IKEA is the world’s largest furniture retailer. The company has plans to use only recycled and renewable materials in their products by 2030. This is only the latest in a series of commitments by a global store group to reduce the impact on the environment.

IKEA Doing Good for the World

The owner of the brand that’s well known for its flat-pack low-cost furniture, Inter IKEA, announced that they want to reduce the impact on climate on Thursday. According to them, they want to decrease the impact they have by two-thirds by 2030.

A spokeswoman from IKEA said that the 60% of their products are based on renewable materials at the moment. She added that only 10%, however, contains recycled materials.

Torbjorn Loof is the Inter IKEA CEO. He said that due to the company’s size and reach, they have an opportunity to enable and inspire millions of people to live better lives.

IKEA Joins the Team

IKEA is just another company to join the team of companies that strive to make their products better for the environment. However, there is a question if enough companies are taking action and if they should do more.

According to research published in October last year, 250 of the biggest companies in the world are responsible for a third of the greenhouse gas emissions that mankind makes. Unfortunately, only a few of these companies are trying to limit rising temperatures.

IKEA has a plan to first target the shops that are run by IKEA Group. They will then turn their attention to some shops that other franchisees run. Finally, they will offer incentives for change up their supply chain.

Statistics

Across 49 markets, there are 418 IKEA stores in total. Combined retail sales for IKEA in 2017 were $45.3 billion.

Ikea has strict plans to decrease their impact on the climate that their stores make by 80% by 2030.

Wasted Effort?

Many wonder if the company is going too far based on inconclusive evidence. Whereas everyone can agree that using recycled material is worth it, the reality of global warming is still debatable. If reducing global warming is IKEA’s primary goal, they might be putting a lot of effort into correcting a problem that isn’t there.

At the same time, IKEA could still benefit from the move in form of good publicity and customer goodwill.