IKEA Joins Regenerative Cotton Accelerator Programme as Strategic Partner
New Delhi, India – August 2026 – IKEA, the global home furnishing retailer, has announced its partnership with the Regenerative Cotton Accelerator Programme (RCAP) as a strategic member.
The partnership will see IKEA join RCAP's Steering Group, contributing its cotton sourcing and supply chain expertise to accelerate the adoption of regenerative cotton across India.
Launched in February 2026, RCAP is a joint initiative by Solidaridad Asia, WWF-India, Regenagri and Control Union.
The programme was established to reduce transition risks for farmers, strengthen technical and assurance systems, generate verifiable environmental evidence and build sustained demand for credibly verified regenerative cotton.
India is the second-largest cotton producer in the world.
Yet soil degradation, declining productivity, rising input costs, biodiversity loss and growing climate vulnerabilities continue to erode farmer resilience and threaten the long-term sustainability of the sector.
The regenerative cotton ecosystem in India has faced considerable operational and market bottlenecks, including weak traceability, delayed audits and limited market assurance for farmers — challenges that RCAP was specifically designed to address.
"For a sourcing company, the credibility of regenerative cotton begins long before the fibre reaches a mill or a store," said K. Srinivasan, IKEA's representative in the RCAP Steering Group. "It begins with the farmer, the condition of the soil and the reliability of the evidence behind each claim. Through RCAP, we hope to contribute our sourcing and supply chain experience to a practical model that can work for farmers, businesses and the environment."
As a Steering Group member, IKEA will bring a buyer perspective to shape market-linked regenerative cotton pathways, support alignment between field-level realities and brand sustainability ambitions, and guide the development of credible impact systems aligned with global due diligence commitments.
The Steering Group serves as RCAP's apex governance body, providing strategic direction on sector transformation, market alignment and investment priorities.
Shatadru Chattopadhayay, Managing Director of Solidaridad Asia, welcomed IKEA's involvement. "The next chapter of regenerative cotton will not be written by adding one more isolated project. It will be written by connecting changes on the farm with credible evidence, assured supply chains and purchasing decisions. IKEA's participation brings market and supply chain knowledge into a programme that also includes farmers, conservation specialists, standards organisations and implementation partners."
Murli Dhar, Director of the Sustainable Agriculture Programme at WWF-India, echoed this sentiment. "Regenerative agriculture must strengthen farming communities while restoring the natural systems on which agriculture depends. IKEA brings a buyer and supply chain perspective that can help ensure verified environmental progress is recognised by the market."
RCAP's long-term vision is to establish India as a globally significant source of credible regenerative cotton, creating lasting benefits for farmers, businesses and the natural environment alike.
About RCAP
The Regenerative Cotton Accelerator Programme (RCAP) is a joint initiative by Solidaridad Asia, WWF-India, Regenagri and Control Union, launched in February 2026.
The programme aims to accelerate the adoption of regenerative cotton in India by reducing transition risks for farmers, strengthening technical and assurance systems and building sustained market demand for verified regenerative cotton.
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