FY21 was a year of both challenges and important movements towards the IKEA 2030 commitments. Even though the effects of the pandemic continued, nearly all stores could be re-opened, and everyday life returned to something more familiar. Important sustainability achievements include improvements throughout the value chain to further reduce the IKEA climate footprint in absolute terms compared to baseline FY16, the launch of a public online circular product design tool, and taking a big step forward to only use renewable energy across the value chain.
So how are we doing?
Healthy and sustainable living
Read more about how we want to make healthy and sustainable living attractive, affordable and accessible
The next generation of LED is more energy-efficient and affordable
In FY21, we introduced SOLHETTA LED bulbs to replace other LED bulbs in our offer. Even though bulbs are small, the climate impact of their energy consumption is considerable because there are so many in homes around the world. The SOLHETTA LED bulbs last about 25,000 hours and are, on average 35% more energy efficient than previous IKEA LED bulbs. When used for three hours a day, a SOLHETTA LED bulb will only need to be replaced every 20 years, which means less waste, too.
IKEA introduces a new generation of more energy efficient and affordable LED bulbs
New plant-based food for home cooking
In FY21 we introduced VÄRLDSKLOK, a plant-based mince. It’s a versatile meat-free mince option that can be used to make many dishes at home. You could say this is our most IKEA food product yet: assemble your own more sustainable meatball.
VÄRLDSKLOK plant mince is just one of the products we’re offering as we work to make plant-based alternatives more accessible and enticing because choosing plant-based foods has a significant positive impact on individual health and the planet.
Making it easier to prolong product life
In FY21, we offered more than 18 million spare parts (FY20: 14 million) to enable customers to prolong the life of their IKEA products. To make it even easier for customers to get spare parts, we have launched an easy-to-use online ordering solution globally. It’s available through each market’s specific IKEA.com site.
Transforming into a circular business
Read about the many aspects of the IKEA process of becoming circular
Phasing out plastic in our packaging
IKEA will phase out plastic from consumer packaging solutions. The phase-out will happen in steps, starting with all new range by 2025, and running range by 2028. Today, less than 10% of the total volume of packaging material used annually by IKEA consists of plastics.
Learn more about how IKEA will phase out plastic from consumer packaging
One step closer to only using renewable or recycled materials
In FY21, 73% of the material sourced for the IKEA range was renewable or recycled. We reached 56% renewable and 17% recycled materials.
Read more about our goal to use only renewable and recycled materials
In FY21, we launched the online IKEA circular design tool, sharing our learnings from assessing 9500+ IKEA products.
IKEA releases product design tool to accelerate the circular movement
With 2/3 of the time left to 2030, we are on track and have reached 1/3 of our needed emission reduction through many short- and medium-term movements. We also have plans in place to address our remaining challenges, such as the climate footprint of the materials used in the IKEA range.
Accelerating IKEA suppliers’ transition to 100% renewable electricity
In FY21, the IKEA business launched a new program to accelerate suppliers’ transition to 100% renewable electricity. The program supports 1,600 direct suppliers and will first be introduced in three of the largest purchasing countries: Poland, China, and India. Achieving 100% renewable electricity in these countries will save 451,000 tonnes CO₂ emissions per year, equivalent to approximately 2% of the total climate footprint of the IKEA value chain.
IKEA is accelerating supplier transition to 100% renewable electricity
COP26: IKEA is acting on air pollution
Reducing air pollution is more important now than ever before. At COP26, IKEA and partners introduced a guide that will support companies to measure their impact on air quality and take necessary actions to reduce emissions. The guide is being developed by the Climate and Clean Air Coalition and Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), in co-operation with IKEA.
Responsible sourcing
Find out how we promote more responsible sourcing practices in different areas
Our new Forest Positive Agenda for 2030
During FY21, we launched our new Forest Positive Agenda to further enhance biodiversity, support the livelihoods of people who depend on forests and mitigate climate change. We continued to meet our requirement for using wood from more sustainable sources: 99.5% of the wood used for IKEA products is either Forest Stewardship Council®-certified (FSC®) or recycled.
Empowering co-workers to benefit from technological transformation
IKEA Industry is undergoing a digital transformation and automation of many of its production processes. Generally, this means increased robotisation and the implementation of advanced IT platforms. This change will impact people and ways of working, so IKEA Industry is supporting co-workers in many different ways to acquire new skills and take on new roles and responsibilities. As a result, teams are achieving higher skills, engagement and ownership.
Our supplier code of conduct got a total system upgrade
IWAY is the IKEA way of responsibly procuring products, services, materials and components. During FY21, IKEA suppliers began working with the next generation of IWAY. IWAY 6 aims at improving our positive impact and drive change, affecting nearly everything we do throughout our value chain, including securing environmental conditions and the fair and equal treatment of workers, even beyond our direct suppliers. Going forward, we will continue putting a strong focus on collaborations with our business partners to implement IWAY further in the value chain.
Stakeholder engagement
Driving and supporting change, together with others, is an essential part of reaching the IKEA sustainability goals – helping us learn, inspire each other, and collaboratively shape solutions. We engage with our stakeholders continuously. Read more about our key stakeholder groups and key engagements with partners and other collaborators.
Sustainability governance
Sustainability is an integrated part of the IKEA business and is led from a holistic perspective with an aligned overall direction. Each IKEA business within the IKEA franchise system contributes to the total IKEA sustainability agenda, which is set and governed by the Strategic Sustainability Council. Key sustainability objectives are monitored and reported on in totality in the IKEA Sustainability Report.