RNZ

While shoppers eagerly await IKEA opening its first New Zealand store, its parent company continues to grow its forestry portfolio here.

The Swedish furniture giant has begun construction of its Auckland store which is to open in late 2025.

Since August 2021, its parent company Ingka Investments has been buying farmland, to convert to forestry, and existing forestry blocks around New Zealand as part of IKEA’s sustainability strategy.

Data from the Overseas Investment Office shows Ingka Investments has been given approval for 25 sales in New Zealand which cover 23,495 hectares, while one application is awaiting a decision.

Existing forestry blocks cover 4290 hectares while 19,205 hectares of farmland had been bought to turn into rotational pine forests.

On its website, it said buying land in New Zealand, the US, Romania and the Baltic states was part of its long-term commitment to responsible forest management.

“Wood is an essential part of the IKEA identity. We invest in forestland because we believe we can play an important role in supplying wood from more sustainable sources for our everyday lives.”

Some of the more prominent sales include Huiarua Station and Matanui Station in the Gisborne region with a combined area of just over 6000 hectares.

Ingka Investments paid $88 million for the two farms which were being planted into rotational forestry until 2026.

An Ingka Investments spokesperson said while the company did not have a specific land acquisition target, it did intend to make further investments.

“We are committed to being in Aotearoa New Zealand for many years and are taking a long-term approach to our planning.

“Our goal is to protect and support forest resources for generations to come, we want to create long-term employment opportunities, support local biodiversity through the protected parts of our forests, and help to sequester GHGs [greenhouse gases] through the growth of our trees and through the soil of the protected parts of our forests.”

The company said it had a small management team based in Tauranga that oversaw all Ingka Investments properties, and it also worked with forest management companies Forest 360, Logic Forest Solutions, IFS Growth, and Southern Forests.

“Our general approach is to invest in areas of resilience and sustainability that also offer returns.

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“These are long-term investments spanning across decades in a material that is a significant part of the IKEA identity.

“In Aotearoa New Zealand, we have invested in both afforestation projects and existing forestland.

“However, we do not participate in any type of carbon farming.

“We do not intend to sell carbon credits as part of our routine business practices and we are not currently engaged in carbon offsetting.

Ingka Investments said it was proud that its forests could be part of the solution to climate change, but using them as a source for other companies to offset their carbon emissions was “not why we have forests”.

- RNZ