Challenges such as global warming, rising sea levels, and resource shortages are no longer out of reach, but are gradually showing their close relevance to everyone, evolving into urgent climate and resource crises. IKEA adheres to the core value of "caring for people and the planet" and focuses on long-term development. In 2012, it launched the global sustainable development strategy "People and Planet Positive" and continued to focus on three major areas under this strategy - "healthy and sustainable living", "circular and climate-friendly business" and "fairness and equality". IKEA is committed to building a trustworthy and socially responsible company to bring positive impacts to the harmonious development of people and the environment.

In 2020, China clearly put forward the goals of "carbon peak" before 2030 and "carbon neutrality" before 2060. As a multinational company that actively participates in China's economic and social development and helps the Chinese people have a better daily life, IKEA hopes to contribute to the realization of China's "dual carbon" goals and China's green and sustainable development while promoting its own transformation into a climate-friendly enterprise.

In the past 10 years, IKEA China has taken its core business as the starting point, radiated many related fields and stakeholders, and integrated the concepts and practices of low-carbon and sustainable development into products, company operations, and value chains, and through persistent communication, influenced and called on more people to participate in sustainable development actions.

Inspiring sustainable living with a wide range of product series

Home is the starting point and the most important carrier of people's daily lives. As a well-known global brand of furniture and home furnishings, IKEA is committed to providing affordable, beautiful and practical sustainable products and solutions, inspiring consumers to save energy and water, reduce waste, and reduce the impact on the environment through a healthy lifestyle.

As of 2021, IKEA offers more than 4,000 sustainable products in China, helping consumers save energy and resources through multiple channels, and integrating sustainability into all aspects of consumers' lives in a "silent" way. For example, RYET LED bulbs can effectively save energy and electricity compared to traditional incandescent bulbs, and have a service life of up to 15,000 hours; HOPPVALS blinds draw inspiration from bees, and the honeycomb structure inside forms an insulation layer that can save heating costs, and at least 90% of its fabrics are made of recycled materials; LILLREVET showers have a small pressure-compensating water flow regulator that can maintain pressure while moderating water flow and saving water.

RYET LED bulbs

LILLREVET showers

Committed to resource recycling and energy conservation and emission reduction, moving towards a climate-friendly enterprise

IKEA hopes to make more products with fewer resources. Faced with limited earth resources, they proposed the concept of "Circular IKEA", using resources in a circular way and implementing the concept of recycling in different aspects such as product design, production and transportation, and customer support.

As of November 2021, 60% of IKEA products are made from renewable materials, and 10% of products use recycled materials. For example, KUNGSBACKA kitchen cabinet door panels are IKEA's first kitchen cabinet door panels made of recycled wood and recycled plastic; ISTAD plastic sealed bags are made of bioplastics, the raw materials of which are discarded sugarcane bagasse. IKEA stores also cooperate with waste recycling and disposal suppliers to sort the waste. In the Chinese mainland market, IKEA stores' waste has a clear downstream destination in the processing chain, and the waste can be recycled. In addition, IKEA has also set up a sustainable recycling center in the mall, and launched services such as mattress recycling and sofa recycling to consumers, encouraging consumers to extend the product life cycle and promote the circular economy.

ISTAD plastic sealed bags

At the same time, reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions during operations is also the goal and direction that IKEA has been working hard to achieve.

IKEA hopes to operate all IKEA buildings as efficiently as possible to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which is reflected in the design and construction of the buildings. IKEA stores in China have obtained multiple certifications from authoritative green building assessment systems around the world, including 18 from BREEAM (British Building Research Establishment Green Building Assessment System), 2 from LEED (American Building Research Establishment Green Building Assessment System) and 3 from China GBL (Green Building Rating Standard). IKEA promises that all new IKEA stores and IKEA centers in the Chinese mainland market will be designed, built and operated in a more sustainable way in the future.

In the process of China's advancement towards the "dual carbon" goal, the priority development of renewable energy is an important measure to promote China's sustainable development, which coincides with IKEA's goal of transitioning to renewable energy. IKEA is also continuing to move towards this goal through operational measures. As of 2021, IKEA China's retail stores have installed a total of 47,000 solar photovoltaic panels, with an annual power generation of 7 million kWh, and 14 stores have installed renewable heating and cooling systems. In July 2022, IKEA announced that its photovoltaic carbon neutrality project at the Tianjin Dongli store was officially put into use and successfully connected to the grid for power generation, becoming IKEA's first energy-friendly store in the world.

The photovoltaic carbon neutrality project at the IKEA Tianjin Dongli store has received strong support from partners such as the Tianjin Municipal Government and the State Grid. After in-depth calculations of solar radiation efficiency, the store renovated its existing parking lot and added 17,288 square meters of solar photovoltaic panels. After the renovation, the store is estimated to generate 5.597 million kWh of electricity per year, meeting the estimated annual power consumption of the store of about 5.156 million kWh, making the store the first store in IKEA China and even IKEA worldwide to generate more electricity than it consumes. In addition to being able to meet the self-generation and self-use of clean energy, the IKEA Tianjin Dongli store has also achieved the grid connection of surplus electricity. The additional renewable electricity generated by the solar photovoltaic panels will feed back to the local power grid in Tianjin, benefiting local communities and residents and further helping China reduce carbon emissions. Through the generation of electricity from solar photovoltaic panels, the store can reduce carbon emissions by about 4,200 tons per year, which is equivalent to planting about 233,000 trees for the earth every year.

IKEA Tianjin Dongli Store Solar Photovoltaic Parking Lot

In addition, IKEA Tianjin Dongli Store has also continued to play a "benchmark" role in the past decade, and has actively invested in other green solutions to work together to lead the green transformation of the mall. For example, through the grey water recovery system, waste water is recycled and reused, saving an average of about 6,800 tons of water resources each year, accounting for 60% of the mall's annual water use; the ground source heat pump system makes full use of the environment's own heat to support the mall's heating and cooling, improves energy efficiency, and reduces the amount of waste gas, waste water and waste residue discharged to the outside; the garbage recycling system puts waste such as cardboard and plastic back into the supply chain; the mall automatically adjusts air conditioning and lighting through the building automation system, which can improve energy efficiency by about 3%.

Grey water recovery system

IKEA also spares no effort to promote emission reduction during the travel of employees and customers and the distribution of products. By 2021, IKEA China has achieved 90% of customer deliveries using pure electric methods (Tianjin Dongli Mall has achieved 100% electric vehicle delivery), and all IKEA China stores are equipped with new energy charging facilities to encourage employees and customers to travel green.

IKEA China zero-emission electric delivery vehicle

IKEA store charging pile

Join hands with all walks of life and persevere in influencing more people

IKEA believes that sustainable development requires the concerted efforts of the entire society, so it actively uses various platforms and channels to expand its green influence. For consumers, IKEA China uses stores as a carrier to carry out various forms of publicity projects to convey the concept of sustainable living to consumers. It also showcases green products and shares sustainable home designs through various consumer-oriented exhibitions. In 2021, IKEA China also launched the interactive mini program "Green Planet" to encourage everyone to check in for green actions, raise everyone's awareness of environmental protection and carbon reduction through games, and participate in sustainable actions. For the media, IKEA has held many value chain tours with the theme of "sustainability", inviting mainstream media that are interested in and influential in this topic to learn about the "past and present" of its green and low-carbon products from IKEA's product development center, to manufacturers, to testing centers, and then to shopping malls, and share the insights and ideas with the public. In addition, from 2019 to 2021, IKEA China has become the "CIIE Green Development Partner" for three consecutive years, using the multiplier effect of the CIIE to spread IKEA's sustainable development concepts and practices on circular economy, renewable energy, and home life.

IKEA "Green Planet" interactive applet

IKEA 2021 CIIE booth

As one of IKEA's most important markets in the world, China is of great significance to IKEA's global business. IKEA is always confident in the Chinese market and will unswervingly maintain steady investment and development. At the same time, IKEA China's sustainable efforts will not stop, and it looks forward to becoming a positive force in China's green development and helping the Chinese people to have a better daily life.

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