IKEA Joins American Business Act on Climate Pledge

Highlights "All in" Commitment to Climate Action at White House Summit With Pledge Around Renewable Energy, Sustainable Sourcing and More

CONSHOHOCKEN, PA--(Marketwired - October 19, 2015) - IKEA announces today that it has joined the American Business Act on Climate Pledge, standing with the Obama Administration to demonstrate an ongoing commitment to climate action and to voice support for a strong outcome to the COP21 Paris climate negotiations.

Lars Petersson, IKEA US President, is representing IKEA today at the White House Summit on Climate and the Road through Paris. IKEA joins other leaders from the government, private sector, academic, technical and scientific communities in addressing how to tackle the climate change challenge, focusing on carbon mitigation, sustainability and resiliency.

"Climate change is one of the world's biggest challenges. With this understanding, the IKEA Group and the IKEA Foundation have made bold commitments totaling 1 billion euros to accelerate the transition to a low carbon economy and support the communities most at risk. Our mission is to ensure we have a positive impact on people and the environment," said Petersson.

In June, the IKEA Group committed 600 million euros (~$682 million) for investment in renewable energy, building on the 1.5 billion euros (~$1.7 billion) invested in wind and solar energy since 2009. In addition, the IKEA Foundation has committed 400 million euros (~$454.3 million) of funding to support the communities most impacted by climate change.

At the White House Summit today, IKEA will pledge to:

• Produce as much renewable energy as the total energy we consume in our global operations by 2020. This is already the case in the US, where the IKEA Group's wind farm in Hoopeston, IL is on target to produce 165% of the electricity and 130% of the energy equivalent to that consumed by IKEA US operations. In addition, the IKEA solar presence in the US consists of 42 solar projects across nearly 90% of IKEA US locations.

• Become 30% more energy efficient in our own operations by August 2020, compared to FY10.

• Reduce carbon emissions from the transport of goods by 30% by 2020 (in relative terms) compared with FY12, for example by reducing the number of shipments through improving our ordering process, equipment, packaging, and net cubic meters of transported goods per shipment, and by increasing the use of rail, barge, and sea rather than road transport.

• Encourage and enable our direct suppliers to become 20% more energy efficient by August 2017, compared to FY12 (defined as total energy consumed/m3 of goods).

• Take the lead in developing and promoting products and solutions that inspire and enable people to live a more sustainable life at home, and achieve more than a fourfold increase in sales of those products and solutions by August 2020, compared to FY13.

• By August 2020, we will contribute to FSC certification of another 10 million hectares of forest in priority areas -- which is equivalent to more than double the total area needed to supply IKEA. This is in addition to 35 million hectares of FSC forest already added through our earlier partnership projects.

• By August 2020, we aim to source 100% of our wood, paper and cardboard from more sustainable sources (currently defined as FSC certified or recycled wood).

• By August 2020, 90% of the waste from our own operations will be recycled or energy recovered, of which 80% of the waste from stores and distribution centers and 90% from IKEA Industry Group will be material recycled.

The American Business Act on Climate Pledge states:

We applaud the growing number of countries that have already set ambitious targets for climate action. In this context, we support the conclusion of a climate change agreement in Paris that takes a strong step forward toward a low-carbon, sustainable future.

We recognize that delaying action on climate change will be costly in economic and human terms, while accelerating the transition to a low-carbon economy will produce multiple benefits with regard to sustainable economic growth, public health, resilience to natural disasters, and the health of the global environment.

About IKEA Group

The IKEA vision is to create a better everyday life for the many people. Our business idea supports this vision by offering a wide range of well-designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them. There are currently 328 IKEA Group stores in 28 countries. Additionally, there are 40 IKEA stores run by franchises. There are 41 IKEA stores in the US. In FY 15, IKEA Group had 771 million visitors to the stores and 1.9 billion visitors to IKEA.com. IKEA incorporates sustainability into day-to-day business and supports initiatives that benefit children and the environment. For more information, please visit www.IKEA.com, facebook.com/IKEAUSA, @IKEAUSANews, @IKEAUSA, http://pinterest.com/IKEAUSA/, www.youtube.com/IKEAUSA, www.theshare-space.com, www.theshare-space.com/en/Blog