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Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Yahoo
As Europe pushes towards its €1.5 trillion renewables target, companies like Ikea look for green power opportunities today
Swedish megabrand Ikea's affordable self-assembly furniture has made Scandi style the go-to look for homes, hotels and Airbnbs all over Europe. More than 30 million of its ubiquitous Poang armchairs, for example—curious-but-memorable names also being an Ikea speciality)—have been sold since launch in 1977, making it one of the most popular furniture products ever. But the company has another, less well-known claim to fame. Since 2009 it has invested over €4.2 billion ($4.9 billion) in renewable energy, which now provides 75% of the electricity used by the business to make, transport and retail all that furniture. 'Today, it turns out that we are also a mid-sized utility company, although to be honest that was not part of the strategy,' deadpans Jesper Brodin, CEO of Ingka (the largest Ikea franchisee, responsible for 90% of group sales). It's only half a joke: if their output was sold on the power market, the 49 wind farms and 26 solar parks owned by Ingka do produce enough low carbon electricity to meet the needs of 1.47 million EU households. The investment has certainly paid off in carbon terms. The firm's CO2 emissions—scope 1,2 and 3—are down 30% since the Paris Agreement of 2015, while sales have grown by 24% over the same period. Yet what started out as a desire to do the right thing for the planet and the brand (68% of Ikea customers think that climate change is the most serious global challenge, says Brodin) has morphed into an unexpected source of competitive advantage. $4.9 billion 'When we set out to invest, we were not sure that it would be smart from an economic point of view. But our energy bills are down 27% [from 2015] so we have saved a lot of money. Over a three-to-five-year period, renewables come out at about half the price [of fossil fuel generated power]. People think that renewable energy will come at a financial premium, but actually it's the opposite.' After the Russian invasion of Ukraine caused a two-year spike in wholesale gas prices, a similar change of emphasis has occurred in Brussels. The EU Commission's latest plan for its carbon economy—the Clean Industrial Deal, announced in February—has dropped previous appeals to the collective consciences of business leaders to help save the planet, in favor of focusing on the competitiveness advantages of further adopting renewable power across the continent. Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has said that the deal will 'cut the ties that still hold our companies back, and make a clear business case for Europe'. Alongside reforms to electricity and gas markets designed to cut energy costs, the Clean Industrial Deal aims to mobilize €100 billion of EU funding to support low-carbon manufacturing, particularly in hard-to-abate industries like metals, chemicals and cement that rely on hydrocarbons for their highly energy-intensive processes. The Commission predicts the policy program will create over 500,000 new jobs, and ample opportunities for European businesses looking to carve a competitive, low-carbon niche. Green steel start-up Stegra is one such company. It has raised a total of €6.5 billion (including a €250 million grant from the EU innovation fund) to build a plant at Boden in the north of Sweden which will use 100% renewable energy to produce 5 million tonnes of homegrown 'green' steel per annum by 2030, with a carbon footprint 95% smaller than a traditional 'brown' steel plant. Stegra's process uses renewable power to generate hydrogen, which is then used not as a fuel but as a chemical reagent. Production will begin at a lower level in 2026, and despite a 25%-30% price premium over brown steel, it is already proving popular: the firm has forward-sold around 1.25 million tonnes—half of its initial production target—to customers eager to get in on the green steel ground floor. 'Our customers are planning ahead, they see that brown steel will eventually be more expensive than green steel once the full cost of carbon is included. They are not buying it for branding or marketing purposes, it's pure economics,' says Henrik Henriksson, Stegra's CEO. High costs, big barriers If von der Leyen's vision of secure, green growth is to be realized at scale for more companies, Europe needs to ramp up the transition to renewables significantly, at the same time as bringing down costs. By the end of 2023, Europe (excluding Russia) had 786 gigawatts of installed renewable generation capacity, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). That's an increase of 79% since 2014, and the pace has continued since, with a record increase of 65.6 gigawatts in the EU alone last year and another record predicted this year. However, it still leaves a long way to go to reach the EU's ambitious targets of 69% of electricity consumption and 42.5% of total energy coming from renewables by 2030. According to the European Commission's 2022 REPowerEU plan to end reliance on Russian fossil fuels, the EU would need to nearly double its capacity to 1,236 gigawatts to achieve this goal. Some estimates suggest this will cost around €1.5 trillion. Then there's the need to update Europe's grids, not just to handle the greater peak loads from these investments, but also to cover the distance between the best sites for renewable generation (solar in southern Europe, wind in coastal western Europe) and distant urban centers. So far, network investment has considerably lagged investments in renewables themselves. 'Because of the variability of wind [and solar], there is an urgent need for more interconnectors, and more investment in grids,' says Christophe Zipf, spokesperson for WindEurope, the trade body for the EU wind energy industry. One such mooted project is the North Sea Renewables Grid, a £20bn project to link 400 wind turbines in the North Sea, to facilitate the exchange of wind power between countries on both sides of the water. 'Where there are such clusters it makes sense to link them to more than one country—the U.K., Denmark and Belgium for example,' Zipf says. But where will the money come from? Given the right regulatory environment, there is capital ready to move, says Francecso Starace, partner at EQT, the world's third largest private equity investor, which has invested €17 billion in renewables in Europe over the past 15 years. There is already quite an appetite for investment in the grid and distribution networks. The networks need to be restructured for the modern world, not for the world of 50 years ago when they were built. 'Regulators have a major role to play, but they need to understand that more money needs to be invested into the networks. Network operators need regulation that incentivizes investment rather than discouraging them from doing that, which has been the case for many years,' says Starace, a former CEO of Enel. In practice, pro-investment regulation can mean several things: improvements in investor returns, relaxation of planning restrictions and greater central coordination of national transmission upgrade schemes. Even if all that happens, what of the days when the sun isn't shining and the wind isn't blowing? Renewables may be homegrown, but their output is inherently unpredictable. 'Network operators need regulation that incentivizes investment rather than discouraging them from doing that, which has been the case for many years' As a result, Starace believes the next big thing will be grid-scale battery storage. 'We believe batteries will be the next source of explosive growth. Battery storage can deal with fluctuations, and batteries are becoming pervasively competitive and a compelling investment.' Battery infrastructure on this scale would also require substantial capital, of course, altogether making the idea of cheaper power by 2030 seem rather less likely: whether through bills or taxes, someone's got to pay. But relying on fickle global gas markets no longer seems an option once your main supplier turns into an adversary, and in the long term the economic logic is there: once the infrastructure is built, the marginal unit cost of renewable power is far lower. In the meantime, as companies like Ikea and Stegra are showing, European businesses are increasingly looking for opportunities from the transition itself, rather than just waiting for the light at the end of the tunnel. This story was originally featured on 登入存取你的投資組合
