A European-led effort by DIY centers that also includes The Home Depot and Lowe's launched Sept. 27 "Make It Zero," a plan and support program aimed at achieving net-zero carbon emissions across the entire DIY and Home Improvement supply chain.
"We have a wonderful opportunity, with a business that has 660 billion (euros) in sales, all in one network," said John Herbert, General Secretary of EDRA/GHIN, a German-based trade association representing 231 home improvement companies in 79 countries. "If we share that network, then we, as an exception in the whole retail sector, can make that difference. And we're not doing it for profit. But we are doing it for our children, our children's children, and future generations. There is no time left."
This campaign against what are known as Scope 3 emissions dramatically expands effort to curb global warming beyond installing solar panels and LED lights. And, given the parties pushing the effort, U.S.-based manufacturers and dealers almost certainly will be affected.
Scope 1 emissions are the greenhouse gases produced by sources that an organization owns or control directly--diesel fuel in trucks, for instance. Scope 2 covers emissions created offsite by the generation of energy, such as the electricity purchased from a power plant. Dealers already have made progress cutting Scope 1 and 2 emissions by doing things like buying fuel-efficient vehicles and getting their electricity from solar cells.
Scope 3 emissions encompass activities outside a dealer's direct control: The mining or creation of the raw materials; the products' manufacture; their packaging and transportation to the dealer; their handling and sale at the dealer; and then how that product is used by the consumer. For a typical DIY dealer, Scope 3 amounts to 98.5% of all the greenhouse gas production. Dealers' Scope1 and 2 efforts address only 1.5% of the problem.
Scope 3 emission numbers can be significant even when broken down to a single tool. Dr. Katarzyna Kapustka, a Sustainability professor at German's Koblenz University of Applied Sciences, said Sept. 27 that the manufacture, sale, and lifespan use of a saw equates to the production of 3 to 5 kilograms of carbon dioxide--roughly the same amount of greenhouse gas production as driving a car nearly 28 miles.
An EDRA/GHIN task force that includes The Home Depot and Lowe's as members has been working on the problem for two years with help from the Ricardo Plc consultancy. Jamie Pitcairn, Ricardo's Technical Director for Corporate Sustainability, said Make It Zero lays out a four-step process:
Accounting: Create a common framework for accounting for greenhouse gases.
Supplier Data: Collaborating with dealers' suppliers to get data on the gases they produce to create their products.
Targets: Uniting behind goals to decarbonize the DIY/Home Improvement sector.
Engagement and Reduction: Taking action to decarbonize.
The goal is to develop an action plan by June 2025 that can be enacted in 2026.
Pitcairn stressed the need for all players to work together. "No single business can do this. It has to be done at scale," he said. "This is the first time an industry has come together to collaborate on decarbonizing Scope 3 emissions."
Pitcairn will report more details during a webinar at 7 am ET Oct. 15. Workshops for suppliers and retailers are being organized for November.
This plan assumes that retailers and suppliers will collaborate on collecting and sharing data. To that end, HIMA, a European-based association of home improvement manufacturers, announced Sept. 27 it is lending its support for the project. Representatives from companies with U.S. sales such as 3M, Bosch, and Henkel are sending delegates to join their retail counterparts on the effort.
The Home Depot's ESG Report declares it has committed "to science-based targets to reduce Scope 3 'Use of Sold Products' emissions 25% by 2030 from the 2020 base year." Lowe's aims to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2025. Lowe's also has begun meeting with suppliers to explain what's in Scope 3.
The fact that both The Home Depot and Lowe’s are involved means manufacturers selling into those two powerhouses will have to take part, because the big boxes will ask for Scope 3 numbers. And non-U.S. companies that want to sell to Europe and Asia will be doing this for their local clients, so they’re going to get busy collecting those numbers even if U.S. businesses don't request them.
Regulators are less of a pressure point in the U.S., except for California. That state requires that, starting in 2027, any business entity doing business in California with total annual revenue topping $1 billion must disclose their Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions.
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"Make It Zero" was announced at EDRA/GHIN's 4th annual Virtual Summit. Here is the link to watch the entire summit: https://vimeo.com/1013700109
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