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Polish Briefing 29 January, 2019 9:00 am   
COMMENTS: Mateusz Gibała

Polish Briefing: IKEA has more green energy in Poland that it consumes itself

What goes on in Poland on the 29th of January.

IKEA has more green energy in Poland that it consumes itself

– Already the production of wind energy in companies in which IKEA has shares is greater than our demand in Poland. If the administrative and legal framework would allow easy implementation of the PPA formula, it is possible that we would consider it – said Mariusz Podgórski, Energy and Climate Manager at IKEA Retail in an interview with BiznesAlert.pl

Ikea starts sale of photovoltaic panel sets. Electric vehicles can already be loaded in the parking lots in front of the stores. Asked whether solutions such as renewable energy and electromobility are popular among Poles, Mariusz Podgórski, Energy and Climate Manager at IKEA Retail, said that electromobility, considering the frequency of charging electric vehicles, is still a niche form of transport in Poland. – Charging electric vehicles with our chargers is rather an occasional phenomenon but we hope that this will change in the coming years. Every year we see growing sales indexes, so-called sustainable products. These are already double-digit increases. This is the best illustration, showing that people care about what is happening with the environment around us. We want to educate the public and provide it with tools that will help change the world for the better – he said.

IKEA – a carbon-neutral company?

Companies producing RES energy, in which IKEA has shares, already produce the same amount of energy as the furniture company uses annually. Asked, whether this means that the company is self-sufficient in energy, Podgórski said that wind turbines owned by IKEA produce more electricity than the company consumes in Poland for its own needs, both in shops and IKEA factories: – It is not the case, that we directly consume this energy, it was never our assumption. IKEA produces more than it needs. This energy goes to the transmission network, to trading companies that sell it further. However, we use the guarantee of origin, which is proof that the same amount of energy that we consume has been produced in our renewable energy sources. The reason is simple. We do not have our own, separate trading company, which could sell and transfer this energy to us. The premise that guides us is the production of energy at a level higher than we consume. Due to the fact that we have built such a rich portfolio of wind farms, we can say that we completely neutralize our carbon footprint – said Podgórski.

Asked why IKEA is focused just on windmills, not for example on biomass, Podgórski said that IKEA started investing in onshore wind farms in Poland in 2010: – Then the legislative and legal environment was more favorable to wind energy and its development. As for biomass, we are not advocates of “burning” in any form. This also contradicts the concept of a circular economy, in which we see the future of our business – he said.