Sweden’s Ingka Group — the IKEA brand’s primary retailer – has taken to using boats on the Seine in Paris to transport goods to distribution points where they are picked up by EVs and delivered. The company’s strategy is to prioritize work in regions where regulatory support for a transition to zero-emissions vehicles is more favorable, as part of the two companies’ goal of a 50% reduction of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e) emissions by 2030, and reaching net zero by mid-century.

Trellis.com (formerly GreenBiz) reports the company faces a daunting Scope 3 challenge: Value-chain emissions made up 98% of the 30 million tons of tCO2e the company emitted in 2016, the baseline year for its net-zero target.

To achieve that, Ingka is investing in electric and alternative-fuel vehicles to increase the proportion of home deliveries it fulfills with zero-emissions vehicles from 40% to 90% by 2028. The retailer is also providing more pick-up locations near customers’ homes.

Ingka’s third-largest Scope 3 component contains the transport-related emissions from delivery services, as well as customer, co-worker and business travel. The retailer has reduced this footprint by just 13%, to 2.3 million tCO2e, since the 2016 baseline. What’s more, emissions rose slightly between 2023 and 2024. Ingka’s transition plan calls for an additional 40% reduction by 2030 to 1.6 million tCO2e.

However, Trellis reports in its Chasing Net Zero series that at least half of the world’s biggest retailers don’t have a formal net-zero target at all. For example, Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, which has been cited as a pioneer in supply chain decarbonization, is struggling to deliver on its own short-term commitments.

Its biggest advantage in pursuing net-zero goals is its close relationship with its main supplier of products. While Ingka buys from 1,500 suppliers, 81% of its climate footprint comes from IKEA foods and products, according to data published by both companies. By comparison, Walmart has at least 100,000 purchasing relationships.