Between 2016 and 2024, the primary operator of Ikea’s stores grew revenue by nearly 24% while cutting emissions by 30%. The man behind that transformation, former Ingka Group CEO Jesper Brodin, took the stage in London on March 26 to receive a TIME Earth Award, taking the opportunity to make the case for why sustainability is simply good business. “Being climate smart ... is being resource smart—cost smart,” he said.

Brodin joined Ikea thirty years ago as a store manager in Pakistan and worked his way up. He became CEO in 2017, a pivotal moment for the Swedish furniture giant, as it faced new competition from online upstarts. But even then, Brodin put sustainability high on the company’s agenda.

During his tenure, Brodin led Ingka to invest more than $5 billion in renewables like solar and windfarms. He said he was recently asked whether it was going back to carbon based energy. “It was,” he said, “a bit of an absurd question for me”; the company now produces more energy than it uses in its operations, and the remainder has become a revenue stream, which is projected to save  €97 million ($112 million) annually. 

Beyond dollars, he noted another benefit: “We are independent in a world that is a bit crazy when it comes to energy right now.”

Brodin said he was running on hope and faith a few years ago. But last September he left New York Climate Week brimming with optimism. While many CEOs are afraid to speak publicly about sustainability, Brodin said a quiet change is afoot, citing a recent United Nations report which found 88% of CEOs believe the business case for sustainability is better now than 5 years ago. He’s been leading that change, making the case for sustainability to a generation of business leaders. From 2020 to 2025 he chaired World Economic Forums’s Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders, whose over 100 members collectively emit more than India. Last year, they reported cutting emissions 12% in the period 2019-2013, while growing revenue 20%. 

“Companies are builders,” Brodin said. “We might need a bit of time to get moving, but once we get going, we're not gonna go back.”

Correction, March 27: The original version of this story mischaracterized revenue growth among the World Economic Forums’s Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders. It grew 20%, in the period 2019-2023, not 24%.