IKEA | social & environmental responsibility

social & environmental responsibility


the IKEA way on purchasing home furnishing products Key issues such as working conditions and environmental care among our suppliers are being targeted in IKEA’s code of conduct, “The IKEA Way on Purchasing Home Furnishing Products”. The brochure “Social and environmental responsibility” gives a brief overview of how IKEA is working to take responsibility for social issues and the environment. Download as PDF (19 pages, 795 kb) The report “IKEA-social and environmental responsibility, Report 2003”, gives detailed information, including facts and key figures. Download as PDF on www.IKEA-goup.ikea.com At IKEA, we want to offer low prices for well-designed and functional home furnishing products of good quality, manufactured under acceptable working conditions by suppliers that care for the environment. We have outlined our views in the document “The IKEA Way on Purchasing Home Furnishing Products”. This document is our code of conduct that states the minimum demands expected of all IKEA suppliers. It defines IKEA’s requirements regarding social and working conditions, child labour, environment and forestry. IKEA aims to build long-term relationships with suppliers that share our commitment to promote good practices, and who want to grow and develop together with IKEA. IKEA expects its suppliers to respect fundamental human rights, to treat their workforce fairly and with respect. Suppliers are also obligated to continuously strive towards minimising the environmental impact of their operations. The basic criteria are that our suppliers must follow national laws and international conventions. The code of conduct is based on: the UN Declaration of Human Rights, 1948, the ILO (International Labour Organisation) Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, 1998 and the Rio Declaration on Sustainable Development, 1992


	Child labour Child labour is an unacceptable part of today’s reality. This situation exists in some of the countries where IKEA purchases. It is a complex problem that can be solved only by addressing the root causes of child labour, together with a broad engagement of different parties in society. IKEA supports the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989, with the basic requirement always to put the best interests of the child in focus. We also base our work in this area on the Convention number 138 of the ILO, concerning minimum working ages, and Convention number 182 concerning worst forms of child labour. In the document ”The IKEA Way on Preventing Child Labour”, we firmly state that IKEA does not accept child labour. We work actively against it. Our ambition is to make sure that no child labour is involved in the manufacturing of IKEA products. This includes all our suppliers worldwide, as well as their sub-contractors.


Support and monitoring Via a network of Trading Service Offices, IKEA helps suppliers to improve their operations. In addition, an internal support and monitoring group follows up developments on a global basis. This work is then externally verified by KPMG, Intertek Testing Services (ITS) and PricewaterhouseCoopers. For many of our suppliers it is not difficult to live up to IKEA’s minimum demands, but for some it is a big challenge. Where suppliers fail to comply, IKEA and the supplier together work out an action plan. How long it shall take, depends on the nature of the issue. If the supplier remains unable or unwilling to make changes, only one option remains. The relationship with that supplier will then come to an end.


	Social and Environmental projects Some issues are very complex. They require actions beyond what can be achieved by a code of conduct and it’s compliance. IKEA has therefore decided to contribute to some social and environmental projects, focused on forestry and the prevention of child labour and initiatives to support children and their opportunities for learning and development. IKEA is presently working, among others, with UNICEF in India with school projects in 500 villages close to the production sites of the suppliers. This is one way to get to the root causes of child labour. IKEA is also working with Global Forest Watch for the protection of intact natural forests. Read more about IKEA’s social and environmental projects. To obtain the documents mentioned above, you are welcome to contact PRCO@memo.ikea.com