The world is slowly getting acquainted with Electric Vehicles. But IKEA is in a hurry! Recently Ikea announced that it will provide zero emissions home deliveries across five major cities by 2020. And guess what? 2020 is only 2 years away.
The five lucky cities include Amsterdam, Los Angeles, New York, Paris, and Shanghai. Electric vehicles would be used in these cities to deliver the furniture.
“For us, it’s crucial to grow our business in a sustainable way—that’s why we’re speeding up the transition to EV in five inner-city areas,” Jesper Brodin, Ikea Group CEO said in a statement. “By 2020 all our home deliveries in central Amsterdam, Los Angeles, New York, Paris, and Shanghai will be by EV or other zero-emission solutions.”
Electric vehicles are definitely here to stay. But old habits die hard as the people still using fossil fuel powered vehicles are in majority and only slowly warming up to the EVs. So, the bold move by Ikea is much welcome and should as an example for other organisations to follow suit and take initiatives to meet the environmental goals and stay true to their CSR.
Ikea already has an upper hand when it comes to sustainability. The Swedish furniture giant is a member of the Climate Group EV100 since 2017. The group also includes HP, Unilever and PG&E.
Ikea not only pledged to make deliveries emission-free by 2020 but also aims to cuts in half emissions from Ikea employees and customers by 2030.
“By switching to EVs for home deliveries at this pace, IKEA is setting a strong example for clean transport in city centers, where zero emissions zones will one day become the norm,” Climate Group CEO Helen Clarkson said in a statement. “They are enabling their customers to play a key part in accelerating the rollout of electric vehicles overall.”
In June, the company promised to eliminate all single-use plastic (plastic straws, plates, and cups) from its stores by 2020. It has also partnered up with Little Suns to create solar-powered gadgets like flashlights, lamps, and torches.
Good luck to Ikea to achieving the goals it has set for itself and setting an example for other firms.