IKEA Chief Sustainability Officer Karen Pflug on governance, returns and resilience

As the Chief Sustainability Officer of a global retail company that has managed to decouple business growth from emissions, Ingka Group's Karen Pflug realises that she’s “in a fortunate position”. 

The best sustainability strategy is nothing without an enabling governance set-up, and here Pflug is luckier than most. Ingka Group, which owns and operates the majority of IKEA stores globally, is owned by a foundation, which means profits are either invested back into the business, or spent on the foundation’s charitable purpose.

“That allows us the freedom of a long-term vision and being able to plan for the generations. We don't have shareholders breathing down our necks every quarter, so we tend to play the long game anyway, regardless of whether it's a sustainability investment or not,” she explains.