The Ikea Foundation, part of the ownership structure of the Swedish furniture giant, pledged on Wednesday to donate one billion euros ($1.2 billion) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The funds, to be allocated as grants over five years, will target programmes that can achieve results in the short term.

"The goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as quickly as possible," Per Heggenes, chief executive of the Ikea Foundation, told AFP.

"If you reduce a tonne of greenhouse gas emissions this year, it's much more efficient than if you do it in five years," Heggenes added.

The announcement came on the eve of a virtual climate summit hosted by US President Joe Biden that is meant to build momentum for action ahead of the UN climate meeting in November.

The Ikea Foundation's pledge of 1 billion comes in addition to the 500 million euros ($600 million) it has already committed to climate initiatives over the next five years, it said.

While no specific project had been singled out for the funds, Heggenes noted as an example the need to replace hundreds of thousands of diesel generators used in low-income communities in many developing countries and to create energy grids powered by renewable energy.

"We want organisations to come forward and say: 'This is what we wanted to do on a large scale but we never had the financing to do it'," Heggenes said.

The foundation said it would also be interested in projects together with different partners to enable even more funds to flow into projects, in part by helping to "de-risk investments" struggling to get off the ground.

The Ikea Foundation is independent from Ikea's retail business but is funded by the INGKA Foundation, which in turn owns the majority of the furniture giant's stores.

Ikea has pledged to reduce its absolute emissions 15 percent from 2016 levels by 2030 despite its business growing, as well as striving to use 100 percent renewable energy.

Related Links

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

Global trade rules can help fight climate change: US trade chief
Washington (AFP) April 15, 2021
International commerce creates incentives for countries to erode environmental protections to attract investment, and global trade rules are needed to counter that "race to the bottom," US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said on Thursday. "The view that environmental issues are not an inherent part of trade ignores the reality that the existing rules of globalization incentivize downward pressure on environmental protection," Tai said in her first public speech. "This puts countries with hig ... read more