Home improvement retailers forge global collaboration to tackle Scope 3 emissions

The taskforce has been co-ordinated by EDRA/GHIN, the global trade bodies for the home improvement retail sector, in the hopes of coordinating methods used for measuring and disclosing Scope 3 emissions.

In a statement, the trade bodies said that differing accounting methods “cause confusion and inefficiencies”, while also placing an additional burden on suppliers, who are asked to fill out all manner of different forms.

For the average big business in the home improvement retail sector, Scope 3 emissions will account for some 90% of the total emissions footprint. The bulk of this will occur upstream in relation to products, materials and logistics. As such, effectively measuring and managing these emissions will be crucial in any credible net-zero plan.

The aim of the taskforce is to develop an industry standard on collecting emissions data across the supply chain, and in reporting this data.

The founding members of the taskforce are Adeo, Bunnings, Cainz, The Home Depot, Hombach, Kesko, OBI, Sodimac and Kingisher, the parent company of B&Q and Screwfix.

Learnings from the taskforce will be shared more broadly with EDRA and GHIN members. Collectively, these bodies convene more than 220 retailers across 78 national markets.

“While a number of EDRA/GHIN members have been working on measuring and addressing their Scope 3 impacts in their own businesses, it is a highly complex area with many shared challenges,” said Kingfisher Group’s chief executive Thierry Garnier, also president of EDRA/GHIN.

“By coming together, hopefully we can find more consistent, simpler ways to drive down our emissions. I invite home improvement retailers from around the world to join us in this new taskforce.”

Data released earlier this month by Net-Zero Tracker revealed that less than four in ten of the world’s largest listed companies have net-zero targets that fully cover their Scope 3 emissions.

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