IKEA joins Regenerative Cotton Accelerator Programme as strategic partner

The Regenerative Cotton Accelerator Programme (RCAP), a joint initiative by Regenagri, Solidaridad Asia, WWF-India, and Control Union, has welcomed IKEA as a strategic partner and member of its Steering Group. In this key role, IKEA will contribute its global cotton sourcing and supply chain expertise to help accelerate the transition towards regenerative cotton production in India.

Underpinned by the Regenagri® framework, RCAP was launched in February 2026 to reduce transition risks for smallholder farmers, strengthen technical assurance, generate verifiable environmental evidence, and build sustained global demand for credibly verified regenerative cotton.

By bringing a key buying perspective to the initiative, IKEA’s participation will help align farm-level practices with brand sustainability ambitions and due diligence commitments, supporting long-term and predictable sourcing models for smallholder farmers.

Driving systemic change with the Regenagri Standard

India is the second largest producer of cotton, globally. Soil degradation, declining productivity, rising input costs, biodiversity loss, and increasing climate vulnerabilities are eroding farmer resilience and threatening long-term sustainability of the cotton sector.

RCAP addresses these challenges by utilising the Regenagri framework to establish a more consistent and outcome-focused approach. Key components include farm and farmer mapping, unique producer identification, stronger internal control systems, certification preparation, chain-of-custody documentation and reconciliation between cotton produced, procured and sold under regenerative claims.

For farmers, the Regenagri Farm Standard helps guide their transition to regenerative farming systems that help to improve soil health, enhance biodiversity and reduce carbon footprint while improving farmer livelihoods and climate resilience.

Strategic leadership for sector transformation

Franco Costantini, CEO of Regenagri says: “We welcome IKEA to the Regenerative Cotton Accelerator Programme as we work together to make regenerative agriculture the norm for cotton grown in India.” 

“Strategic collaboration is key to providing guidance on sector transformation, market alignment, and investment priorities and we look forward to working with IKEA to expand the impact of this work.”

Read the full release on Solidaridad’s website.