Kingfisher Net Positive Report 2015

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Net Positive Report 2014/15

Delivering our strategy sustainably

Kingfisher exists to help and inspire millions of people to improve


their homes. We believe that because peoples homes are so
central to their lives, improving their homes means improving
their lives. We operate 1,200 stores in 11 countries in Europe
and Asia. Our main retail brands are B&Q, Castorama, Brico
Dpt and Screwfix and we operate the Kotas brand, a 50%
joint venture in Turkey with the Ko Group.
Our core focus is to deliver value for customers, by improving our offer and developing
innovative new products that meet their needs, in formats that are convenient, easy and
relevant. As we create value for our customers, we will create growth for our business,
which in turn will create value for our employees, communities and shareholders
we are completely committed to achieving growth in a sustainable way.
Net Positive is our restorative ambition to fully integrate sustainability into our business to
create value financially, socially and environmentally. Our journey has begun. This report
summarises our progress to date. There is still much to do.

In this report
From our Chief Executive
Officer p02

From our Group Sustainability


Director p03

Foreword from Vronique Laury.

Update from Richard Gillies.

In store p08
Progress on
sustainability for
our customers.

In business
p12
Sustainability and
our business p04
Sustainability is increasingly integrated
into our strategy and business model.

Becoming Net Positive p07

Progress on
sustainability in
our operations.

Our priorities and our commercial


model for delivering on our Net
Positive targets.

Performance
summary p16
An update on
progress against
our targets during
2014/15.

Contents
01
02
03
04
05
06
07

Kingfisher at a glance
From our Chief Executive Officer
From our Group Sustainability Director
Sustainability and our business
Our business model
Our commercial model for Net Positive
Becoming Net Positive

08
12
15
16
18
22
27
30
33

In Store
In Business
In Perspective
Performance summary 2014/15
Timber
Energy
Innovation
Communities
Employees

38
41
46
50
51
52
54

Suppliers & partners


Environment
Governance & management
About our reporting
Operating company
performance summary
Assurance Report
United Nations Global Compact Index

At a glance
France
Store numbers

UK & Ireland

Market brands

Employees*

Other International
Countries

Countries

Store numbers

25,392

217
Employees*

230

Country

18,328

Employees*
Market brands

22,953

Store numbers

755
Market brands

* Full time equivalent

Our key figures


Total sales

Employees

Adjusted pre tax profit

Stores

Eco product sales

Responsibly sourced timber in products

11.0bn

79,415

675m

1,202

2.4bn

92%

Property (at market value)*

Group sales

Group retail profit

France

1.3bn

41%

France

4.1bn

38%

France

349m

48%

UK

0.8bn

24%

UK

4.6bn

42%

UK

276m

37%

Other

1.1bn

35%

Other

2.3bn

20%

Other

108m

15%

* On a sale and leaseback basis with Kingfisher


in occupancy

www.kingfisher.com

From our Chief Executive Officer

Emerging trends, such as the sharing


economy, are revolutionising the
retail landscape.

Our business is built on a passion


for helping people improve their homes
and through doing so to improve their
lives. Sustainability is core to our
purpose because homes cannot be
better without being more sustainable.
We need to understand the reality of
how our customers live today and how
changes in the world will affect how we
live in the future.
Technology is fundamentally altering
the way we live, shop and work. Many
established businesses have been
disrupted and emerging trends,
such as the sharing economy, are
revolutionising the retail landscape.
Technology is enabling people to run
their homes smarter, using less energy
and creating less waste.
At the same time other global
megatrends, such as changing
demographics, increasing demand for
resources and accelerating urbanisation,
are having an impact on how we live.
In many cities, housing is getting more
expensive and smaller. In some
countries, the population is ageing,

there is a rise in single person


households, and growing inequality.
People and businesses everywhere
are increasingly feeling the impact of
environmental changes, especially the
scarcity of precious resources and the
consequences of climate change.
To grow, we need to be grounded in
the reality of our customers needs.
And we need to recognise how these
global trends will affect their lives and
our businesses across our geographies.
Our long-term ambition is to create a
positive impact in the wider world. We
want to play our part in creating a society
that is better for all. We can only do this
by making sustainability part of every
business decision we take. It is a great
endeavour and Im confident our new
strategic direction for Kingfisher will
enable us to achieve that.

to address associated sustainability


impacts. Standardising our store formats,
channels and processes enables us to
roll out best practice to maximise the
sustainability of our operations.
We have begun on that journey but there
is still much to do. Thats why we are
committed to inspiring and developing
our people to sustainably grow our
business and, as we do so, to help
change homes and lives for the better.
Vronique Laury

Chief Executive Officer

Focusing on our customers needs


means we will create a unique, leading
and effective offer, which is sustainable.
It also gives us the opportunity to
integrate and make our supply chains
more efficient and transparent, in order

Awards and Partners


CR INDEX
2014

Kingfisher Net Positive Report 2014/15

From our Group Sustainability Director

Net Positive is already generating


business value from efficiency,
productivity gains and new
revenue streams.

We firmly believe that by integrating


sustainability across our business, we
can create a more innovative, resilient
and successful company, one that
creates value socially, environmentally
and financially.
As we work towards our Net Positive
goals we need to look to the long term
and focus on the detail of implementation
today. This will enable us to take
advantage of new opportunities created
by a changing business environment.
This year has been one of practical action
and we have taken important steps to
further integrate sustainability into our
processes and decision-making.
We are taking a systematic approach,
tackling issues in our operations and
by working with external partners and
suppliers. For example, we use timber
in around 40% of our products. We
updated our timber sourcing standards,
introducing a global policy this year. We
worked with suppliers to increase the
volumes of responsibly sourced timber,
and collaborated with businesses and
NGOs to advocate for structural change
beyond our business. This included a
new partnership to assess the impact of
certification on forests and biodiversity.
This joined-up approach is having an
impact we reached 92% responsibly
sourced timber in our products, with
B&Q UK at 100%.
We continue to develop our energy
efficiency offer for customers, while
investing in renewable energy generation
for our operations and tackling the small
inefficiencies around the business that
together can have a big impact. We have
reduced our energy intensity by 17% and

www.kingfisher.com

our customers are now saving an


estimated 600 million a year through
the energy efficient products and services
theyve purchased from us since
2011/12. Altogether, sales of products
with a lower environmental impact were
worth a significant 2.4 billion to the
business this year.

area to ensure we address the specific


safety and ethical challenges associated
with manufacturing in the apparel
industry. We have made a number
of significant acquisitions in recent
years, and we are taking steps to
embed sustainability into their policies
and processes.