Business Insider
12 hours ago
- Business Insider
Inside Indeed's playbook for getting employees comfortable with AI
When the Indeed marketing team gathered recently for an AI training session, a consultant asked a probing question: When it comes to AI, what worries you most? Perhaps surprisingly, people were most concerned about the steep learning curve. Concerns about keeping up with AI are widespread. In the United States, 75% of workers believe the skills needed for their roles will shift in five years, according to a recent Indeed report, " Tomorrow's World: The Workplace and Workforce of the Future." Yet, less than half (45%) have actually been upskilled in the last three years to develop longer-term skills and learning. AI will fundamentally change how people work, and forward-looking companies across industries are starting to treat AI upskilling as a business imperative. PwC, for one, developed a program designed to train employees in managing risks and leadership in the AI era. IKEA is bringing AI literacy training to more than 30,000 workers. Indeed has also rolled out its own AI training programs — from AI 101 tutorials to more advanced training for software developers, who now use AI to generate a third of the company's new code. What does it take to implement an AI upskilling program that sticks? Here's a look at what Indeed's experts have learned along the way. Start by listening and don't stop Before implementing an AI training program, ask your team about what they already know and what they want to learn. "The first step is understanding how we can help," said Megan Myers, Indeed's global director of brand planning, strategy, and operations. Myers, who for nearly two years has led AI education and adoption efforts for the marketing team, has used focus groups and Slack channels to ask employees about their AI use. The fears that surfaced in those conversations prompted her to organize a training session on the psychology of change. That's where Uli Heitzlhofer, the talent management consultant, asked employees what worried them most about AI. "We said, we have to directly address the elephant in the room: People are feeling anxious about what this means," Myers said. Facing fears head-on has helped the team move forward and build momentum. So instead of spending hours writing talking points for a deck, they might prompt Google Gemini to do it: "Give me 30 seconds of voiceover per slide — focus on decisions that need to be made in the room." One team member built a ChatGPT-powered agent to analyze reams of data about brand health in different markets, a task that now takes just a few minutes. AI also helped a team in one market make better decisions about where to place ads, using a tool called Claritas to more than double audience engagement. As the marketing team's AI use grows more sophisticated, Myers continues to survey employees to surface pain points AI might solve. That ensures that the experts she brings in each quarter to deliver training offer guidance that meets real needs. Cover the basics, but focus on details When it comes to using AI, employees often don't know where to start. They know that AI is a transformational tool, but they're looking for concrete advice on how to apply it to their jobs. Heitzlhofer, the consultant, calls it "blank page syndrome." "It's like, oh my god. I'm in front of this empty page. I don't know what to do. I'm just going to do something else," Heitzlhofer said. To help Indeed marketers overcome that paralysis, Myers hosts "power user panels," where people show their peers how they're already using AI for snackable tasks, whether it's to summarize emails or quickly build bar charts to visualize data. Showing people how they can put AI to practical use has been crucial across Indeed's workforce. When Indeed first offered AI training, the company took a "broad strokes" approach, sharing AI basics, the foundations of responsible AI use, and tips for using Gemini for Google Workspace, an AI-powered assistant for Google's suite of apps. While those basics were important, more targeted training for specific job functions has proved even more effective. Since then, Indeed's learning and development team, in partnership with the AI for Indeed team, has designed and developed an eight-workshop AI program for research and development executives. They developed courses for EU-based Indeedians on aligning AI with civil rights and training for managers on how to use AI responsibly to write performance reviews. These tailored efforts have helped drive adoption more effectively than a broad, surface-level rollout. Set specific goals, but make room for experimentation Just because you've built a useful AI upskilling program doesn't mean people will flock to it. While Myers and Heitzlhofer agree that making training mandatory can backfire, it's still important to nudge and motivate people. Myers asks marketers to include one AI goal in their corporate commitments each year. She also challenges them to spend at least 10 hours every six months on AI learning and development, whether that includes attending Indeed's expert training sessions or taking an outside course. "We want you to choose your own adventure with AI and get yourself comfortable with it," she said. While learning leaders need to help employees build confidence with AI through training and practice time, it's up to company and department leaders to create the right environment. That means clearly articulating AI policies, then giving people explicit permission to experiment (and to fail). Heitzlhofer suggested setting up use case libraries and Slack channels or other shared spaces where employees can exchange tips and missteps. "Ideally, they'll share these lessons with others, so collective learning is always happening," he said. Don't just encourage adoption. Measure it. Investment in AI upskilling is already paying off for Indeed. According to internal data, developers now use AI to write 33% of new code at Indeed, up from just 7% in March. Indeed aims to push that number to 50% by year's end. That kind of shift signals real behavior change. The true measure of AI adoption isn't course completions — it's about how people actually use the tools, as captured by metrics like voluntary usage, time saved, and improved quality. Ultimately, that's the key to long-term traction: not just delivering learning, but driving adoption. Without practical application, even the most robust training efforts won't stick.
