Sriram, hej! 👋 You got a minute?

I have some questions about IKEA and carbon capture & utilisation (CCU) and figured you’d be the best person to ask.

Hej! 😊 Sure, let’s chat!

Haha, thanks for the intro! So…what would you like to know?

Well, everything to be honest! But let’s start with the basics: what exactly is CCU?

Putting it really simply, carbon capture & utilisation (CCU) is a process of capturing carbon from sources like emissions and converting it into useful materials and products. Today there are all kinds of CCU technologies on the market; differing in the sources of carbon they use, the ways of processing it, their final applications, and so on.

The idea is that this captured carbon would replace fossil sources of carbon, which helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions that would otherwise contribute to climate change. 

What are some examples of the products that CCU can be used to make?

Where to begin? Everything from fuels to textiles, plastics, perfumes, packaging, household products... 

...IKEA products perhaps? 😃

Someday, maybe! But it’s still too early to say. We’ve been looking into it with LanzaTech, a carbon recycling company, to see if and how we can produce IKEA products from industry emissions using CCU. Our work together has focused specifically on using this technology to produce polypropylene (PP) plastic.

PP is one of the most common materials used to make IKEA plastic products, such as SAMLA boxes and IKEA 365+ food containers.

Cool. So how does it work exactly?

Ready for a science lesson? 🔬🧪 It's pretty complex, but in short, by using LanzaTech technology, captured carbon emissions can be converted into ethanol and other key raw materials through a biological process called fermentation. 

Fermentation as in beer, cheese, kombucha, etc? 🍺🧀

Yeah, spot on! Fermentation is the process in which microorganisms like yeast and bacteria convert sugars into alcohol.

In the process we’ve been involved with, special bacteria developed by LanzaTech is used to produce different raw materials from the captured carbon. We have teamed up with them to develop a way of producing isopropyl alcohol (like the one used in hand sanitizers), which can be converted into PP to be used in IKEA products.

Okay, I think I'm following 🤓 What kinds of IKEA products would be best suited to this captured-carbon PP?

PP is a very versatile and durable plastic with many different uses, but with CCU we're mostly interested in applications where mechanically recycled plastic can’t be used today. For example, transparent products, products requiring food contact, or other products with very strict requirements.

As a proof of concept for this project, we have already managed to produce 30 food storage containers, which is exciting!

Gotcha! So why is CCU interesting for IKEA?

The climate crisis affects us all. That’s why reducing our absolute greenhouse gas emissions within the 1.5° C limit is a top priority at IKEA. We’re already tackling it in multiple ways; not least of all, by working to halve emissions across our value chain by FY30 (compared to FY16 baseline) and becoming Net Zero by FY50, without relying on carbon offsets.

There’s also our work towards removing and storing carbon through forestry, agriculture and products with renewable materials. And lastly, contributing towards larger reductions outside of our business, in society at large.  

And where in all this work does CCU come into play?

As a first step, we see this capturing of carbon from industry emissions outside of our value chain as an opportunity to help make a positive impact on the world at large, as this initiative will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions by utilising the captured carbon that would otherwise be emitted into the atmosphere.

That said, IKEA also needs to find alternatives to fossil sources for carbon feedstocks, and CCU as a technology opens some interesting doors in this area.

This all sounds great, but... Could CCU be seen as enabling continued fossil-fuel emissions, since technically the carbon gets captured anyway?

Really good question. Our view at IKEA is that CCU in no way diminishes the importance of a complete accelerated phasing out the use of fossil sources. This absolutely needs to happen. But until industries achieve complete electrification, we believe that on a transitional basis, there is value in repurposing this emitted carbon, rather than it being released into the atmosphere.

And while our work with CCU so far has only dealt with fossil-based industrial emissions, there are – as mentioned – other sources of carbon that could be explored in the future. For example, agricultural and household waste, as well as atmospheric CO2… but these are in earlier stages of development.

Speaking of the future: now that there is a successful proof of concept for possible IKEA products, where to from here?

To move forward, we’ll need to continue our exploration and learnings with LanzaTech and find additional collaborators to be able to scale up this technology and make it cost efficient. Once we know those opportunities, we’ll have a clearer sense of how CCU could contribute to our long-term plans and directions.

There’s also more work to be done in setting clear accounting principles for these kinds of technologies at IKEA. It’s still very early days with a long road ahead, but we’re curious about the possibilities and excited to be on the journey.

Exciting! Thanks so much for all the info, Sriram. You sure, uh, "captured" my interest in this topic!

.... 😂

Haha, I couldn’t resist!

I'll let it slide this time. Thanks for the chat!