To help make sustainability part of daily


decision-making, we established our
Group Sustainability Committee,
with representatives from the Group
Executive and senior leadership from
every operating company board, and
we rolled out our executive education
module on Net Positive to over 100 of
our most senior leaders.

Net Positive is already generating


business value from efficiency,
productivity gains and new revenue
streams, while reducing our
environmental impact and benefiting
customers and communities.

We aim to strike a balance between


standardisation and local relevance.
To speed up progress in key areas we
are developing common standards and
policy frameworks. We now have global
policies on timber, waste and packaging,
and are looking to unify our approach
to areas such as ethical sourcing. At
the same time we are developing local
implementation plans that will bring Net
Positive to life across our markets and
make it meaningful and relevant to our
people at the local level.

We need to keep our focus as we must


increase our rate of change to reach our
2020 targets. Doing so will enable us to
bring customers the innovative solutions
they need to create homes which are
more comfortable, more affordable and
ultimately more sustainable, and help
make our communities better places
to live.
Richard Gillies

Group Sustainability Director

We are pleased that our efforts to


ensure transparency in reporting were
recognised at the Building Public Trust
awards, where we topped the FTSE 100
for best sustainability reporting.
As our business evolves, we need to
ensure we respond to any new social
and environmental impacts. For example,
work wear is a relatively new and growing
category for us. We are developing our
approach and sourcing standards in this

Sustainability and our business

Home. Its a hub for family and friends, the place where we belong.
We believe that because peoples homes are so central to their
lives, improving their homes means improving their lives. Our
business exists to help and inspire millions of people to do just that.
Our core focus is to deliver value for
our customers improving our offer by
developing innovative new products that
meet their needs, in formats that make
it convenient, easy and relevant for them.
As we create value for our customers, we
will create growth for our business, which
will benefit our employees, communities
and shareholders. We are completely
committed to that and to creating
growth in a sustainable way.
We must understand the reality of how
our customers live so we can develop the
products and services that really meet
their needs. That means we have to look
at external trends and understand the
impact they are having on our customers
and our business so we can seize
new opportunities that includes the
significant trends around sustainability
and our stewardship of the environment.
Urbanisation means living space is
smaller, the population is ageing and
single households are growing. The cost
of housing is increasing, with the young
staying at home longer and homes being
used not only for living but working.
Digital technology is enabling smart
homes and connecting people, with
information anytime anywhere, and
trends like the sharing economy are
changing business models.
Increasingly, a better home is more
sustainable: one that is easier and
healthier to live in; that is adaptable
to our changing lifestyles and family
needs; and that is less wasteful and
more energy efficient. When we asked
17,000 householders across Europe
last year about their homes, we
discovered their biggest fear is high
energy bills. People are now eight times
more likely to prioritise energy efficiency
projects than they were just two years
ago. This insight, coupled with our energy
efficiency innovations, is helping people
make their homes warmer and more
affordable to run. Its an example of
how were embedding sustainability
into our strategy.

A new leadership team and sustainability


Under the leadership of our new Chief
Executive Officer, Vronique Laury,
who took up post in December 2014,
the senior management team reviewed
Kingfishers business and strategy.

They provided a strategic update and


set of guiding principles. Read more
on our strategic update in our more
integrated Annual Report and
Accounts 2014/15.

Strategic update:
Home improvement is a great market
with great potential

Guiding principles:
1. Customer needs come first

We are right to focus on Europe+


We can achieve significant benefits
from developing a more unified,
unique and effective offer
There is no one, clear winning format
or channel in our market today
We can achieve significant benefits
from unifying activities and
standardising processes

2. Create unique and leading offer


3. Same products across Europe
presented to customers in the
same way
4. Limited number of formats
and omnichannel everywhere
5. Low cost always
6. One company culture

How were integrating sustainability


Our business model (page 5) shows
how our business creates value for
society, shareholders and customers.
We help people to have better homes
for themselves and their families and
we have a long heritage of helping
them do this in a more sustainable way.
We operate in the heart of local
communities, supporting local
projects, positively impacting the
environment and, importantly,
providing local employment.
Over 79,000 people work in our
businesses and many more work
for our suppliers. In addition, we
contributed 1.7 billion in 2014/15

to the economies in which we operate


through taxes paid and collected. We
aim to do more than minimise our
impact; instead we aspire to have a
positive one. We call this sustainable
ambition Net Positive and we believe
it supports our long term business
success and licence to operate.
In 2014/15 we developed a commercial
model to help us deliver Net Positive
in a way that creates value for our
business. Our companies are using
this to establish implementation plans
for delivering on our targets in a locally
relevant way. Our commercial model
is shown on page 6.

Kingfisher Net Positive Report 2014/15

Our business model

Customers

People

Non-professionals:
Who do home improvement
jobs themselves.

Recruitment,
retention,
training,
development,
diversity

Professionals:
Who do jobs for others

Offer

Formats/Channels
Stores,
online, mobile,
call centres,
catalogues, direct

Ge
ne
r

Re
inv
es
t

es
at

Innovation,
affordability, quality,
own unique brands,
sourcing, sustainability

Maximising
sales
Value for the business:

Brand preference
Cash retained for a strong balance sheet
Licence to operate long term

Better Homes,
Better Lives
Minimising
costs
Sourcing,
cost productivity

ne
Ge

ra
te
s

r at
ne
Ge

es

Value

Value for society:

Creating employment and a brighter


future for our people, the environment
and wider communities
Creating a licence to operate
long term

Value for shareholders:


Healthy annual dividend &
commitment to return surplus
capital when appropriate

Value for customers:


Relevant, better, sustainable and
affordable products and services
Creating brand preference

To view and download the


business model go to
http://annualreport.kingfisher.
com/2014-15/strategic-report/
our-business-model.html

www.kingfisher.com
www.kingfi
sher.com

Our commercial model for Net Positive

We have a commercial model for delivering Net Positive. Our


companies are using this to develop implementation plans which
will integrate sustainability into their core business in a locally
relevant way and contribute to our Net Positive targets overall.
Each companys local
implementation plan identifies
how integrating sustainability
will generate value for the
business in four areas:
Revenue opportunities
Customer preference
Supply chain resilience
Efficiency and productivity

Revenue opportunities

Customer preference

Our strategy is to generate new revenues by


developing products and services that meet
evolving customer needs and expectations
giving us the opportunity to help customers
make their homes and lives more sustainable.

