IKEA puts its money in cleantech.

Swedish retailer Ikea expects to pump $74 million into cleantech startups through a venture capital fund it started in early 2008.

Ikea GreenTech plans to focus its investments in five areas: solar panels, alternative light sources, product materials, energy efficiency and water saving and purification technologies, according to a report from the Cleantech Group, a Bay Area membership-based organization reporting on the cleantech industry

Ikea, a privately-held home-furnishings company with about 270 stores in 35 countries, plans to first consider companies close to its European headquarters, but won’t rule out investing elsewhere, says Johan Stenebo, managing director for Ikea GreenTech. The venture capital fund will maintain a small portfolio, at least to start with, at no more than five or 10 companies, Stenebo says.

The goal is to eventually commercialize the technologies and products nurtured by the fund through sales at Ikea stores, and also through Ikea suppliers.

The fund is just one of several initiatives the global retailer has taken to shrink its carbon footprint. Ikea plans to eliminate the use of plastic bags at its stores by fall of 2008. The company is working to gain LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council for many of its stores currently in the pipeline. It also phased out formaldehyde and PVC in some of its best-selling products, and committed to using wood certified by the Forest Stewardship Council in many of its products.

Ikea grew 22 percent last year, reporting sales of $27 billion as of August 2007, up from $22.2 billion a year earlier.