IKEA Philippines Reports Strong Commitment on Inspiring Healthy and Sustainable Living

Since it opened its first shop in the Philippines back in 2021, IKEA has been relentlessly inspiring many Filipinos to live a simpler and more sustainable life through its wide range of products and services that uphold its global vision of creating a better everyday life for many people. After two years of operating in the Philippines, IKEA Philippines is proud to report its sustainability direction and its performance towards 2025, which covers sustainable sales, operation, and its impact on the environment.

“Here at IKEA, we want to make a positive impact on people and our planet. This is fundamental to help us achieve our goal of having a positive difference, that’s why at IKEA we have this called IWAY, which is basically our code of supplier and code of conduct. This is IKEA’s way of responsibly sourcing our products, services, and other components, whose objective is to ensure all our partners are doing sustainability practices in their operation," shared Angie Lat, IKEA Philippines' Assistant Business Navigation and Operations Manager.

Iza Calzado-Wintle hosted the event

 
The Swedish home furnishing brand recently released an overview of its sustainability direction and a report card on its performance towards 2025 sustainability targets - ranging from sustainable product sales in their stores and gender balance in the workplaces to a full accounting of its carbon emissions. This report focused on the brand's sustainability commitment to inspiring healthy and sustainable living.

 

IKEA Philippines Store Manager Daniel Rivero welcoming guest

What Goes Around Comes Around
IKEA has been an advocate for sustainable living and continues to enable its customers by developing a wide range of sustainable home solutions that are affordable to many Filipinos. Last year, IKEA sold 1,020,920 sustainable home furnishing items in the Philippines, ranging from energy-saving bulbs to furniture made of sustainably sourced materials. To date, 73% of home furnishing products at IKEA are either made of renewable or recycled materials. 

Pasay City Mayor Emi Calixto-Rubiano thanked IKEA Philippines for being a driving force of Sustainability in the city

About this, IKEA Philippines also recovered a total of 10,880 products last year. This is worth over PHP9 million to refurbish and promote a circular economy from used products that were impressively deemed ‘good as new’ by their customers, showcasing high-quality standards and innovation. 

 
With an innovative recycling and waste management system in place, IKEA Philippines has been able to recycle 61% of its paper and plastic waste in its store operations.

 
On food operations, IKEA recorded a 70% reduction in the volume of food waste compared to the previous year. Likewise, the brand is committed to having 50% of the main meals at the Swedish restaurant plant-based by 2025. Last year, IKEA closed at 33% with this goal, with the HUVUDROLL plant ball; a worthy plant-based alternative to its popular meat counterpart, as one of the offerings. 

 
Partners for Achieving Better Life
IKEA has become one of the most beloved brands in the Philippines since it opened in 2021, and while it showcases sustainability best practices for the planet among retail companies, the brand manifests its positive impact in the world by fundamentally being centered on people.

 
The proactiveness of IKEA Philippines towards building a sustainable future runs deeply within the company’s culture, giving its co-workers a strong sense of purpose and environmental practice, with over 90% of them feeling that they know how to take care of (92%) and actively contribute to (95%) the planet.

IKEA Philippines has also manifested inclusivity from the inside-out, achieving a gender balance in their workforce across their organization, with a gender ratio of 45.9% female and 54.1% male.
 
The Community and Environment that Surrounds
IKEA aims for its operations to be more circular and climate-positive, from the circularity of its business, recycling and waste management systems, to electrifying home deliveries. 

 
Last year, IKEA Philippines maintained its partnership with electric vehicle company, Mober, and increased its usage of sustainable transport. With this, IKEA reported that reached one-fourth (7.7%) of the way from its target for EV deliveries (33%) by 2025 while continuing to push further and accelerate its electrification.  

 
Alongside its care for the environment, IKEA Philippines also continues to create a positive impact in the community as it maintains its partnership with social enterprise Rags2Riches (R2R) as a sewing services partner in IKEA Pasay City. Within its operation, R2R had upcycled 4,000 kilograms of scrap fabrics and generated P7 million in revenues from IKEA which directly impacted 250 families.

 
IKEA has been one of the retail industry’s proactive leaders for sustainability, and the openness of the Philippine market towards achieving a sustainable future also serves as a driving force for IKEA Philippines to continue its path to positive change. 
 
For more information, check out the Ikano Retail FY23 Sustainability Report and the IKEA official website at www.IKEA.ph.