We want to build long-term customer


preference and brand loyalty and believe
we can differentiate Kingfisher through
our commitment to sustainability and
our ambition to become Net Positive.

For example, B&Qs sustainable easyGrow


bedding plant innovation is easier and less
messy for gardeners and virtually eliminates
peat and polystyrene.

For example, Castorama France is piloting


a new in-home energy efficiency service at its
Hnin-Beaumont store with specially trained
advisors helping customers to reduce their
energy costs and access government subsidies.

&

Cus
tom
er

l
tai
Re

al
pos
Dis

NEW
SERVICE

&

2M

more easyGrow
bedding packs sold

Us
e

Ma
rke
tin
g

In store

Actions that are visible and valuable for customers

in-home energy
efficiency service

Lo
gis
tic
s

sustainable
timber products
at B&Q UK

Su
pp
ly C
hain

saving a year
from PV at
Screwfix

&

s&
ion
rat
Ope

40K 100%
ls
ria
ate
M
Raw

Efficiency and productivity

Supply chain resilience

Designing waste out of the system delivers


operational efficiencies and smart resource
management promotes innovation and
increased productivity.

Increasing pressure on resources means we


must take a long-term view of our strategic
raw materials. The business benefit is building
a more resilient supply chain and secure
supplies of vital raw materials.

For example, Screwfixs head office is fitting


Solar PV which will supply up to 14% of the
sites electricity.

For example, by working closely with suppliers,


B&Q UK has reached its timber goal. All its
products containing wood and paper are
now responsibly sourced.

In business

How we are transforming our business behind the scenes

Commercial model adapted for Kingfisher from World Economic Forum

Kingfisher Net Positive Report 2014/15

Becoming Net Positive

Why we need Net Positive

The world faces unprecedented


social and environmental challenges.
Unemployment and inequality
undermine quality of life and wellbeing
for millions of people and pose risks for
the resilience of communities around
the world.
The impacts of water scarcity,
climate change and a growing and
ageing population are putting pressure
on food supplies, natural resources
and infrastructure, with the potential
to disrupt supply chains and
destabilise economies.
Technology has created a new age of
transparency, enabling greater scrutiny
of corporate behaviour and contributing
to rising expectations of the role of
business in society.

The successful companies of the future


will be those who respond to these
changes positively, adapting their
business to meet changing customer
and societal needs with fewer resources.
As a home improvement company, we
rely on energy and natural resources
such as timber and water to serve
our customers. We need stable and
prosperous societies for our businesses
to flourish. We can help our customers
create better homes for the future.
We have a long heritage in
sustainability, and for over 20 years
have been working to reduce our impact
on the environment. However, we know
that more is needed.
By becoming Net Positive we want to
create positive change and grow our
business so that our shareholders,
customers, employees, suppliers
and communities will all prosper.

Our priorities

With Net Positive, we aim to:


Have a positive impact on people
and communities;
Be restorative to the environment;
Become carbon positive;
Waste nothing; and
Create wealth.
We have identified four priorities.
In each area we have an aspiration
for how we can have a positive impact
by 2050 and respond successfully to
the changes affecting our customers
and our business.
The first step is to reach the 50
challenging targets we have set for
2020. This will lay the groundwork
but is only the beginning of our
journey towards Net Positive.

Timber

Energy

Innovation

Communities

Kingfisher creates more forest


than it uses

Every Kingfisher store and


customers home is zero carbon
or generates more energy than
it consumes

Every Kingfisher product will


enable a more sustainable and
ultimately Net Positive lifestyle

Every Kingfisher store and


location supports projects
which build local communities
or equip people with skills

Aspiration

2020 target

100% responsibly sourced


timber and paper in all
our operations

Aspiration

2020 target

38 TWh of energy saved for


customers. 45% reduction in
energy intensity of our property

Aspiration

2020 target

Aspiration

1,000 Kingfisher products with


closed-loop credentials

2020 target

4,000 community projects


completed that deliver Better
Homes, Better Lives

Why it matters

Why it matters

Why it matters

Why it matters

Timber is a vital material found


in around 40% of our products.

50% rise in global energy


demand by 2035.3

Demand for timber will triple


by 2050, which could cause
significant price rises and
even shortages.1

High energy bills the number


one concern for customers.4

The way our customers live is


changing and they need new
types of products and services.

Inequality, unemployment
and housing shortages could
undermine community cohesion
and the prosperity needed for
business growth.

20% of global carbon emissions


due to deforestation.2

70 billion market for energy


efficient products and services
in Europe by 2020.5
Energy a major business cost.

The protection of forests and


woodlands is an issue that many
of our customers care about.

Home energy use is a major


source of carbon emissions.

1 WWF, Living Forests Report

3 US Energy Information Administration,


International Energy Outlook, 2010

2 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

9 billion global population by


2050. Increased competition
for resources means rising costs
and potential shortages.
US$1 trillion a year could
be generated for the global
economy by 2025 by creating
circular supply chains.6
6 The Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Towards
the Circular Economy Vol 3, 2014

The sharing economy is


altering how people access
goods and services, with
benefits for communities.
70% of customers say they
will remain loyal to a brand
that demonstrates social value.7
7 RSA, Community Footprint Report, 2012

4 Kingfisher European Home Report 2014


5 Boston Consulting Group report,
commissioned by Kingfisher, 2011

www.kingfisher.com

Strategic Report

Net Positive is our sustainability ambition. It means transforming


our business to have a restorative impact on the environment;
innovating in our products and services to enable our customers
to have more sustainable homes; and making a positive
contribution to society and the communities in which we operate.

