IKEA Sustainability Strategy 2025
Published by Inter IKEA Systems B.V. | Updated: September 2025
Introduction
The IKEA Sustainability Strategy aims to inspire, activate, and guide planning, decision-making, and target-setting to achieve positive changes for the IKEA business and contribute to a more sustainable world. Issued by Inter IKEA Group, it sets a common direction for the IKEA franchise system and value chain. The strategy has shifted to an Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) methodology, with goals set for 2030, aligned with UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It emphasizes collaboration, transparency, and continuous improvement.
IKEA Vision and Values
The IKEA vision, "to create a better everyday life for the many people," is the inspiration. The strategy emphasizes a shift from linear to circular ways of working, regenerating resources for business resilience. Core values like "Caring for people and the planet," "Being bold in facing challenges," "Collaborating and co-creating," and "Working long term" guide actions.
What Sustainability Means to IKEA
Sustainability for IKEA means being a force for good, balancing economic growth, positive social impact, and environmental protection. It involves long-term thinking to meet present needs without compromising future generations, requiring rethinking work methods and inspiring lifestyle changes. The approach integrates environmental, social, and economic considerations to support a "Better Life" for the many.
Global Challenges
IKEA acknowledges major global challenges:
- Climate change and nature loss: Rising global temperatures and alarming biodiversity loss require urgent, holistic action, aligning with the 1.5°C Paris Agreement goal.
- Unsustainable consumption: Increasing global population and resource use demand a transition to responsible consumption patterns that consider equity and planetary health.
- Rising inequality: Systemic inequality threatens individuals and economies, exacerbated by climate change, technological shifts, and cost of living increases.
How IKEA Can Make a Difference
IKEA leverages its size, integrated value chain, creativity, and knowledge in life at home to be a positive example. The company aims to be more affordable, accessible, and sustainable, scaling ideas and acting as a partner for positive change.
Our Focus Areas
IKEA's sustainability work is organized into three interconnected focus areas, with objectives and key results set for 2030:
- Healthy & Sustainable Living: Inspiring and enabling people to adopt healthier and more sustainable lifestyles.
- Climate, Nature & Circularity: Addressing climate change, protecting nature, and transitioning to a circular business model. This area is further broken down into Climate, Nature, and Circularity.
- Fair & Equal: Contributing to a fair and equal society by respecting human rights, improving work conditions, and promoting diversity and inclusion.
Healthy & Sustainable Living
This focus area aims to make healthy and sustainable living desirable, affordable, attractive, and accessible. It acknowledges the gap between intention and behavior and IKEA's role in guiding consumers. Key results include offering affordable products/services for resource-efficient living, a delicious and sustainable food offer promoting plant-rich diets, and marketing that normalizes sustainable lifestyles.
Objective for 2030
Inspire and enable people to move towards healthy and sustainable lifestyles, by making healthy and sustainable living a desirable choice that is affordable, attractive and accessible for as many people as possible through our products, services, food, marketing and communications.
Key Results
- A range of affordable products and services supporting healthy and resource-efficient living.
- A delicious, healthy, sustainable, and affordable food offer, promoting a shift towards more plants and less meat.
- Marketing, communication, and solutions promoting healthy and sustainable lifestyles as the norm and supporting impactful behavior change.
Main Actions
Actions include developing products for air/water quality, energy efficiency, water saving, and waste reduction; updating food offer with more plant-rich options and using nutrition profiling; and implementing science-informed marketing for behavior change.
Climate, Nature & Circularity
Recognizing the planet's limited resources, this area addresses the interconnected challenges of climate change, nature loss, and the need for a circular economy. IKEA aims to reduce its negative impacts and contribute to regeneration.
Climate
IKEA is committed to halving emissions across its value chain by FY30 and reaching net zero by FY50, neutralizing remaining emissions through carbon removal. Key results focus on emission reduction, carbon removal via forestry/agriculture, and supporting broader climate efforts.
Objective for 2030
Limit the impact of the IKEA value chain on global warming by reducing emissions in line with a 1.5°C pathway, increasing carbon removals and storage, and contributing to broader societal climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts.
Key Results
- Absolute greenhouse gas emissions halved by FY30 (vs. FY16 baseline).
- Carbon removed and stored through responsible forestry, agriculture, and within IKEA products.
- Support for broader climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts beyond the IKEA value chain.
Main Actions
Actions include increasing use of low-carbon materials, scaling electrification and renewable energy, accelerating transport efficiency, developing sustainable products/food, and investing in sustainable solutions.
Nature
IKEA depends on and impacts nature through its materials. The goal is to reduce negative impacts and help restore nature by improving biodiversity, protecting ecosystems, and regenerating resources. Key results focus on assessing impacts, ensuring deforestation-free commodities, and managing freshwater impact.
Objective for 2030
Reduce negative pressures and impacts on nature across the IKEA value chain, while contributing to the protection, improvement and enhancement of natural ecosystems in our sphere of influence.
