{"id":26665,"date":"2022-01-20T12:00:03","date_gmt":"2022-01-20T05:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.asiapropertyawards.com\/?p=26665"},"modified":"2022-01-19T14:53:43","modified_gmt":"2022-01-19T07:53:43","slug":"is-sustainability-a-luxury-not-everyone-can-afford","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.asiapropertyawards.com\/en\/is-sustainability-a-luxury-not-everyone-can-afford\/","title":{"rendered":"Is sustainability a luxury not everyone can afford?"},"content":{"rendered":"
Global brand IKEA believes that, as a business, they possess huge responsibilities that impact the world\u2019s most topical, critical needs<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are always having the ambition to ensure that they [sustainable initiatives] are also at the same time improving our bottom line and saving money, increasing efficiencies.” -Lars Svensson, sustainability and communication director at IKEA Southeast Asia<\/figcaption><\/figure>We now live in a digital era where we have the technology\u00a0and knowledge to create more environmentally friendly\u00a0products as we start to realise the world that is crumbling\u00a0around us. However, are we, as individuals, institutions, and\u00a0especially businesses, doing enough to protect the world that provides us with the air we breathe and the water we\u00a0drink? Are we doing enough to protect these finite resources,\u00a0while ensuring that everyone has access to the same necessities in life?<\/p>\n
Academics, business executives, and\u00a0environmental activists all have different answers to what it\u00a0means to be a sustainable business, according to Harvard University business history professor Geoffrey Jones, who said in a recent PBS NewsHour report that \u201cthere is a\u00a0crippling vagueness about what sustainability means.\u201d<\/p>\n
Multiple organisations are harvesting electricity from renewable energy, which emits fewer carbon emissions and\u00a0saves the company money. However, environmentalists have\u00a0hauled up concerns that materials used in solar panels have been extracted unsustainably and solar energy firms do not track their carbon emissions.<\/p>\n
While there\u2019s no single firm definition for sustainability, there\u2019s a lack of accountability. More businesses declare to be sustainable, but only a few\u00a0can authenticate such business practices.<\/p>\n
The Sustainability and Communication Director at IKEA Southeast Asia Lars Svensson unveiled IKEA\u2019s integrated sustainable initiatives and zero-carbon efforts that help fight global waste pollution and climate change at the PropertyGuru Asia\u00a0 Real Estate Summit 2020.<\/p>\n
He shared that as a business, IKEA believes that the company possesses huge responsibilities that impact the world\u2019s most topical, critical needs.<\/p>\nLars discussed IKEA\u2019s initiatives during his session at the PropertyGuru Asia Real Estate Summit 2020<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
In his session, Lars revealed three main areas IKEA has chosen to address:<\/p>\n
Unsustainable consumption<\/strong>.\u00a0The world wouldn\u2019t\u00a0harbour\u00a0enough resources if everyone were to consume as much as those in the middle- and higher-income groups and developed countries.<\/p>\n
Current climate situation.<\/strong>\u00a0Both individuals and businesses immensely impact climate change, highlighting the vitality of addressing this present\u00a0situation.<\/p>\n
Growing social inequalities.<\/strong>\u00a0As\u00a0a\u00a0consequence\u00a0of\u00a0COVID-19,\u00a0for the first time in 20\u00a0to\u00a030 years,\u00a0over a hundred million people in the world will move down\u00a0the\u00a0poverty\u00a0line.<\/p>\n
To address these areas, he shared\u00a0IKEA\u2019s initiatives, which are to:<\/p>\n
\n
Enable people to live healthier and more sustainable lifestyles at home;<\/li>\n
Be climate positive and circular by 2030; and<\/li>\n
Impose a social and equal agenda on reducing inequalities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
It is incredibly important that such initiatives are anchored in the business\u2019 value chain, as sustainability is an engine for driving growth, profitability, efficiency, and morality, according to Lars.<\/p>\n
Taking initiative<\/strong><\/p>\n
IKEA\u00a0as a company recognises\u00a0that its total value chain contributes to 0.1 percent of the world\u2019s greenhouse gases. Manufacturing and the sourcing of raw materials may be the largest factors,\u00a0but 70 percent\u00a0of the contribution comes from customers\u2019 journeys to and from store locations.<\/p>\n
In response, IKEA Thailand has collaborated with Thai authorities in building a U-Turn to condense visitors\u2019 travel time\u00a0by\u00a0up to 30 minutes.<\/p>\n
Additional car parks have also increased accessibility and reduced waiting times for cars entering and exiting out of the\u00a0centre.<\/p>\n
IKEA\u2019s\u00a0commercial solar technology system in Singapore and Thailand\u00a0is\u00a0among IKEA\u2019s\u00a0other sustainable\u00a0projects. Such solar panels generate renewable energy that helps power the store, while also doubling up as a sun cover for the carpark.<\/p>\n
In Singapore, this first commercial solar cooling system harnesses the sun to heat up water in pressured pipes, which, in the long run, saves money for the store.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are always having the ambition to ensure that they [sustainable initiatives] are\u00a0also at the same time improving our bottom line and saving money,\u00a0increasing\u00a0efficiencies.<\/p>\n
\u201cSustainability\u00a0actually helps\u00a0you save resources, cuts costs, and enables you to become more profitable \u2013\u00a0and that\u2019s the principle we apply also when it comes to pricing our products and solutions to offer customers. Sustainability should not be a luxury, it should be affordable for many people and it\u2019s a right,\u201d said\u00a0Lars.<\/p>\n
There are various solutions that\u00a0other companies and\u00a0organisations\u00a0in the region could emulate.\u00a0Lars mentions that IKEA is considerably also a real estate business. Hence, the way buildings are constructed sets an agenda on how sustainable the company can become. Building in accordance with green certification standards can aid\u00a0the construction of stores and real estate that lessen climate footprint, while procuring more efficiency.<\/p>\n
IKEA, as a consumer company, provides home and furniture products that promote sustainable<\/p>\n
living not only to its consumers, but also to its employees, suppliers, and the community at large.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do that partially by securing what we need to create sustainability as one of\u00a0the\u00a0five design elements of all the products that we have. So,\u00a0one aspect could be,\u00a0you could be safe and assured that sourcing of products have been done at a responsible manner without severe environmental impact, or without taking advantage of children or labour, breaking any of the laws when it comes to environmental protection, etc.,\u201d Lars said.<\/p>\n
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