In Store

IN
STORE

A changing world
Demographic trends: Population
growth, urbanisation, more transient
populations and globalisation mean
a more diverse customer base within
our markets but more consistency
in customer needs across markets
Environmental and health challenges:
Home energy use a contributor to
climate change; Deforestation and
depletion of natural resources;
Environmental impacts from waste
and chemicals; Rise in the incidence
of allergies

A sustainable home is healthy and


comfortable, stylish and adaptable, efficient,
less wasteful and more affordable to run.
Everyone should be able to create and
afford a more sustainable home.

Social and economic impacts:


Increased inequality; High energy
and other costs; Housing shortages
and smaller homes; Growth in the
sharing economy

Key figures

To live in a prosperous and


safe community

600m

estimated saving for customers this


year from the energy efficient products
and services theyve purchased from us

2.4bn

revenues from sales of eco products

375m

in sales of our most innovative


eco products

We offer customers the products, services


and information they need to improve
their homes. We spend time with our
customers to understand the reality of how
they live. We look at how demographic,
social and environmental changes affect
our customers and what this means for
their homes. We use this understanding
to innovate, developing the products and
services that really meet customer needs.
Sustainability is part of what we do but we
dont ask our customers to compromise
on quality, performance or price to opt
for the sustainable choice. This can make
sustainable innovation more challenging,
but in the long run it means we find
solutions that are better for our customers,
the planet and for the business.

Making it happen

We are integrating sustainability into


product development. For example,
at B&Q UK we use an annual Range
Sustainability Rating to assess and
improve the sustainability performance
of each range. This has contributed to
innovations such as B&Qs flood range
and easyGrow (see page 10).
We use our eco product guidelines
to improve sustainability performance
and measure progress. This year we
strengthened our requirements for
best-in-class eco products to make
sure these are always industry leading.
We give our employees the information
and expertise they need to help our

8, 9, 10 Kingfisher European Home Report


2014

11 Which 2011 www.which.co.uk/


news/2011/07/which-survey-reveals-growyour-own-trend-is-still-on-the-up-259281/

Customer needs:

Comfortable homes that


are affordable to run
A healthy and more natural lifestyle

Business opportunities:

31% of customers planning to


make energy efficiency changes8
20% of customers concerned
about home pollution levels9
21% looking to improve their
garden10 and 24% of people in
the UK growing their own fruit
and vegetables11
70% of customers will remain loyal
to a brand that demonstrates
social value12
$630 billion cost saving from
adopting closed loop approaches13

customers create more sustainable


homes. 116 of our most senior leaders
have completed our One Academy Net
Positive executive education module.
Training such as B&Qs One Planet
Home modules help to integrate
sustainability at every level of the business.

Efficient, comfortable homes

High energy prices are a concern for


householders across Europe. In fact,
our research shows that 65% of people
fear rising energy prices, even ahead
of keeping up with rent or mortgage
payments. Our customers are eight times
more likely to prioritise energy efficiency
projects than they were two years ago.

12 RSA, Community Footprint Report, 2012

13 The Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Towards


a Circular Economy Vol 1, 2012

Kingfisher Net Positive Report 2014/15

Efficient homes
with Castorama
Planning a home energy efficiency project can
be complicated. Now customers at Castoramas
Hnin-Beaumont store can get help from specially
trained sales advisors.
The store has a dedicated energy efficiency area
featuring insulation, heating and home automation
product ranges. Here customers can meet with
advisors to plan their projects, prioritise improvements
and understand how different products can work
together. They can book an energy audit or
consultation with an interior architect as well as
installation services. They can also use the Prime
Energie Casto service to access government subsidies.
The service is being piloted at Hnin-Beaumont with
a view to further roll-out.

Customer benefits:

Advice, products and installation services


Easier to implement energy efficiency projects

Business benefits:

Value of sales to customers implementing


energy efficiency projects has been up to 82
times higher than average customer purchases
since the service launched
40 customers used the services in the first
three months

Sustainability benefits:

Enables more customers to improve home


energy efficiency

Helping householders to reduce energy


use is a win-win. Our customers enjoy
better homes and save money while
cutting greenhouse gas emissions and
we gain access to a growing market.
As well as products such as low
energy lighting and insulation, we offer
information and advice to help customers
plan their projects. For example, over
100,000 customers visited Brico Dpt
Frances energy efficiency website
(www.ecoperformance-bricodepot.fr)
in 2014/15, to get advice and use its
Eco Prime service, which makes it easier
to access government subsidies. The
positive policy environment in France,
including challenging national targets
on greenhouse gas reductions, is
supporting progress in this area.
Appliances such as fridges and washing
machines can be major energy users and
expensive to run. B&Q has integrated
information into catalogues to show how
much an appliance will cost to run each
year based on its electricity and water use,
making it easy for customers to choose

www.kingfisher.com

Decorating:
Cleaner air with
Respira paint
The air in our homes can be up to 10
times more polluted than the air outside,
contributing to health conditions such
as allergies, asthma and migraines.
Castorama is launching the Respira paint
range, which looks great and reduces indoor
air pollution by neutralising formaldehyde.
Formaldehyde is a major cause of internal
air pollution, found in many home furnishings
and textiles. Castorama is the first home
improvement retailer to stock this type of paint.

Customer benefits:

Reduces formaldehyde levels by 70%


Ready to use, high quality, affordable
own-brand range in 50 colours and
three finishes

Sustainability benefits:

Carries the Ecolabel for good performance


and low VOC emissions

In Store continued
the best product for the environment
and their wallet. B&Q is also one of the
first retailers to use the Water Label,
enabling customers to choose more
water efficient products.

Wellbeing: indoors and out

Across our markets we are seeing


increased focus on personal wellbeing,
with growing interest in natural and
healthy lifestyles from the food we eat to
the spaces we live in. There is increasing
recognition that living closer to nature,
whether thats through access to public
green spaces, spending more time in our
own gardens, or bringing more natural
light and materials into our homes, is
better for our health and wellbeing. All
our customers should be able to enjoy
a healthy home and garden.
For many years weve worked to reduce
the use of chemicals, including significant
reductions in the levels of volatile organic
compounds (VOCs), chemicals that affect
indoor air quality in our own brand paint
and decorating ranges. Now we can go
even further with products like Respira
that actually improve indoor air quality
(see page 9).
Our gardens are an important part of our
homes, whether for outdoor entertaining
and leisure, or for growing our own fruit
and vegetables. We are exploring the
changing role of gardens and looking at
how we can help people use their outdoor
spaces to create a better family life.

