GREEN RANKING FOR 2009
Ranking: 3
Worth: £22bn
Green investment: Renewable energy

The founder of the cut-price but stylish furniture retailer Ikea, Ingvar Kamprad, is a committed environmentalist and has put that at the top of Ikea’s agenda in the 36 countries where it has stores. Among Ikea’s environmental initiatives are four UK stores that have waste-to-energy technology and geothermal systems (energy generated from natural heat beneath the Earth’s surface). All the stores are to be supplied with 100% renewable energy for electricity and heating by 2012 and overall energy consumption is to be reduced by 25% by that date. Ikea’s car fleet has been changed to Honda hybrids and there is an initiative that gives employees discounts to buy hybrids, and interest-free loans to convert their cars to LPG. Ikea has also given its workforce folding bicycles and low-energy light bulbs, replacing them free of charge for the lifetime of workers’ employment with the company. Bilan magazine in its December 2008 Swiss Rich List, put Kamprad’s fortune at £22 billion.