Home Depot welcomes sustainable investing
In the investment world there’s bottom lines, top lines and earnings per share. And increasingly, there’s ESG – essentially an evaluation of a company’s performance around environmental, social and governance factors.
On Sept. 9, The Home Depot will host a webcast and Q&A session with investors to discuss the world’s largest home improvement retailer’s environmental efforts. Chief Sustainability Officer Ron Jarvis will deliver the presentation.
The webcast will begin at 10:30 a.m. (ET) on Thursday, Sept. 9, 2021.
The general idea that maintaining strong ESG standards is good for the long-term profitability of a business is reflected in Home Depot’s 2021 ESG Report. In it, CEO Craig Menear's CEO Letter appears under the headline: “Doing our part makes our company stronger.”
The 150-page document touches on a wide range of topics, from reducing carbon emissions to supporting employees through enhanced pay and benefits.
Among Home Depot’s specific environmental goals spelled out in the ESG Report is an ambitious plan to achieve 100% renewable electricity for all Home Depot facilities worldwide by 2030.
Other goals in the works include a move to exclude expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) film from private-brand packaging by 2023. That goal is still a work in progress.
Achievements include helping customers save $2.8 billion on utility bills and reducing consumers’ water use by 250 billion gallons. These were checked off in 2020.
In the report Jarvis describes the process of achieving environmental goals as a team effort that involves suppliers and vendors. “We understand that our biggest impact on the environment comes from the products we sell. We continue to work with our suppliers to make products more sustainable through improvements in materials sourcing, chemistry packaging, manufacturing and distribution.
