IKEA Invests in Vanguard Renewables to Convert Food Waste to Biogas

Ingka Investments, the investment arm of IKEA's largest retail group Ingka, announced a minority investment in BlackRock portfolio company Vanguard Renewables and a partnership to convert food waste from IKEA stores into renewable natural gas. A pilot is underway at five IKEA retail locations in Wisconsin, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Illinois, with plans for nationwide expansion.

Massachusetts-based Vanguard Renewables operates anaerobic digesters that convert organic waste including food scraps from IKEA's restaurants, bistros, and Swedish Food Markets into renewable natural gas and low-carbon fertilizer for local agriculture. BlackRock's Diversified Infrastructure business acquired Vanguard Renewables in 2022 in a deal valuing the company at approximately $700 million, with plans to invest up to an additional $1 billion in its expansion. IKEA said it has already reduced pre-consumer food waste by approximately 50% over the past seven years, equivalent to saving 83,000 meals.

The investment joins Ingka Group's Circular Investments portfolio, which was established in 2017 to support IKEA's circularity strategies by investing in companies that prevent waste or supply recycled materials. Earlier this year, Ingka announced plans to invest EUR 1 billion in recycling infrastructure companies focused on mass circularity. The Vanguard partnership addresses one of the harder-to-solve waste streams in retail: unavoidable food waste that cannot be reduced at source and requires diversion from landfill.

Renewable natural gas derived from organic waste is chemically identical to fossil-based natural gas, enabling its use in existing gas infrastructure without modification. This makes it a practical near-term decarbonization tool for hard-to-abate sectors such as road transport and heavy industry. The IKEA-Vanguard partnership demonstrates how large retailers can integrate circular economy principles directly into their supply chains, converting an operational liability — food waste — into a revenue-generating sustainability asset.

Key figure — EUR 1 billion Ingka circular infrastructure investment commitment