This builds on our work helping customers


create beautiful gardens that are better for
wildlife, including phasing out peat in the
UK and removing pesticide products
belonging to the neonicotinoid family
globally ahead of legislation because they
are thought to contribute to bee decline.
In the UK we also collaborated with
Friends of the Earth to engage customers
and government on bee decline, including
supporting the Great British Bee Count
campaign and App.

Better materials, better products

Across sectors, current business models


mean that valuable materials are often
wasted at a products end of life. By
developing closed loop systems we can
enable the continual reuse, repurposing
and recycling of raw materials, reduce
costs, access new supply chains and
create high performing products.
To do this we need to work across
functions and with suppliers. For example,
in developing its Infinite worktop,
Castorama brought together internal
specialists in areas such as production,
manufacturing, retail and logistics and
collaborated with independent chemistry
research centre Certech, recycler Veolia
and composite wood manufacturers
Ocwood. We are a founding partner to
the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, which
works to catalyse the adoption of closed
loop approaches and we use our closed
loop calculator to improve the closed loop
credentials of our products.

Part of the community

Our stores are part of the community


employing local people and serving local
customers. By having a clear sense of
purpose and delivering social value to the
communities in which we operate, we can
improve resilience, motivate our people
and customers and increase their loyalty
to the business. People are more likely
to buy from, work for and promote
companies they trust.
Our companies have supported 805
community projects since 2012/13,
focusing on areas such as improving
facilities for those in need and supporting
young people to develop practical skills.
For example, in Castorama Poland,
80,000 children have completed free
DIY classes at our stores since 2012.
We are reviewing our communities
strategy to increase the impact of our
investment and to prioritise areas that are
most relevant to our home improvement
expertise, our Net Positive ambitions and
the core challenges facing society.
The sharing economy
The sharing economy, with technology
enabling people to connect and exchange
skills and resources more easily, represents
a fundamental shift in society, one that
can benefit individuals and support more
connected and resilient communities.

Gardens: Peat-free
innovation for Britains gardeners
B&Qs new formula Verve peat-free compost range was developed through a series
of rigorous growing trials. It was voted a Best Buy by Which, the consumer magazine,
outperforming many peat-based composts.
This follows the launch of B&Qs easyGrow in early 2014 an innovative approach to
bedding plant packaging that is 100% recyclable and better for gardeners and nature.
Plants come in individual tea bags planted in sustainable coir that is 95% peat-free.
They can be lifted straight into the ground from the pack still in their bags, making
planting easier and less likely to damage delicate roots. The packs, made from PET,
are easily recycled with other household waste.

Customer benefits:

Sustainability benefits:

Easy-to-use bedding plants,


with less mess

Eliminates polystyrene waste


to landfill

No price premium for


peat-free products

750 jobs created in the Sri Lankan


coir supply chain

Business benefits:

Lower emissions due to fewer


lorry journeys

Reduced transport costs by


25% per pack

Watch the video at youtu.be/


sxyewXHZVEQ or see Chris Moss, B&Qs
marketing director, discussing easyGrow
at www.sustainablebrands.com

Verve peat-free compost is


a Which Best Buy

10 million packs sold in 2014/15,


a 2 million year-on-year increase

10

20,000 tonne reduction


in peat-based compost

Kingfisher Net Positive Report 2014/15

High performance, less waste


Castoramas new Nods decking range looks great, performs
well and is better for the environment. It is made from a unique
composite material developed by Castorama using waste wood
from its stores and end of life home improvement products.
This follows the launch of the Infinite kitchen worktop,
created from the same material, which is 40% lighter than
similar products, making it easier to handle and install and
reducing breakages.

Customer
benefits:

More water
resistant,
reducing water
damage
Lighter and
easier to carry
and install
Longer guarantee
Low VOC levels
A+ rating

Business
benefits:

1,000 Infinite
worktops sold in
2014/15
New, reliable
source of raw
materials
Lower eco-tax
due to its lower
weight
More efficient to
transport,
meaning lower
fuel costs

Sustainability
benefits:

90% recycled
materials
Lower VOC
emissions
Does not use
formaldehyde
glue

The DIY sector can encourage the positive


benefits of the sharing economy. We aim to
share our knowledge and help customers
learn skills and connect with and help
each other. For example, Castorama
France runs Les Trocheures, Frances
first DIY community skill-sharing website.
In 2014, we supported research by the
New Economics Foundation that explored
the link between practical skills and
personal and community wellbeing
(available at www.kingfisher.com/
netpositivereport). This found that as well
as improving wellbeing, learning practical
skills like DIY and gardening can make
individuals more likely to help others and
contribute to stronger communities. 25%
of people who learnt practical skills in one
study increased their social, voluntary
or community involvement.
Read more
Further information on our approach
will be in our full Sustainability Report
published in June 2015. See:
www.kingfisher.com/netpositivereport

Community:
The Screwfix Foundation
Many Screwfix customers and employees are active
in their local communities, raising funds and
volunteering. The Screwfix Foundation was set
up to support these efforts by funding projects that
help improve peoples lives. It works with local and
national charities to repair, maintain and improve
properties and community facilities for people living
with sickness or disability.
The charity raises money from customer donations
made via Pennies, the electronic charity box and
employee fundraising events in and around its
stores. Screwfix now match funds all the money
raised by employees.

Find out more at www.screwfixfoundation.com

Customer benefits:

Business benefits:

Benefits projects in the Volunteering


areas where our
opportunities
customers live
for employees

Makes it easy to donate Supports our reputation


money to good causes
with customers and
when shopping at
communities
Screwfix

Sustainability
benefits:

300,000 raised since


launch in April 2013

www.kingfisher.com

11

In Business

IN
BUSINESS
To become a sustainable business we must change
how we source our goods and services and how we
build and run our stores, offices and logistics. We
need to collaborate more between businesses and
functions as well as with external partners, and to
increase workforce diversity and engagement. This
will reduce costs, create more resilient supply chains
and help us to attract and retain the best people.