Yahoo
19 hours ago
- Yahoo
Empower Finance Rebrands to Tilt and Launches Tilt Credit Cards to Accelerate Reliable Access to Fair Credit
New name, comprehensive redesign, and the introduction of three unsecured credit cards mark a pivotal step in the company's evolution. SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 6, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Empower Finance, Inc., a leader in cash flow underwriting and a pioneer in financial product innovation, today announced that it has rebranded to Tilt. The new brand identity signals the company's evolution toward a broader suite of cash and credit products—and a deeper commitment to expanding reliable access to fair credit around the world. Alongside the rebrand, Tilt has launched Tilt Credit Cards (issued by WebBank), a lineup of unsecured cash back cards designed to support non-prime customers from day one and help them move forward. Tilt products are built for the millions of people who are often underestimated by traditional lenders—those earning steadily and managing expenses responsibly, but whose credit history is recovering, limited, or still in the making. Instead of relying only on credit scores, Tilt products use real-time cash flow and alternative data to more precisely assess an individual's financial situation and readiness for cash or credit. Backed by six years of performance data and 250+ nontraditional indicators of financial health, the proprietary underwriting powers a growing offering—from no-interest advances to flexible lines of credit to unsecured credit cards. Tilt serves over three million active subscribers in the US and has been profitable since 2022. "My team sees something that traditional lenders overlook—many people are good for it," said Warren Hogarth, Co-Founder and CEO of Tilt. "They have the intention and ability to repay, but the traditional credit system hasn't been built to recognize potential and possibility. Today, less than 41% of non-prime credit card applicants are approved for credit cards, and for people with no credit score, approval rates plummet to 20%. That's why we're working to create a system designed to go beyond the score—and make credit more accessible and responsive. We're tilting the playing field back to level." In addition to its momentum in the US, the company established a consumer credit business in Mexico in 2022 under the Empower name, which will rebrand in the coming months. Over the past year, Tilt has expanded its reach through a series of strategic acquisitions, including Petal, a US credit card company; Cashalo, a digital credit platform in the Philippines; and most recently, NIRA, a provider of personal loans serving India. Cashalo and NIRA will continue operating under their existing brands in their local markets. Together, these efforts advance Tilt's vision of an inclusive credit system that works for more consumers worldwide. "The decision to invest in Empower was clear, and the transition to Tilt underscores the scale of what the team is building," said Sam Giber, General Partner at Blisce. "They're setting the tempo in a sector long ready for reinvention—using technology to see people more fully and serve them more fairly. That's what makes this company so compelling." For press inquiries, contact: media@ About Tilt Finance, Inc.: Tilt is a financial technology company on a mission to expand reliable access to fair credit and give anyone in the world the opportunity to improve their financial security and mobility. The company offers a better way to access money by looking at real-time income and spending, not just credit scores, to understand every individual's potential. Tilt products include no-interest advances, unsecured credit cards, and flexible lines of credit, along with personal finance tools like automatic savings, score monitoring, and spend tracking to help improve credit health over time. The Tilt Line of Credit is provided by FinWise Bank. Tilt Credit Cards are issued by WebBank. Banking services are provided by nbkc bank, Member FDIC. Tilt is based in San Francisco, CA. About Blisce: Blisce is a venture capital firm co-headquartered in New York and Paris, backing founders who are reshaping global industries. From Series A to IPO, they partner with entrepreneurs who are shaping culture and redefining industries—transforming breakthrough ventures into impactful, enduring businesses that help build a better world. Not affiliated with Empower Annuity Insurance Company of America ( View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Tilt Finance, Inc. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