Key Results
- Assessed impacts/dependencies on nature, integrated responsible resource management, and implemented protection/improvement actions.
- Primary deforestation-linked commodities free from links to deforestation, forest degradation, and ecosystem conversion by FY30.
- Freshwater impact managed by addressing pollution, halving withdrawal in stressed basins, and reducing withdrawal elsewhere.
- Measures implemented to minimise negative chemical impacts.
Main Actions
Actions include assessing biodiversity impacts, implementing deforestation-free sourcing, managing freshwater withdrawal and pollution, and minimizing chemical impacts.
Circularity
This involves a fundamental shift to a circular business model, designing products for longevity, moving away from virgin non-renewable materials, and enabling customer participation in the circular economy. Key results focus on circular design, decoupling material use from growth, and implementing circular services.
Objective for 2030
Transition towards a circular business by prolonging the lifespan of IKEA products and materials through applying circular design principles and offering products and services that make it possible to reuse, repair, refurbish and recycle.
Key Results
- IKEA products designed for reuse, repair, refurbishment, and recycling, achieving a high circular fulfillment score.
- Absolute decoupling of virgin, non-renewable material use from business growth, with at least 90% recycled/renewable content.
- Circular services designed and implemented in at least 80% of markets.
Main Actions
Actions include designing products with circularity in mind, increasing recycled/renewable material content, and developing services like Care & Repair and product resale.
Fair & Equal
Addressing rising inequalities and human rights risks, IKEA commits to respecting human rights, improving decent work, and fostering diversity and inclusion across its value chain. Key results focus on identifying/remediating human rights risks, strengthening decent work and living wages, and integrating equality, diversity, and inclusion.
Objective for 2030
Contribute to a fair and equal society through respecting and promoting human rights, improving decent and meaningful work, and striving towards diversity and inclusion across the IKEA value chain.
Key Results
- Human rights risks and impacts identified, prevented, addressed, and remediated; community engagement leads to positive social impact.
- Decent work strengthened, including labor rights, living wages, and income support.
- Equality, diversity, and inclusion integrated through accessible workplaces, inclusive practices, and social business engagement.
Main Actions
Actions include strengthening human rights due diligence, enhancing grievance mechanisms, engaging with communities, providing living wages, ensuring safe working conditions, promoting just transition, fostering inclusive workplaces, and engaging social businesses.
Enablers
Strategic enablers support the achievement of IKEA's sustainability objectives:
- Entrepreneurship and innovation: Driving change through internal spirit and external partnerships.
- Co-creation and partnership: Collaborating with customers, NGOs, and suppliers.
- Science-informed actions: Basing decisions on scientific research and global frameworks.
- Business requirements: Ensuring necessary investments, data, tools, and processes.
- Competence and knowledge building: Fostering a learning environment.
- Codes of conduct (IWAY, IConduct): Setting clear standards for business relationships.
- Reporting and transparency: Openly sharing progress, successes, and challenges.
- Inclusiveness and community engagement: Actively engaging with local communities.
- Communication and marketing: Inspiring and enabling positive change through fact-based messaging.
- Advocacy: Engaging with governments and stakeholders on key topics.
Overview of Objectives and Key Results (2030)
The strategy outlines specific objectives and key results for each focus area:
Healthy & Sustainable Living
- Objective: Inspire and enable healthy/sustainable lifestyles.
- Key Results: Affordable products/services for resource efficiency; healthy/sustainable food offer; marketing promoting sustainable lifestyles.
Climate, Nature & Circularity
- Climate Objective: Limit global warming impact by reducing emissions and increasing carbon removal.
- Climate Key Results: Halve emissions by FY30; remove/store carbon; support broader climate efforts.
- Nature Objective: Reduce negative impacts and enhance natural ecosystems.
- Nature Key Results: Assess/manage nature impacts; deforestation-free commodities; manage freshwater impact; minimise chemical impacts.
- Circularity Objective: Transition to a circular business.
- Circularity Key Results: Products designed for circularity; decouple virgin material use; implement circular services.
Fair & Equal
- Objective: Contribute to a fair and equal society.
- Key Results: Address human rights risks; strengthen decent work/living wages; integrate equality, diversity, and inclusion.
Main Actions
Key actions are detailed across the focus areas:
- Healthy & Sustainable Living: Developing resource-efficient products, promoting plant-rich diets, and using marketing for behavior change.
- Climate: Reducing emissions through material choices and energy efficiency, increasing carbon removal, and supporting external climate initiatives.
- Nature: Assessing and managing impacts on biodiversity and water, ensuring deforestation-free sourcing, and minimizing chemical pollution.
- Circularity: Designing products for longevity, increasing recycled/renewable content, and expanding circular services like repair and resale.
- Fair & Equal: Strengthening human rights due diligence, ensuring decent work and living wages, and promoting diversity and inclusion.
