COP25: IKEA Applauds Green Deal Movement toward a Climate Neutral Europe

IKEA is guided by a single vision - to create a better everyday life for the many people. With sustainability deeply rooted in this vision, IKEA applauds the European Green Deal initiative to combat climate change and fully supports efforts to make the European Union climate neutral by 2050. This goal empowers businesses, like IKEA, to grow and lead the way toward reduction of greenhouse gas emissions with innovative circular business development, while at the same time maintain a competitive industrial environment.

We are taking action now. IKEA supports ambitious actions that will limit global temperature increase to 1.5° and enable us to deliver to the Paris Agreement. We have signed the UN Global Compact 1.5° pledge and support the Exponential Roadmap to halve emissions every decade, with a first 50% reduction by 2030. We encourage the intention of setting climate neutrality into law while increasing climate ambitions for 2030. The IKEA goal is to become climate positive and circular by 2030, reducing more GHG emissions than the total IKEA value chain emits, while growing our business. We will not rely on carbon offsetting, and we will work within our own value chain to reach our reductions.

Promoting a circular and climate neutral economy aligns with the IKEA People and Planet Positive sustainability strategy: We want to enable more than 1 billion people to live a healthier and more sustainable life within the limits of the planet by 2030. To meet that goal, IKEA is on an urgent journey to integrate a new business model – and a new mindset – that moves from a linear to a circular business, encompassing the total value chain, from how and where we meet our customers, to how and what products and services we develop, how we source materials, and develop the IKEA supply chain.

“We have a positive and solution-oriented approach and we are optimistic about the future. We should not underestimate the challenges, but with big challenges come big opportunities. We welcome the European Union’s commitment to scale up efforts to limit climate change to 1.5 degrees, taking concrete measures to transform policies and mainstream sustainability. At IKEA, we are determined to do our part and to use our size and influence to make a positive difference,” says Torbjörn Lööf, CEO of Inter IKEA Group, the IKEA worldwide franchisor.

IKEA welcomes a common approach in the EU, and we are ready to work on the details of the topic relating to: 

• promoting a circular and climate neutral economy;
• improving renewable energy solutions and energy efficiency;
• moving to zero-emission mobility;
• biodiversity;
• food waste;
• eliminating pollution of air, water and land;
• leaving no one behind

IKEA leads the value chain end-to-end, from the supplier to the customer. IKEA is able and willing to contribute our experience in retail and life at home to make this deal work for the many people. No one can do everything, but everyone can do something, and together we can scale solutions that have a positive impact on people and planet. Businesses big and small, NGOs, governments, activists, citizens – we have it in our own hands to turn climate challenges into solutions.

Information on the European Green Deal can be found here.