Ingka, IKEA's parent company, makes its first renewable energy investment in India

New Delhi [India], October 31 (ANI): Ingka Investments, the investment arm of Ingka Group, the largest IKEA retailer, has made a 100 per cent stake investment in a subsidy-free 210 MWp solar project located in Bikaner.

According to a release issued by the company on Friday, the solar project has reached ready-to-build status and construction will start shortly. Start of operations is scheduled in December 2026. The total expected production is 380 GWh per year, the company said.

Frederik de Jong, Head of Renewable Energy at Ingka Investments, says: "This is a milestone acquisition for us - it marks the first renewable energy investment for Ingka Investments in India - a country of outmost importance both for IKEA retail and the IKEA supply chain. The new solar project in India will produce 380 GWh of renewable energy annually - more than enough to power our growing retail, shopping centre, and distribution operations. It's a big step in making our retail business in India more sustainable, efficient, and future-ready."

As part of a global commitment, EUR 7.5 billion has been committed to support 100 percent renewable energy consumption across the value chain and beyond by 2030. Ingka Investments has invested and committed EUR 4.2 billion into renewable energy projects in wind and solar power worldwide.

In India, Ingka Investments is working with ib vogt, an integrated large-scale solar PV developer headquartered in Germany with a strong presence in India and is developing, constructing, and operating various large scale RE projects across India. ib vogt Solar India will also be the partner for construction and the first three years of operations. The construction and operations of the solar project will provide significant local employment estimated around 450 people during construction and 10 to 15 during operations.

Patrik Antoni, CEO, IKEA India shared, "At IKEA, sustainability is at the heart of everything we do. Over the past eight years, we've invested in making our retail journey more sustainable. Designed with energy efficiency at the core, two of our large-format stores (Bangalore and Navi Mumbai) are LEED Gold certified, and we are working towards Platinum certification in Gurugram and Noida. As a founding member of RE100, we are on track to power our operations with 100% renewable energy by 2025."

"We're also proud of our 100 per cent zero-emission EV deliveries in key cities and are committed to expanding this across all future markets. With EV charging stations in our stores and energy-saving solutions for our customers, and now also an investment in a solar project, we're inspiring positive change and contributing to a cleaner, more sustainable future for India," Antoni added.

As a global business operating in 31 countries, Ingka Group is committed to the Paris Agreement and to contribute to limiting the global temperature rise to 1.5°C. In November 2023, the company strengthened its climate targets in alignment with the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) Corporate Net-Zero Standard.

The targets were approved by SBTi in April 2024 and include a commitment to reduce absolute greenhouse gas emissions from the value chain by at least 50 per cent by FY30 (compared to FY16 baseline) and reach net zero emissions by 2050, without relying on carbon offsets to meet these absolute reduction targets. (ANI)

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