Key figures

17%

cut in energy intensity


since 2010/11

92%

of timber and paper products


responsibly sourced

21%

of senior managers
are women

A changing world
Economic trends: Growing competition
for resources could mean rising energy
and materials costs over the long term
Social trends: The communities we
operate in are affected by challenges
such as rising inequality and youth
unemployment
Environmental challenges: Energy use
from fossil fuels a major contributor
to climate change; Deforestation
and depletion of natural resources;
Environmental impacts from waste
and chemicals

Business opportunities:

Savings from energy efficiency


and waste management
Access to new and more resilient
supply chains of responsibly
sourced and recycled materials
Investing in people and recruiting
a diverse workforce gives us access
to a wider talent pool

12

We are focusing on strategic raw materials


and areas of significant cost to the
business. We aim to take a systematic
approach and find solutions that benefit
the business while reducing our
environmental impact.

Better, greener buildings

We are adopting sustainable design


principles and investing in renewable
energy. This helps us to create stores
that are more attractive and comfortable
for our customers and colleagues.
We test out sustainable approaches
to building design, construction and
operation at learning stores in each
of our businesses. All new building
and refurbishment projects must show
a tangible improvement in carbon intensity
against our blueprint baselines. We focus
on areas where we can have the biggest
impact. For example, lighting typically
accounts for over half of store energy
use. We can make significant reductions
by rolling out LED technology which is
approximately 40% more efficient than the

Kingfisher Net Positive Report 2014/15

Apprenticeships
for all at Brico
Dpt France
Brico Dpt Frances work
experience and apprenticeship
programme enables students to
gain valuable business experience
while completing their studies.
Brico Dpt reaches out to a wide
range of schools and universities to
recruit its apprentices. Almost 300
people took part in the programme
during 2014/15, equivalent to
4.6% of its workforce.
The company relaunched
its recruitment materials and
website during 2014 to profile
the diversity of its workforce and
encourage job applications from
more women and people of all
ages and backgrounds.

next best solution. To date we have installed


LED lighting in 15% of the estate. This is
delivering 3 million in savings per annum.

Alternative energy

We established a renewable energy


strategy for the business this year, which
identifies opportunities to reduce costs
and emissions while improving energy
security. We are focusing initially on
solar photovoltaic generation, but will be
exploring other renewable technologies
to find solutions best suited to different
locations and markets, including
biomass and ground-source heat
pump technologies.
Following our first project at Screwfix
(see page 14), we are evaluating
further projects at UK distribution
centres, data centres and stores and
exploring opportunities in other markets.

Sustainable sourcing and waste

Working towards our targets will help


us to secure affordable and reliable
supplies of vital raw materials and
reduce costs associated with waste.
We need to work both in our business
and with our partners, undertaking
advocacy work to catalyse wider change.
On timber, we have reached 92%
responsible sourcing for our timber
and paper products, and are increasingly
working with suppliers to address other
areas such as packaging. Our businesses

Green design at
Merthyr Tydfil
B&Qs new store at Merthyr Tydfil is the first
retail store in the UK to use a transpiring roof,
which harvests heat from the sun to warm the
stores interior.
It also incorporates a green sedum roof,
rainwater harvesting and LED lighting, and
100% responsibly sourced timber was used
in construction. B&Q worked closely with the
landlord to agree best practice sustainability
targets for the building.

Business benefits:
Lower energy, gas
and water bills

Sustainability
benefits:

Designed to
significantly
reduce gas used
for heating and
CO2 emissions

www.kingfisher.com

Around 50%
of water used
expected to
be provided
by rainwater
harvesting
90% of
construction
waste diverted
from landfill
Green roof will
provide a habitat
for plants and
wildlife

13

In Business continued
are investing in projects to improve or
increase forested areas. This is part of our
aspiration to create more forest than we
use, and will also open up new sources of
sustainable timber. Outside the business
we are working with partners such as the
Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and
WWF. To demonstrate the positive impact
of certification and to encourage more
businesses to source certified timber, we
formed a new partnership with FSC, IKEA,
Tetra Pak and ISEAL in 2014, known as
VIA (Verification Impact Analysis). This
will establish a credible methodology for
measuring the impact of FSC certification.
We are working towards 100% responsibly sourced timber in
all our operations by 2020. In our products we have already
reached 92%. Our companies are also working with partners
to improve forested areas. For example, in Spain Brico Dpt
has launched five projects focused on improving forest
biodiversity and engaging communities in conservation.

Our businesses are achieving results


by rethinking standard business
processes. For example, Screwfix has
achieved zero waste to landfill from its
stores and distribution centres by
reorganising waste management. Waste
is now sorted at stores and transported in
Screwfixs own delivery vehicles back to
its distribution centre. Here, recyclables
are extracted and non-recyclables used
for energy-from-waste. This has saved
the business 1.26 million over two years
and resulted in over 10,600 tonnes of
materials being recycled.

Investing in our people

We employ over 79,000 people. We


aim to create great workplaces and to
be an employer of choice in our sector.

We encourage an inclusive culture


and aim to reflect the diversity of our
customer base. This gives us access
to a wide range of skills, experience,
perspectives and leadership styles.
It enables us to better connect with
customers, understand their needs
and deliver great products and services.
Our two priorities are improving gender
balance at all levels of the business and
supporting young people to develop their
careers with us.
To achieve balanced representation
of men and women among our senior
leaders, we are focusing on increasing
the participation of women in
development programmes, increasing
female candidates in succession
planning and raising the visibility
of our female leaders.
Our companies run internships,
apprenticeships and graduate
programmes to bring more young people
into our workforce and to help them to
develop their skills and capabilities and
to share their expertise and enthusiasm
with our customers. Brico Dpt Frances
apprenticeship and work experience
programme is one example, see page 13.
Read more
Further information on our approach
will be in our full Sustainability Report
published in June 2015. See:
www.kingfisher.com/netpositivereport

Alternative energy
at Screwfix
The Screwfix head office is one of our first UK
locations to tap into solar power. Its head office
building is expected to generate 214,000kWh
of clean energy a year, thanks to the
installation of solar PV panels.
The panels will supply up to 14% of the sites
overall electricity requirements and save the
business 40,000 a year. We are using the
lessons learned from this project to expand
our renewable energy generation in the UK
and other markets.

Business benefits:
40,000
annual saving
including reduced
energy costs

Sustainability
benefits:

Will reduce carbon


emissions by 106
tonnes a year

Provides up to
14% of the sites
energy needs

14

Kingfisher Net Positive Report 2014/15

In Perspective
Having a sustainable home should be
an affordable reality for everyone.

