– By Marc Sibbald –
Last week I attended a new vehicle launch held by IKEA. They made a bold commitment to use only electric vehicles for all of their operations and services by 2025; with the roll out starting immediately.
It was fantastic to see the passion and complete business commitment to the environment as one of the first retailers in Australia to take a stance on the energy source they want used when their products are being delivered.
At the event there was a panel discussion between Jan Gardberg, IKEA Australia Country Manager, and representatives from SEA Electric who are supplying the vehicles, and ANC which are one of the key delivery partners for IKEA.
The discussion was heavily focused on the environmental aspect of this initiative and the government position on supporting, or providing incentives, for electric vehicles in Australia. For me, I was excited by the reality that electric trucks were actually hitting the road in real world applications as a fleet vehicle.
IKEA has partnered with their transport service providers and the project for ANC has been three years of planning and research to reach the point of launching vehicles into their fleet. The roll out will see electric vehicles (EV) used for home deliveries and assembly services with a vision to create a better everyday life for the many people.
IKEA will be the first home furnishing company in Australia to have EV last mile deliveries and assembly services, demonstrating its commitment to lower its carbon footprint and to be an industry leader in helping people and planet. The announcement is part of the business’s goal to work with local partners and customers to be Circular and Climate Positive.
Ingka Group is a member of The Climate Group’s EV100 initiative for accelerating the global shift to electric vehicles, and as part of its global EV strategy, by 2020 one quarter of all customer fulfilment vehicles will be electric, with the transition to electric vehicles complete by 2025. IKEA China has already achieved 100% EV deliveries in Shanghai.
In Australia, there are currently seven IKEA EVs on the road, which are owned and operated by our service partners based in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. Six of the EV fleet are currently responsible for last mile delivery.
A trial of the first of these EVs, conducted since April 2018 across IKEA stores in Victoria, has seen in total 3,500 deliveries to our customers. IKEA aims to reach a 5% EV roll out in conjunction with its partners in FY19, 10% in FY20 and 100% in FY25. Based on the manufacturers’ specifications, one truck is estimated to save 36.3 metric tonnes of CO2 annually.
Gardberg says: “At IKEA we want to drive positive change. That’s why we are committed to achieving zero emissions from delivery vehicles and ensuring 100% of our fleet will be electric vehicles.
“This is just one of the many initiatives and ambitions we have in place as part of our 2030 People and Planet Positive Strategy. Our end goal is to have a positive impact on people and the planet, and while IKEA is a large global organisation, we can’t do this alone. We’re excited to be partnering with many like-minded organisations in Australia and around the globe to help us create impact and drive positive change.”
The move has been welcomed by The Climate Group. Sandra Roling, Head of EV100, The Climate Group, said: “As a member of our EV100 initiative, IKEA is leading the way in making the switch to electric transport. It is great to see the implementation of their global commitment to drive change around the world.
“Global consumer brands like IKEA have a crucial opportunity to inspire faster action on electric transport, while showing their customers the wider societal benefits it brings.
“We want to see many more companies in Australia follow IKEA’s lead.”
The EV strategy is part of IKEA’s wider Global People and Planet Positive Strategy. The strategy sets the direction for all IKEA franchisees and covers three focus areas:
1. Healthy & Sustainable living–inspiring and enabling more than one billion people to live a better everyday life within the limits of the planet
2. Circular & Climate Positive–transforming into a circular business and becoming climate positive by reducing more greenhouse gas emissions than the IKEA value chain emits, reducing the climate footprint of IKEA products and operations in absolute terms
3. Fair and Equal–creating positive social impact for every one across the IKEA value chain and in all areas of the IKEA business.
In addition to the EV vehicle rollout the IKEA Global People and Planet Positive Strategy includes commitments to:
- Removing all single-use plastic products from the IKEA range globally and from customer and co-worker restaurants in stores by 2020
- Designing all IKEA products with new ‘circular economy’ principles, with the goal to only use renewable and recycled materials
- Offering services that make it easier for people to bring home, care for and pass on products
- Increasing the proportion of plant-based choices in the IKEA food offer, such as the veggie hot dog launching globally later this year
- Becoming climate positive and reducing the total IKEA climate footprint by an average of 70% per product by working together with home furnishing suppliers across their factory operations
- Achieving zero emission home deliveries by 2025
- Expanding the offer of affordable home solar solutions from five IKEA markets to 29 IKEA markets by 2025.
