Ikea has launched a global research lab on rainforest restoration to support global biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation.
The Living Rainforest Restoration Lab marks the next phase in the company’s efforts to regenerate rainforests.
The journey began in 1998 when Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad got the idea to restore a tropical rainforest in Borneo. The company then partnered with the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) and the Sabah Foundation to initiate the Sow a Seed initiative.
The lab represents a shift from hands-on restoration to a stronger focus on collaborative research, learning, and knowledge sharing.
Drawing on decades of experience, the move aims to translate practical restoration insights into methods applicable across tropical forests worldwide.
Through collaboration with academia, the lab supports scientists and practitioners in developing and scaling effective restoration approaches.
Ikea will fund the research program, which comprises 24 projects jointly led by the SLU and Malaysian universities, for 10 years.
“We are proud to carry forward our founder Ingvar Kamprad’s long-standing commitment to restoring and protecting forests,” said Lena Julle, chief sustainability officer at Inter Ikea Group.
“Over nearly 30 years, the project has not only restored forests and biodiversity, but also generated valuable knowledge.
“With the Living Rainforest Restoration Lab, we now want to share these insights more broadly, so they can help guide the restoration of other degraded rainforests around the world,” Julle added.
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