Pascal Gil

CEO, Brico Dpt Iberia

We aim to lead the market on sustainability,


enabling our customers to create efficient
and sustainable homes at the best price.
In our business we want to create buildings
that are zero cost in terms of energy and
waste, both financially and environmentally.
Sustainability isnt optional it is a core
business issue. Take the challenge of
deforestation. This is not only a potential
environmental and social disaster but also
an economic threat to our business,

At Screwfix, sustainability is integral


to our long-term strategy of achieving
convenience, value and unrivalled
product leadership for our customers.

Andrew Livingston

CEO, Screwfix

For many years weve been working to


improve our environmental performance and
investing in our communities, and are proud
of achievements such as reaching zero waste
to landfill and launching the Screwfix
Foundation. But we want to go further.
We launched True to our Trade this year,
our implementation plan for delivering on
our Net Positive targets. It makes it clear to

undermining the security of timber supplies.


We already have many great initiatives
we are getting close to 100% responsibly
sourced timber in our products, and have
implemented projects to restore and improve
forests near to our stores. But we need to
scale these up and go further, making
sustainability more visible and relevant to
our customers and drawing on the power
of our people to achieve our goals.
My priority in the year ahead is to keep raising
the profile of sustainability in our business
and to work with our partners to take our
efforts to the next level.
our customers, employees and suppliers
exactly why sustainability is so important
to us. It is raising the profile of sustainability
internally and helping us integrate it into
the day-to-day running of our operations.
This will support better decision making
and help us to future proof our business.
We have a very engaged and responsive
workforce who are passionate about what
we do. With True to our Trade we will harness
their commitment to achieve our sustainability
goals, feeding our peoples imagination and
inspiring us all to find inventive, creative and
sustainable solutions that are better for our
customers, our business and the planet.

The ambition is still bold, and performance


is better. Thats the top line conclusion for
me in reading this Net Positive Report.
An in-coming CEO can often mean a change in attitude towards sustainability; not so in Kingfisher.
Vronique Laury signals a clear commitment to make sustainability core to everything Kingfisher
does, making a positive impact on peoples lives and society more broadly.

Sally Uren

Chief Executive, Forum for


the Future and Chair of our
Advisory Council

And this report tells a strong story of better; better products, such as Respira paint, which reduces
indoor air pollution; better stores, such as the new B&Q store in the UK which is the first retail
store in the country to use a transpiring roof, which in turn harvests heat from the sun to heat the
stores interior; and of course better lives for the millions of Kingfisher customers; saving customers
an estimated 600 million through sales of energy efficient products makes
for better energy bills.
Performance in key areas, for the most part, is also better. Performance in sourcing timber
responsibly remains strong. Kingfisher uses timber in 40% of its products, which means
sourcing 92% of its total timber from responsible sources is a significant achievement.
Governance has also been strengthened with the creation of a Group Sustainability Committee,
comprised of representatives of the Group Executive and senior leadership from all Kingfisher
operating companies.
Reducing the overall carbon footprint, however, remains a challenge; whilst carbon intensity has
improved by 14% against the baseline, absolute carbon emissions increased by 3% year on year.
Both these metrics need to go on a downwards trajectory.
Going forward, then, to deliver the bold ambition of Net Positive, the Kingfisher narrative needs
to be one of integration and innovation, as well as better. Integration of sustainability into every
decision, every action is essential. And innovation is key to delivering solutions to challenges such
as decoupling commercial growth from environmental footprint. Innovation is also a prerequisite
for the business as it navigates a rapidly changing retail environment, where new retail models,
such as the sharing economy, are gaining traction, fast, and where the pathways to value creation
for a multinational look very different.
However, for me, Net Positive remains the strategy for unlocking better homes and better lives,
and ultimately a better business.

www.kingfisher.com

15

Performance summary 2014/15


We have set challenging targets for 2020 to keep us focused on our Net Positive ambitions and stimulate innovation in our
products, services and business processes. We track progress at our operating companies using our Foundations Questionnaire
and calculate a Group score for each target. All targets are 2020 unless otherwise stated.
During 2014/15, we made progress across our Net Positive priorities. On timber, performance improved in line with our target
on responsible sourcing for products but further work is needed to improve performance and data quality in areas such as
packaging and construction. Our performance on customer energy saving and our own property energy efficiency improved
however we need to increase the rate of change to reach our 2020 targets. Our sales of products with eco credentials increased,
however more work is needed to increase the volume of sales of our most innovative eco products. In the year ahead we will
also be looking to increase the rate of progress on our communities target and to address other lower scoring areas.

Timber
Net Positive timber
100% responsibly
sourced timber and
paper in all our operations.
We do not yet have complete data to
assess progress towards this target.

Products timber
100% responsibly
sourced timber and
paper in our products.
Packaging timber
100% responsibly
sourced timber and
paper in our packaging.
Catalogues and GNFR
100% responsibly sourced
timber and paper in our
catalogues and goods
not for resale.
Construction timber
100% responsibly sourced
timber and paper in materials
procured for construction
and fit-out.
Tropical deforestation
None of our products to
be sourced from materials
that are linked to tropical
deforestation.
Strategic sourcing
Demonstrate resilient supply
chain relationships that can
guarantee the future provision
of responsibly sourced timber
across the Groups major
timber categories.
Improving forests
Every operating company
to have at least one forest
or woodland enhancement
initiative that makes a substantial
quantifiable step towards the
Group aspiration of creating
more forest than we use.

16

Energy
N/A

Products with eco credentials


To bring eco products into the
mainstream, by achieving 50%
of sales from products and
services with eco credentials.

Net Positive customer energy


38 TWh of energy saved
for customers across our
international businesses.

Range sustainability rating


To enhance the eco-credentials
of all our products by improving
the sustainability rating of
every product range.

Net Positive own energy


45% reduction in the energy
intensity (kWh/m2) of our
property portfolio from a
2010/11 baseline.
Energy-using products
All energy-using products to
meet best practice standards
on energy efficiency.
Score not allocated. Kingfisher guidelines
to be developed.

