{"id":44,"date":"2013-11-17T13:07:47","date_gmt":"2013-11-17T20:07:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/tiffanyc\/?p=44"},"modified":"2013-11-17T13:07:47","modified_gmt":"2013-11-17T20:07:47","slug":"ikea-setting-sustainability-as-the-core-of-its-business-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/tiffanyc\/2013\/11\/17\/ikea-setting-sustainability-as-the-core-of-its-business-strategy\/","title":{"rendered":"IKEA setting sustainability as the core of its business strategy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-45\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/tiffanyc\/files\/2013\/11\/ikea.jpg\" width=\"400\" height=\"285\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/tiffanyc\/files\/2013\/11\/ikea.jpg 400w, https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/tiffanyc\/files\/2013\/11\/ikea-300x213.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Sweden\u2019s IKEA, who was one of the first to sweep the world off its feet with its build-it-yourself furniture, is now aiming for sustainability. With the goal of complete energy independence by 2020, IKEA is now purchasing wind farms and solar panels around the world. Just last week, IKEA Canada announced its purchase of a wind farm located in southern Alberta, with 46 megawatts and twenty 100 metre tall turbines. IKEA Canada\u2019s sustainability manager, Brendan Shale said, \u201cThis will be IKEA\u2019s first wind farm outside of Europe. It\u2019s also the largest investment by a retailer in Canada to date in wind energy.\u201d With this new addition in their current collection of 157 wind turbines in eight countries worldwide, IKEA is almost halfway past their turbine purchasing goal.<\/p>\n<p>Other than renewable power, IKEA is also looking into expanding into a line of green products. With a plan to invest $4.25 billion in its green portfolio until the end of 2015, IKEA will have generated 70% of the energy it consumes. According to IKEA\u2019s chief sustainability officer, Steve Howard, to get that number up to 100% by 2020, the company will need to make another investment similar to the current one.<\/p>\n<p>With so much effort and investment put into this green-energy push, IKEA is striving to improve on their CSR to strengthen their presence as a socially responsible business. \u201cSustainability has become a must-do for business,\u201d says Howard, \u201cit\u2019s got to be in everybody\u2019s home, it\u2019s got to be in every business, it\u2019s got to be at the heart of every business strategy.\u201d Nevertheless, being green is costly, and it sure is costing IKEA a whole lot. Is investing in renewable energy really the key to success in the future of businesses, or is it just another green trend that will soon become irrelevant in consumers\u2019 hearts?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Sources:<\/p>\n<p>McCarthy, Shawn. &#8220;IKEA Brings Build-it-yourself Environmental Plan to Canada.&#8221;\u00a0<i>The Globe and Mail<\/i>. N.p., 14 Nov. 2013. Web. 17 Nov. 2013.<\/p>\n<p>McDonald, Ian. &#8220;Ikea Buys Wind Farm near Pincher Creek.&#8221;\u00a0<i>Global News<\/i>. N.p., 15 Nov. 2013. Web. 17 Nov. 2013.<\/p>\n<p>White, Ryan. &#8220;IKEA Purchases Southern Alberta Wind Farm.&#8221;\u00a0<i>Calgary<\/i>. CTV Calgary, 14 Nov. 2013. Web. 17 Nov. 2013.<\/p>\n<p>Picture credit:<\/p>\n<p>Andrei, Mihai. &#8220;Ikea to Produce 100% Renewable Energy by 2020 \u2013 Sets Sustainable Standard.&#8221;\u00a0<i>ZME Science<\/i>. N.p., 25 Oct. 2012. Web. 17 Nov. 2013.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sweden\u2019s IKEA, who was one of the first to sweep the world off its feet with its build-it-yourself furniture, is now aiming for sustainability. With the goal of complete energy independence by 2020, IKEA is now purchasing wind farms and solar panels around the world. Just last week, IKEA Canada announced its purchase of a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19437,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/tiffanyc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/tiffanyc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/tiffanyc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/tiffanyc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19437"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/tiffanyc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/tiffanyc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/tiffanyc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44\/revisions\/46"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/tiffanyc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/tiffanyc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/tiffanyc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}