Inter IKEA Group Appoints Lena Julle Chief Sustainability Officer

May 4, 2025  by Karen Parrish in Business Strategy, Industry   

Lena has been serving as the Acting CSO since September 2024, while also being the Sustainability Manager at IKEA Range, leading and contributing to the development of sustainable products and solutions for IKEA customers around the world to enable healthy, affordable and low-impact everyday life.

With over 30 years’ experience at IKEA, Lena has been instrumental in advancing the IKEA climate, circularity and the overall sustainability agenda.

“The IKEA goal – to be more affordable, accessible, and sustainable, especially for those with limited budgets – resonates deeply with me since I began my journey at IKEA. Creating smart, well-designed, functional products for everyday use at home, based on our life-at-home expertise, while making steady progress on our sustainability agenda, presents a tremendous opportunity. I look forward to continuing to work closely with my passionate IKEA colleagues to inspire and enable our customers to live healthier and more sustainable lifestyles. Together, we will enable the IKEA transition towards a circular business, accelerate our climate agenda and do our part in supporting a more fair and equal society,” says Lena Julle.

The IKEA business is committed to contributing to limiting temperature rise to 1.5°C by drastically reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across the entire IKEA value chain. In FY23, the IKEA climate goals were strengthened in line with the 1.5°C target and the SBTi Net-Zero Standard. These goals include halving GHG emissions from the entire value chain in absolute terms by FY30 compared to FY16, and reaching net-zero emissions by FY50 at the latest. 

The net-zero targets set by Inter IKEA Group cover sourcing and extraction of raw materials, food ingredients, manufacturing, product transport, retail operations, customer travel to stores, product use in customers’ homes and product end-of-life.   

“With her leadership and deep knowledge of IKEA, Lena has continued our journey to make IKEA more sustainable in everything we do. As Acting Chief Sustainability Officer, she’s already made strong contributions in our journey towards net zero and further developed the overall IKEA sustainability agenda. I look forward to working together with her to make our commitments a reality,” says Jon Abrahamsson Ring, CEO, Inter IKEA Group.

Lena also has a deep knowledge of the value chain, which has led to important steps in the material transformation journey. In the CSO role, Lena will ensure that sustainability is integrated throughout the IKEA offer, and that IKEA continues to address current and future environmental and societal challenges while ensuring business growth.

Lena succeeds Pär Stenmark, who will be taking his next step within the Inter IKEA Group.