IKEA Canada co-workers in Vancouver tend to the on-site garden.SUPPLIED
Sustainability has long been woven into the IKEA identity, anchored in one of the organization’s core values. Leaders point to a consistent driver behind its progress: the belief that every co‑worker can influence meaningful change. At IKEA Canada Limited Partnership, those everyday decisions — on the shop floor, in offices, and throughout the supply chain — are increasingly seen as a tangible force pushing the company closer to its global sustainability ambitions.
“Every single unit manager, whether it’s a market manager or a customer distribution centre manager, has their individual target,” says Peter Jones, IKEA Canada’s recently named head of sustainability. “Sustainability is important for everybody at IKEA. It is integrated throughout the business.”
Integration isn’t just about reducing emissions — it’s about improving outcomes for people and communities while protecting the planet, he says. Each unit sets and tracks its own sustainability priorities, giving co‑workers a clear view of how daily actions support wider people and planet goals. The approach favours steady, practical improvements over sweeping directives.
After several years abroad, Jones returned to Canada for his new position. The U.K. native, who previously worked for IKEA in both the United Kingdom and Sweden, helped develop the company’s global sustainability‑impact metrics — from water and energy use to waste and emissions. “You can only change things if you can measure them,” he says. “When you measure, you learn. When you learn, you improve.”
IKEA Canada continues to make steady progress in the transition toward zero-emission home delivery. By August 2025, 72 per cent of its big and bulky home deliveries were completed using electric vehicles (EVs). The organization has expanded its network of EV chargers across the country for co‑workers, customers and delivery partners, supporting the global ambition to achieve more than 90 per cent zero‑emission home deliveries by 2028. Nonetheless, Jones emphasizes that electrification is only part of the sustainability approach. Reducing waste, improving efficiency and rethinking how goods flow through the supply chain all play crucial roles.
Charmagne Edwards, communication specialist at IKEA Canada’s Vancouver customer distribution centre, sees this work reflected in the everyday actions of co-workers at the massive, 330,540-square-foot facility serving British Columbia, Alberta, Yukon and the Northwest Territories, and parts of the Québec region. Co-workers strive to get orders to customers’ homes in the most sustainable way possible without sacrificing quality, safety or lead time.
One simple improvement has come from designing shipping boxes to fit each order precisely. “By creating the right size box, we use less cardboard and less filler,” Edwards says. “It also means we can fit more parcels on the delivery trucks, which reduces emissions and helps us get orders to customers faster.”
As a communication specialist, Edwards works to make sustainability feel accessible to co-workers so they can see how they contribute to reducing waste, conserving energy and supporting the community. “Sustainability isn’t this big nebulous concept,” she says. “It’s something tangible for our co‑workers, something they can act on.”
Jones believes that sustainability is not only essential for the planet but also creates meaningful business benefits. “If you reduce waste, you reduce costs; if you reduce energy usage, you reduce costs. If you start using renewable energy, well, hey, the sun doesn’t send us a bill every month, the wind doesn’t send us a bill every month. All these things make complete sense.”
Jones says he’s proud to be joining the team in Canada with its strong foundation. The recognition, he notes, is the result of everyday actions from the 7,000 co‑workers across the country. “This award reflects their dedication and their belief in our purpose,” he says. “They’re the reason we’ve earned this recognition year after year.”
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Advertising feature produced by Canada’s Top 100 Employers, a division of Mediacorp Canada Inc. The Globe and Mail’s editorial department was not involved.