CARBON FOOTPRINT
We use widely adopted standards to track our greenhouse gas emissions and our efforts to reduce them. In fiscal 2021:
• Scope 1 direct emissions from combustible sources and refrigerants used in Home Depot operations totaled approximately 642,000 metric tons.
• Scope 2 indirect emissions from purchasing electricity for our operations totaled approximately 1,007,000 metric tons.
We reduced Scope 1 and 2 emissions by over 172,000 metric tons in 2021, achieving a 21% year-over-year reduction in carbon dioxide emitted per dollar of revenue earned.
Under our science-based target goal linked to our annual CDP reporting, we have committed to reducing our Scope 1 and Scope 2 carbon dioxide emissions 2.1% per year to achieve a 40% reduction by 2030 and a 50% reduction by 2035.
+DID YOU KNOW: The Home Depot joined RE100 with our goal to produce or procure 100% renewable electricity equivalent to the electricity needs for all Home Depot facilities by 2030.
STORE OPERATIONS
Running our stores more efficiently furthers both our business and sustainability goals. In fiscal 2021, we hit key milestones, including a 50% decrease in U.S. store electricity use since 2010.
Conserving Electricity
In 2021, we completed our multi-year project to upgrade U.S. stores to overhead LED lighting, retrofitting 383 stores in fiscal 2021 alone. Now LEDs light up nearly all our store aisles across the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Our U.S. stores with LEDs consume about 30% less electricity than similar stores with conventional lighting.
In addition, we’re making progress by buying electricity from large-scale commercial solar farms. In fiscal 2021, Enel Green Power’s Azure Sky began operating in Haskell County, Texas, west of Dallas, providing us with 75 megawatts of renewable electricity. We have agreed to purchase another 150 megawatts from companies building solar farms elsewhere in Texas. Once operating, we expect these commercial solar farms, in addition to our wind farm projects, to provide us with enough electricity to power the equivalent of more than 500 Home Depot stores.
+DID YOU KNOW: The Home Depot’s U.S. stores reduced electricity approximately 11% year-over-year in fiscal 2021.
Using More Renewable Energy
Our company has pledged to produce or procure 100% renewable electricity equivalent to the electricity needs for all Home Depot facilities by 2030. It’s an expansion of our previous commitment to buy or produce 335 megawatts of renewable or alternative energy by 2025.
+DID YOU KNOW: On average, fuel cells helped power 204 U.S. stores with more than 100% of their electricity needs annually.
SUPPLY CHAIN
By making our supply chain more efficient, we reduce business costs and the impact that our product distribution has on the environment. We continue to make progress on our multi-year supply chain initiative to create the fastest, most efficient and reliable delivery network for home improvement products.
Here are some of the ways we made our supply chain greener in fiscal 2021:
• We had added over 30 distribution centers, increasing speed and efficiency.
• We installed hydrogen fuel cells at three U.S. supply chain facilities, giving us 15 total locations with emissions-free fuel for forklifts. We estimate that these 15 fuel cells helped us reduce electricity consumption by about 21 million kilowatt hours in fiscal 2021.
Even as supply chain volume increased, the efficiencies we gained in our operations and our investments in green energy helped us reduce our carbon intensity. Here are some additional steps we have taken to increase efficiency:
• By partnering with suppliers to forgo pallets, we can stack products to the top of trailers, resulting in a reduction in the number of truckloads needed to transport some goods.
• We sell available space on our trucks and buy space from other companies, ensuring fewer underloaded trailers hit the road. That space sharing saves about 2 million driven miles a year.
+DID YOU KNOW: Our company is a seven-time recipient of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s SmartWay® Excellence Award.