Anders Dahlvig began IKEA’s sustainability efforts when he took over as IKEA’s CEO 10 years ago, and he says that now sustainability is now at the heart of their product development and supply strategies.

During the Business for Social Responsibility Conference on Sustainability held in November 2008, Dahlvig stated that he’s frustrated with the amount of work left to do, but he also expresses optimism as the company moves from a “separate [sustainability] strategy with a top-down approach” to an approach that is “truly integrated in our everyday business agenda and strategies.”

“Sustainability is no longer an activity on its own, but it is totally integrated in everything we do.”

Currently, only 5-6% of the wood purchased by IKEA is certifiable by the independent Forest Stewardship Council, but Dahlvig expects that about 30% will be FSC-certified within the next few years. IKEA is also looking to reduce the amount of solid wood used, if the customers ‘don’t resist.’

See also:
Environmental Responsibility: Is IKEA Green?
and for specifics on chemicals and toxins in IKEA Products, see:
Environmental Standards of IKEA Products – The Numbers

What say you? Are you willing to give up solid wood products for the promise of sustainability? Where do you stand on this issue?

Join the discussion in the Green Living and Building forum

Tags: anders dahlvig, Business for Social Responsibility, IKEA Business Practices, IKEA Green, sustainability, YouTube

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 13th, 2009 at 8:54 AM by Tigratrus and is filed under IKEA Furniture, IKEA Green, IKEA Philosophy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.