Kingfisher Plc: A long-term sustainable products strategy to achieve net zero

Customer challenge

Kingfisher plc, the international home improvement retailer whose businesses include B&Q, Screwfix, Castorama and Brico Depot, has the goal of reducing its supply chain and product carbon emissions and ultimately becoming net zero through its whole value chain. Ricardo have been working in partnership with Kingfisher since 2021 to provide expert advice and analysis to optimise and accelerate this journey.

In line with many similar companies, Kingfisher’s value chain and product lifecycle account for around 90% of its total carbon emissions. These are known as Scope 3 emissions and are generated mainly from the products they purchase for resale, and from the use of their products once sold.

Ricardo support

Quantifying the scale of scope 3 emissions

Ricardo’s experts created a Scope 3 emissions inventory to identify carbon ‘hotspots’: specific high emission categories of products which became the priority areas for action – both in terms of the embodied carbon emissions from the supply chain, and in the products’ usage.

Following on from this work, Ricardo have developed an enhanced Scope 3 emissions inventory using product-specific data to provide a more accurate picture. Lack of accurate data is always a challenge for Scope 3 inventories, but Ricardo’s experts have facilitated moving away from using spend-based, average emission factors, to using:

Product-specific emissions data from Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) and Product Carbon Footprints (PCF) where available. In cases where an EPD or PCF is not already available, we are developing Product Carbon Footprints (PCF) guidance for Kingfisher’s suppliers to be able to provide the required data and Kingfisher are working closely with strategic suppliers to access detailed product emissions data.
Individual product-level energy usage data for the highest selling energy-using goods such as lighting and electrical heating.

Ricardo’s work in developing a Scope 3 emissions inventory has underpinned Kingfisher’s target setting process and supported Kingfisher in announcing new science-based targets.

New net zero emission targets

Kingfisher plc aims to reduce absolute Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 68% from a 2016/17 base year by 2030, and to reach Net Zero by FY2040. For Scope 3, the Group aims to reduce absolute emissions by 46% from a 2017/18 base year by 2030, and to reach Net Zero across the value chain by FY2050. The targets have been submitted for validation by the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi).

Kingfisher has already made significant progress against its Science-Based Targets, reducing operational emissions by 62.0% since 2016/17, again exceeding its 2025/26 reduction target. In addition, Kingfisher has reduced the intensity of its Scope 3 emissions from the supply chain and customer use of products by 41.6% since 2017/18.

Scope 3 decarbonisation strategy

Following the development of the Scope 3 enhanced emissions inventory Ricardo worked very closely with Kingfisher to identify supply chain and product decarbonisation measures as part of a Scope 3 decarbonisation strategy. The strategy adopted circular economy principles and upstream supplier decarbonisation opportunities to develop a clear set of strategic actions that would help Kingfisher achieve Scope 3 decarbonisation targets.

The Group now has a detailed action plan in place to achieve these targets, building on its strong track record of delivering emissions reductions to date. This includes:

Improving energy efficiency of products and transitioning away from fossil fuel-using ranges.
Using lower carbon materials in purchasing criteria and product design.
Engaging vendors to drive and monitor upstream carbon reduction.
Building circularity into business models including through the rental and refurbishment of products.

Ricardo is now working with Kingfisher on the next phases of its decarbonisation journey, including building the internal processes to track progress towards the targets, and improving the quality and robustness of Scope 3 inventory data.

Customer benefit

With Ricardo’s support, Kingfisher is making, and will continue to make, accelerated progress towards its climate goals. Its teams are able to make informed sustainable decisions on product design and product specifications, make procurement decisions based on supplier and product performance and capture accurate data to inform external scope 3 reporting (GHG).

“We are proud to be working with Ricardo to ensure a credible and robust plan to realise our ambitions. Through this work we will be able to build-in a low-carbon approach to our product design and engage with our suppliers to seek low-carbon solutions so that our customers will benefit from a comparatively lower carbon footprint through the use of our products.” Laurence Turnbull, Carbon Programme Manager, Kingfisher.