Ikea reduced its transport emissions by 28% compared to its baseline fiscal year in 2017, according to a recent climate report.
The improvement was attributed to an increase use of intermodal land transportation, biofuels and electric locomotives.
The retailer aims to reduce its transport emissions by 70% by FY30 compared to its baseline in 2017 through its decarbonization agenda: reduce, replace and rethink.
Global Sustainability Manager Elisabeth Munck af Rosenschöld outlined the strategy at TPM24 by S&P Global in Long Beach, California.
Reduce
“Reduce “ is about working with efficiencies, Munck af Rosenschöld said. It involves “continuous improvement, equipment utilization, fuel rates, optimizing the networks, working with fuel efficiency measures, digital solutions, etc.”
Being a big ocean shipper, in FY23 Ikea made approximately 1.7 million shipments through land and ocean, generating one million tonnes of CO2 equivalent of greenhouse gas emissions, according to Ikea’s climate report.
Shifting to a new technology or new fuel is not enough, the sustainability manager said. “We need to reduce the actual amount of energy that we are using [and] the amount of fuel that we are using.”
Replace
“Replace” refers to Ikea's efforts to transition away from fossil fuels to biofuels.
“We see biofuels as an important piece of the puzzle to reduce emissions here and now in the shorter term perspective. It’s not the ultimate solution we need to work towards zero emissions,” Munck af Rosenschöld said.
Ikea started using biofuels in 2019, during a collaborative pilot project with CMA CGM, the Port of Rotterdam and GoodShipping. The pilot tested the use of biofuels in an ocean container vessel, which was proven successful, Munck af Rosenschöld said at the conference.
“We are using more biofuels as it is now in our supply chain for ocean shipping,” she said. “And with the latest ocean tender that we did, we will reduce our carbon emissions from our ocean shipping with almost 30%.”
Rethink
As its last step in its agenda, Ikea seeks to “rethink” and integrate new solutions in its supply chain
Munck af Rosenschöld said it’s not only about innovative technologies and zero emissions fuels, but about innovated collaborations. Ikea was the first member to join the Zero Emission Maritime Buyers Alliance, also known as ZEMBA, back in March 2023.
“So we are coming together with other cargo owners to demonstrate that there is a demand for zero emission ocean shipping. And the first ever request for proposal is now out there for 600,000 TEUs over a period of three years,” Munck af Rosenschöld said. The request is for the TEUs to be transported through ocean vessels powered by zero-emission fuels.
Other members include Amazon, Nike, New Balance, Brooks Running and Chewy, which are also requesting lower-emission shipping options in an effort to reduce their climate footprint.
“We are very happy to see that more and more cargo owners are coming onboard and joining ZEMBA — [we] just heard now that there are 28 companies now within ZEMBA and we would like many more to join because we are making a difference,” Munck af Rosenschöld said.
