Kingfisher Announces New Planet & Community Responsible Business Commitments

Kingfisher plc, the international home improvement retailer which includes B&Q and Screwfix, has today [15th June] announced key milestones and new responsible business commitments. These are designed to help customers create greener, healthier homes, to fight to fix bad housing and to work to address climate change and inequality. The details are reported in Kingfisher’s latest Responsible Business Report, ‘Our Home, Our World’, which is published today and shows that the business has made significant progress with its responsible business priorities during the 2020/21 year. 

Key highlights

• Established new 1.5 degree-aligned carbon reduction target, now approved by the Science Based Targets initiative.
• Over £5 billion in annual sales are now from products that help customers create more sustainable homes.
• Kingfisher to double its community target, committing to help two million people who live in unfit housing. 

Thierry Garnier, Chief Executive Officer of Kingfisher plc, said: “We’re seeing more demand from customers for sustainable products, and it has been a really exciting challenge for our teams to match that customer appetite with innovative products that help our customers save energy and money. Sustainable home products – such as LED lighting and chemical-free gardening products, water-efficient taps and energy-efficient power tools – now account for £5 billion of Kingfisher’s sales, a 100% increase over the last decade.

There is more to do, but we are proud of the significant progress since last year, especially through our new carbon reduction initiatives, our sales of sustainable products and our extended commitment to help people living in unfit housing.

“Our ambition to lead the industry on responsible business practices is integral to our plan, ‘Powered by Kingfisher’. By uniting colleagues behind our responsible business ambitions and embedding our targets into our reward structures and governance processes, we are committed to use our knowledge, experience and scale to achieve positive change for all.”

New carbon reduction targets

In the past four years Kingfisher has cut operational carbon emissions by 27%. The Group has now strengthened its carbon reduction target, to align with the 1.5°C scenario set out in the Paris Climate Agreement. These plans have now been approved by the ‘Science Based Target initiative’ and put the business among a small number of retailers worldwide to have such a commitment. 

Planet - Forest Positive

A new partnership with the Rainforest Alliance has been established to protect, restore and enable the responsible management of tropical forests. This builds on Kingfisher’s 30-year-long commitment to the responsible sourcing of wood and paper for its products. The partnership will help Kingfisher deliver its commitment to become forest positive - creating more forests than it uses - by 2025. 

Creating more sustainable homes for customers

Sustainable home products – such as LED lighting and chemical-free gardening products, water-efficient taps and energy-efficient power tools – now account for 42%* (£5 billion) of Kingfisher’s sales, a 100% increase over the last decade.  

Community commitment doubles

The report reveals that Kingfisher will double its previous ambition and will now commit to help two million people who live in unfit housing by 2025 by helping to improve homes and community spaces. This updated community target builds on four years’ progress, which has seen Kingfisher and its retail banners support projects improving housing and community spaces for 791,000 people. Kingfisher’s banners also ramped up their programmes during the pandemic, via B&Q’s partnership with Shelter and £1 million in donations made via the Screwfix Foundation, among others. 

Across all of Kingfisher’s markets, over £5.5 million was donated during the last financial year through cash donations, employee time and in-kind contributions. The launch of new charitable Foundations in the UK, France, Poland and Romania in 2020 will also see its businesses support more projects to improve unfit housing for those most in need.

Colleagues: A new Board-approved ‘Inclusion and Diversity’ strategy is being implemented to create a fully inclusive and diverse environment across Kingfisher’s retail banners, with initiatives underway in all markets.

Governance: Responsible Business Plan overseen by a Board-level committee and chaired by non-executive director, Sophie Gasperment, with members including the CEO, Chief Offer & Sourcing Officer, and Chief People Officer. As part of the Responsible Business Plan, a portion of the colleague bonus programme is now linked to performance against key Responsible Business priorities to incentivise action.

Financing: Entered into a £550m revolving credit facility agreement with relationship banks that is linked to Kingfisher’s ambitious sustainability and community-based targets.      

Kingfisher’s 2020/21 Responsible Business Report is available to view here

Source : Kingfisher PLC

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