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(bright music)

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- Jesper, thank you so
much for joining us today.

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- Thank you so much.

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- So we have so much to talk about,

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and I just wanted to start by asking you

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about IKEA's commitment to climate action.

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IKEA's committed to
reaching net zero by 2030,

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something we've done as well.

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What made you take this step?

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What gave you the confidence to know

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that it was the right thing to do?

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- It's simply, I think,

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from a moral and ethical perspective,

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it's not okay for us to
pass this challenge over

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to the next generation.

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Now, on top of that, the
fact is that north of

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70% of all consumers in any market-

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whether it will be China, India,

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US, Sweden, or wherever
we do our research-

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people are deeply concerned
about climate change,

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and of course other topics as well.

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And if you want to be relevant
for customers and coworkers

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in the future, you need to
be a leader in this area.

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Now, I think it's quite obvious

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that being a low-cost
company in the future,

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you need to be very smart
on how you use resources:

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energy, raw material, and so on.

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So, we think that this is good
for the economy, basically.

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- How do you think about this management

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of the profitability pressures,
investor expectations,

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the things that one does in that regard,

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while being on this incredibly
ambitious, highly committed

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long-term climate journey?

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- Probably the most important
thing for us leaders

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is not to see this as a
problem that we mitigate,

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but more to say, we are
establishing the new economy

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for all good reasons.

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I think the starting point
for a business leader

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is the leap of faith.

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But then very close to that
comes the understanding

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of your footprint, your impact,

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and how you can mitigate what
really makes a difference

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in your industry.

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And at the other side of that process,

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you will be an industry leader.

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You will have lower costs.

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You will have not only happy customers,

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but you're going to be more attractive

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as an employer as well.

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- How have you thought about innovation

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in the context of this challenge

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and how you gear your R&D efforts,

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or the various ways
that you spur innovation

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in the organization?

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- When it comes to us, innovation
has always been driven by

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I would say a drive to serve the many
people within wallets.

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The day we made the flat-pack,
invented the flat-pack,

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it was simply to send
a table with legs on it

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was just too costly from
a transport perspective.

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So thereby we invited the
customers to do part of the job,

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to put the legs on the table.

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Not everybody loves it. But,
from an economic point of view,

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that has served many people, right?

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The interesting thing is now,

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if you take the latest innovation in IKEA,

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that we are right now implementing across

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all our major furniture series,

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is to have no fittings at all,

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which is a great innovation:
to take something away.

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So, what we're doing is
basically implementing

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wedge fittings and other types
of mechanisms that make it

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so you don't need any screws,
any glue, or anything.

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It not only improves the account

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from a sustainability perspective,

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because there's no glue,
no metal, no plastic.

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It also makes the furniture
easier to disassemble.

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So you can actually use them more times.

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And frankly, it's less costly.

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- What lessons have
you learned on the way?

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What advice would you give to another CEO

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that may be just getting
started on this journey

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to really think about how
to think about commitments,

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how to think about turning it into action?

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- A lot of us leaders out there
like to have a plan verified

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before we make our commitments.

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I think in this case,

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we need to commit to the inevitable goal

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of resolving climate change
without having all the answers.

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You want to be on the forefront of reaping

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the benefits of the new economy,

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both for your brand and for
the real elements of cost

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in the future.

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And to get to that point,

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you need to take some
risks. And if you're wrong,

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I'm sure future generations
will forgive you

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for one or two mistakes.

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I don't think future generations
will forgive us as CEOs

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if we decide not to move
on this global human crisis

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that we are standing on the brink of.