Dive Brief:
- The Inter Ikea Group has tapped Lena Julle as its new chief sustainability officer, a role she assumed May 1. The group is the parent company behind Ikea’s numerous franchises and subsidiaries and is responsible for designing, manufacturing and supplying the company’s products.
- Julle took on the permanent role of sustainability chief after serving as the group’s acting chief sustainability officer for nearly eight months. She succeeds former CSO Pär Stenmark, who the company said will stay within Ikea for his next position
- The new CSO has been at Ikea for over 30 years, most recently serving as the sustainability manager for Sweden since 2021, according to her LinkedIn. Julle maintained both jobs of regional sustainability manager and acting CSO at the company until April.
Dive Insight:
Julle will oversee Ikea’s overarching green strategy and help the company develop climate-forward products and solutions, according to Ikea. The home furnishings giant said in an April 30 statement that Julle has been “instrumental in advancing the Ikea climate, circularity and the overall sustainability agenda.”
Prior to serving as a sustainability manager for Sweden, Julle led supply chain operations for Ikea’s textiles division from 2014-2021. During this time, she was responsible for all supply chain activities, from strategy to operations, which included sustainability, logistics, communication and quality of products.
“With her leadership and deep knowledge of IKEA, Lena has continued our journey to make IKEA more sustainable in everything we do,” Inter Ikea Group CEO Jon Abrahamsson Ring said in the statement. “As Acting Chief Sustainability Officer, she’s already made strong contributions in our journey towards net zero and further developed the overall Ikea sustainability agenda. I look forward to working together with her to make our commitments a reality.”
Earlier this year, Ikea announced it was scaling back a sustainability target that aimed for all home deliveries of its products to be made by zero emissions vehicles by 2025. The Swedish retailer said it had revised the goal and will now pursue an objective of using zero emissions vehicles to fulfill 90% of its home deliveries by 2028. The company also said in its February update it will aim to have zero emissions vehicles comprise 90% of the vehicles used for company operations by 2028.
At the time, Ikea attributed the change in strategy to a myriad of factors, including an increase in online shopping and the ongoing shifts in the electric vehicle sector.
