IKEA Home Deliveries to Be Fully Electric by 2025, CEO Says
LONDON — The CEO of the world’s largest furniture retailer said on Monday that all of the company’s home deliveries will be made by electric vehicles as early as 2025 as part of a drive to dramatically reduce its greenhouse gas emissions over the next eight years.
In an interview on the sidelines of the Reuters IMPACT conference in London, IKEA CEO Jesper Brodin said a number of cities the company serves already have fully electric home deliveries; in others, he said, the company is working hard to put the necessary infrastructure in place.
“In some regions, maybe there will be some challenges where we need to push a bit harder on that, but basically already by 2025, customers should be able to get electrical from IKEA when it comes to deliveries,” he told Reuters’ Matt Scuffham.
IKEA said in January it was on track to become climate positive by 2030 as its annual carbon emissions fell 6% from pre-pandemic levels despite record sales.
According to Reuters, Ingka Group, the owner of most IKEA stores worldwide, already produces more renewable energy than it consumes, having invested roughly $2.9 billion in wind and solar projects since 2009.
It plans to reach $6.3 billion in investments by 2030 as part of efforts to increase the use of renewable energy across its supply chain.
It owns 575 wind turbines, 20 solar parks and 935,000 solar panels on the roofs of IKEA stores and warehouses.
In addition to ramping up its investments in renewables, IKEA is also about to launch a campaign to raise awareness of how homeowners and renters can cut energy use by investing in low-cost energy-saving products, Broden said.
On a related note, IKEA announced last week that it has teamed up with San Jose, California-based SunPower Corp., to make home solar energy solutions easier to access in select California locations.
“Our vision is to create a better everyday life for … many people, and we believe those lives are truly better when they are lived sustainably,” said Javier Quiñones, CEO and chief sustainability officer of IKEA U.S., in a written statement.
“We are delighted to join the list of global IKEA markets that provide access to home solar and energy solutions, and we will continue to collaborate with our partners to showcase offerings that have a positive impact on people and our planet,” he said.
In addition to the select California locations in the U.S., IKEA makes home solar and energy services accessible in Australia and 10 markets in Europe including Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Poland and Portugal.
The aforementioned Ingka Group has also been busy in the U.S., investing in two solar parks with 403 MW capacity in Utah and Texas, and two wind farms producing 859 million kWh of energy in Illinois and Texas.
Dan can be reached at [email protected] and @DanMcCue
