IKEA launches an ambitious effort dubbed People & Planet Positive aimed at making the world’s energy consumption as sustainable as possible by 2020. The new strategy outlined by the brand in the recently released People&Planet Positive plan. The goal of the new effort is to make the company energy independent and help people across the globe to live affordable and sustainable life thanks to IKEA’s products. The company has also released an inspiring 3-minute video called “Your home + our planet = our home” to tell about its commitment in a more visual way.
As part of the People&Planet Positive program, the company is committed to helping people across the planet to adopt more sustainable habits, use less energy and recycle waste. For instance, the brand will encourage to use LED (that last for 20 years and use up to 85% less electricity) instead of traditional bulbs, “offer the most energy efficient home appliances on the market at the lowest price as well as create low price, functional and easy to use solutions for sorting and minimizing waste and using less water at home.” The company will also enhance its community involvement.
As to the corporate contribution, IKEA is investing a lot to reaching the goal by investing into various wind and solar projects. So far, it has invested €1.5 billion ($1.8 US billion) to projects of this kind to generate renewable energy for IKEA Group stores and buildings. “By the end of FY20, the IKEA Group will produce as much renewable energy as we consume in our operations,” shares the company it its report. IKEA outlines its goals for other years before 2020 as well, creating a step-by-step plan—for instance, the company says it will produce renewable energy equivalent to at least 70% of its energy consumption in just three years, by the end of FY15.
“We believe that sustainability should not be a luxury good—it should be affordable for everyone. We are excited by the opportunity to help our customers, over 770 million, fulfill their dreams at home with beautiful products that help them save money on their household bills by reducing energy and water use, as well as reducing waste. People & Planet Positive will also enable us to take our responsibilities in the supply chain further over the coming years by, for example, only using renewable energy to power our buildings and advocating for children’s rights,” said Steve Howard, Chief Sustainability Officer, IKEA Group.
Other global companies also set ambitious sustainable goals to be reached by 2020. For instance, Procter&Gamble unveiled its 2020 goals to sustainable progress and Unilever released its 2020 Sustainable Living Plan back in 2010.