Kingfisher plc has announced further progress against its responsible business commitments. The group’s strategy focuses on four priorities where the company can use its scale and influence to bring about positive change: becoming a more inclusive company, helping to tackle climate change and moving towards becoming Forest Positive; helping to make greener and healthier homes more affordable; and striving for better homes for everyone in our communities.
In its latest Responsible Business report, ‘Better Homes. Better Lives. For Everyone’, the Group updates against these priorities.
Thierry Garnier, Kingfisher CEO, said: “Leading our industry in responsible business and energy efficiency is an important part of our ‘Powered by Kingfisher’ strategy. While we still have a journey ahead, I’m pleased that over the last year we have made strong progress on many of our targets. This includes significant steps towards our ambition to reach net zero emissions in our operations by 2040, as well as further reductions in our Scope 3 emissions. Scope 3 is a critical challenge for all retailers, one which we are working to tackle through innovation and collaboration with vendors and the wider industry.”
Planet
Kingfisher has continued to exceed its 2025/26 1.5°C-aligned science-based target to reduce the emissions from its operations (Scope 1 and 2) by 37.8% from a 2016/17 baseline, already achieving a 62% reduction.
Kingfisher has also reduced its Scope 3 emissions from the supply chain and customer use of products by 41.6% per £m of turnover since 2017/18, exceeding its 2025/26 target of 40%. Earlier this month, Kingfisher announced it is setting new common targets with its vendors towards decarbonisation. The Group is also currently finalising a Scope 3 net zero target and supporting KPIs.
Kingfisher continues to make strong progress towards its target to use 100% responsibly sourced wood and paper in its products by 2025/26. As of 2023/24, 96.6% of the wood and paper used in Kingfisher’s products is responsibly sourced.
Customers
Sustainable Home Products (SHPs) represented £6.4 billion of sales for Kingfisher in 2023/24, now accounting for 49.4% of overall Group sales and 60.1% of Own Exclusive Brand (OEB) sales. This progress puts the Group on track with its target to attain 60% of Group sales and 70% of OEB sales from its SHPs by the end of 2025/26.
The Group also reached 10.1% of Group sales from products meeting the SHP standards for ‘Saving Energy at Home’ or ‘Saving Water at Home’.
In the year, Kingfisher introduced its green star product mark, designed to make it easier for customers to identify and purchase products with a lower impact on the environment.
Colleagues
Kingfisher continues to make progress on its ambition to be a more inclusive company, breaking down barriers to employment and progression.
In 2023/24, the Group continued its journey towards gender representation targets of 35% women in senior leadership and 40% in management roles by 2025/26. 28.6% of senior leaders and 39.6% of managers are women, up from 25.8% and 38.9% in the previous year respectively.
The Group exceeded its target of providing colleagues with 5 million hours of skills for life learning by 2025/26 ahead of schedule, with 8.3 million training hours having now been delivered since 2019/20.
Communities
Kingfisher set a target to help more than 2 million people whose housing needs were greatest by 2025/26, by donating products, expertise and time. This was exceeded ahead of schedule, thanks to strong delivery from its banner Foundations.
