IKEA is starting to sell renewable energy to households in Sweden
STOCKHOLM, 17 August (Reuters) – IKEA, the world’s largest furniture brand, is selling renewable energy to households, starting with the domestic market Sweden in September.
Ingka Group, the owner of most IKEA department stores around the world, said that households could buy affordable renewable electricity from solar and wind farms and track their use via an app.
Ingka’s partner Svea Solar, which manufactures solar panels for IKEA, will buy the electricity on the Nordic electricity exchange Nord Pool and resell it at no extra charge. Households pay a fixed monthly fee plus a variable interest rate.
IKEA, which also sells solar panels for households in 11 markets, said that these buyers could track their own production in the app and resell surplus electricity.
Jonas Carlehed, head of sustainability at IKEA Sweden, told Reuters that he hopes to launch the new offer on renewable energy and IKEA’s solar panel offer to all markets.
“We want to make electricity from sustainable sources more accessible and affordable for everyone,” the company said in a statement.
“IKEA wants to build the largest renewable energy movement together with employees, customers and partners around the world, to help tackle climate change together.”
Ingka said that the plan was to offer electricity from solar and wind farms that are five years old or smaller, as a way to encourage the construction of more parks.
More generally, IKEA aims to be “climate positive” – to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than what is achieved throughout IKEA’s value chain, from raw material production to customers’ disposal of their furniture – by 2030.
Carlehed said in an interview that he saw the offer of renewable energy to customers as a contribution to achieving that goal and being a potential new revenue stream.
“It will contribute indirectly (to the goal). The connection is that our customers’ use of our products accounts for about 20% of IKEA’s total climate footprint – from white goods, lighting and electronics as speakers and so on.”
Reporting by Anna Ringström; Edited by David Holmes
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