It also said its stores around the world had reported a 58% increase year on year in sales of products that will help consumers lead “a more sustainable life at home”. Its total sales of products that enable people to save or generate energy, to reduce water use and to cut down on waste passed €1 billion in 2014.
All of the wood the company used in its furniture in 2014 was sourced from suppliers that meet the Ikea’s own forestry standard and 76% of the cotton it used came from programmes that encourage producers to use fewer chemicals and less water in their cotton production, while still increasing their earnings. It said it was on track to source all of its cotton from these sources by August 2015.
The report contained no specific references to leather, although Ikea has been an enthusiastic participant in meetings organised by COTANCE, the leather industry’s representative body to the European Commission, to help leather achieve recognition as a green product.
In a statement, the group’s chief sustainability officer, Steve Howard, said: “We want to make Ikea completely sustainable. I’m proud to say that we’re making good progress in transforming the supply of key materials.”
Share this story:
