IKEA is devoting €1 billion (US$1.13 billion) to the fight against climate change, €600 million to boost its own wind and solar generation and the rest to help developing countries with climate adaptation.
“I am heartened to see corporate leadership in this area,” said Amjad Abdulla of the Maldives, chief negotiator for the Alliance of Small Island States.
“IKEA, which had sales of €30 billion last year, wants to generate all the energy used in its shops and factories from clean sources by 2020,” Reuters reports. “The IKEA Foundation, the charitable arm of the family-owned group, would invest €400 million by 2020 in supporting families and communities in nations vulnerable to impacts of climate change such as floods, droughts and desertification.” The company also committed to sourcing more of its wood and cotton from sustainable sources, and to growing as many trees as it cuts down by 2020.
CEO Peter Agnefjall said the investments will be “good for customers, good for the climate, and good for IKEA, too,” adding that they will “absolutely not” drive up the cost of the company’s products.
