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Company Profile: Home Depot

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As the second biggest retailer in America (second only to Wal Mart), and the number one location for home improvement supplies, Home Depot is in a unique position of being able to help their customer cut their carbon footprint, and has been making a valiant effort to do so.

Lets start first with the operations of the company. The environmental policies at Home Depot began in 1990, when they first established a full time team dedicated to environmental issues within the company. Almost a decade later, in 1998, Home Depot launched The Home Depot Environmental Council, with the mandate to create and implement environmental strategy across the company. The council soon got to work on improving their operations.

In 1999, Home Depot started a carpooling program for the 3000+ employees at the Atlanta headquarters to help them all reduce their carbon footprint. Also at their headquarters, Home Depot partnered with the Conservation Fund to offset the carbon emissions from the Atlanta offices. Unfortunately, these offsets were generated through reforestation, which, while an important method of fighting global warming, does nothing to reduce the world’s dependence on fossil fuels.

For their store locations, which number over 2000 in America, Home Depot continues to try to improve the energy efficiency. Between 2000 and 2004, Home Depot reduced the energy consumption per square foot of store space by 12%. However, by focusing on the energy used per unit of space rather than overall energy use, they avoid making a commitment to reduce their total carbon footprint. In 2003, Home Depot developed a new store prototype with an added emphasis on energy efficiency. This included such measures as improved lighting, vestibules and automatic lumber doors. The results were a 34% improvement in energy use on new stores.

The Home Depot also emphasizes recycling in their stores and has program to ensure that packing material are reduced and recycled.

However, Home Depot is able to make a more significant reduction to the global carbon footprint by helping customers make their own lives more energy efficient. For example, Home Depot sells more Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified wood than any other retailer in the US, and has pushed their suppliers toward similar actions.

The jewel of their green operations came in 2007 with the launch of Eco Options, a program to emphasize environmentally friendly products in their stores, which number over 3000. Each of these products has a benefit in at least one of the followings:

And the program doesn’t stop with labeling the products in the stores. A quick stop at their website can show the average customer lots of DIY projects to make their own homes more energy efficient, and reduce their own carbon footprint. These projects can be as simple as planting a tree to provide shade and using energy efficient lighting, or as complex as improving the insulation in your home or using rain barrels for improved water efficiency. In 2007, Home Depot partnered with BP to provide easy to install solar panels to customers as well, helping them further reduce their carbon footprint.

These efforts have helped Home Depot be named the Energy Star retail partner of the year in 2006 and 2007.

Outside their stores, Home Depot is actively involved philanthropy that often involves improving the energy efficiency of homes. In 2008, the company donated $30 million to Habitat for Humanity. The new partnership aims to make at least 5000 of Habitat’s home more energy efficient.

So how do they stack up?

Business Strategy: 3.5/5 – Home Depot is making good use of environmentalism to improve their sales, but could do more within their own operations to cut their carbon footprint

Products & Services: 4/5 – the Eco Options program, which emphasizes products that are environmentally friendly, has been a big success, but could be pushed to more products in their stores

Leading by Example: 3/5 – Home Depot’s efforts to be more green seem very profit driven, and could have more emphasis on reducing their own carbon footprint, particularly from their stores

Overall: 3.5/5

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