Sustainable lifestyles
Use our global brands and
marketing to help shift our
millions of customers towards
sustainable lifestyles.
Responsible marketing
All our customer
communications and
marketing to be in line with
our guidelines on responsible
brand management and
marketing by 2016/17.
Total carbon footprint
25% reduction in our absolute
carbon footprint (tonnes CO2e)
from a 2010/11 baseline.
Property carbon intensity
50% reduction in the carbon
intensity (CO2e/m2) of our
property portfolio from a
2010/11 baseline.

Innovation
Net Positive closed
loop products
1,000 Kingfisher products
with closed loop credentials.
Eco product innovation
To be at the forefront of
sustainable product innovation,
with 10% of Group sales from
the most innovative (best-inclass) eco products and services.

N/A

Sustainability of Group
own-brand
Demonstrate leadership
on eco-innovation across
our Group own-brands.
Closed loop supply chains
Ten closed-loop supply chains.

N/A

Score not allocated. Kingfisher guidelines


to be developed.

Alternative services
Explore and trial alternative
business models such as
product hire and repair,
which encourage a perpetual
reuse of products.
Learning stores
Every operating company to
develop at least three Learning
Stores and to have delivered,
or confirmed, the site for one
Eco Store.
Sustainability accounting
Calculate and account for
the impact and value of our
sustainability strategy to the
business and communicate
this to investors and employees
by 2016/17.

Communities
Community projects
4,000 community projects
completed by our people
thatdeliver Better Homes,
BetterLives.
Sharing skills
Promote sharing of skills and
know-how in local communities
by building online community
platforms in the UK and France
to help link people.

Kingfisher Net Positive Report 2014/15

0-25%

Employees

Suppliers & Partners

Performance management
Integrate Net Positive
into the performance
management systems
for all relevant employees.

Supplier ethical assessment


All suppliers of Kingfisher
own-brand/exclusive
brand products will meet
or exceed our ethical and
environmental standards.

Leadership training
on Net Positive
To have a development
programme on Net Positive
for the top 250 managers
from around the Group.
Eco product training
Net Positive engagement
and development programmes
to motivate all our employees
to become more sustainable
at work and at home.
Net Positive engagement
Net Positive engagement
and development programmes
to motivate all our employees
to become more sustainable
at work and at home.
Inclusion and diversity
To be recognised as a best
practice company for equality
and diversity within our local
retail markets.
Employee health & safety
Achieve a 20% reduction in the
employee lost-time accident
rate from a 2010/11 baseline.
Customer and contractor
health & safety
Develop a Group-wide
accident reporting framework
for customers and onsite
contractors, and set a
reduction target.
Employee surveys
Improve our employee
engagement by extending
engagement surveys to
cover all employees.

Supplier carbon
and water footprint
To define and measure the
carbon and water footprint
of our value chain and to set
a carbon reduction target.
Goods Not For Resale (GNFR)
Key GNFR contracts
will meet or exceed our
sustainability standards.
SRI indexes and CR ratings
Kingfisher to maintain its
leadership position in key
SRI indices and corporate
responsibility ratings.
Ethical business conduct
Maintain the highest standards
of ethical business conduct
through ongoing implementation
of, and compliance with, the
Group Governance Manual
and Codeof Conduct.

Environment
Waste
Achieve zero waste to landfill.
Direct haulage emissions
dedicated delivery fleets
Achieve a 20% reduction
in CO2 emissions from our
direct transport impacts
from a 2010/11 baseline.
Indirect haulage emissions
supplier delivery fleets
Demonstrate a comprehensive
programme of action to
reduce the overall carbon
footprint of our indirect
transport impacts.

26-50%

51-75%

76-99%

100% target
achieved

Green travel
Demonstrate proactive
greentravel initiatives to
minimise the environmental
impact of travel by employees
and customers.
Water use in our operations
To understand the
waterfootprint of our
ownoperations.
Water-using products
All water-using products
to meet best practice
standards on water efficiency.

N/A

Score not allocated. Kingfisher guidelines


to be developed.

Chemicals
None of our own-brand or
exclusive brand products
will contain the chemicals of
concern we have committed
to remove (on Kingfishers
Chemical Action List).

N/A

Score not allocated. Work in progress to


update the Kingfisher Chemical Action List.

Packaging
Packaging on all own-brand
and exclusive brand products
to conform to Kingfisher
packaging sustainability
standards.
Sustainable construction
waste
90% of construction waste
recycled in new build and
major refurbishments.
Biodiversity
Enhance biodiversity
on newbuild projects,
majorrefurbishments
andexisting stores.
Peat elimination
All bagged growing
media sold in the UK
to be from sustainable
sources, aheadofthe
government 2020deadline.

The process to assess progress against our targets is within KPMGs limited assurance scope

www.kingfisher.com

17

Timber

Timber
Timber is an essential raw material, found in up to 40% of our
products. We aim to take a restorative approach creating more
forest than we use. This is the best way to secure affordable and
sustainable timber supplies for our business over the long term
and will help to combat the impact of deforestation on biodiversity
and climate change.
We are taking a systematic approach implementing consistent
standards in our businesses while collaborating with external
partners to catalyse wider change.
Our priorities are:
Responsible sourcing: buying our timber from proven
well-managed sources.
Reducing our forest footprint: reducing unnecessary use of
timber by redesigning packaging and increasing recycling.
Strategic sourcing: developing partnerships with suppliers
to secure longer-term sustainable timber supplies.
Improving forests: working with partners to protect and
restore forests.
Customer communications: stimulating demand for
responsibly sourced timber products.
Advocacy: partnering with others to influence structural
change beyond our business.

2050 Aspiration

Kingfisher creates more forest than it uses

2020 target

100% responsibly sourced timber and paper in all


our operations

Why it matters external trends

Timber is a vital material found in around 40% of


our products.
Demand for timber will triple by 2050, which could
cause significant price rises and even shortages.1
20% of global carbon emissions due to deforestation.2
The protection of forests and woodlands is an issue
that many of our customers care about.

Net Positive: timber


Target 2020: 100% responsibly sourced
timber and paper in all our operations.

Full Data Not


Available

Milestone: Achieve our 2016/17 milestones


on timber used in products, packaging,
goods not for resale and construction.
The first step on our journey is to achieve 100% responsibly
sourced timber in all our operations including products,
packaging, goods not for resale (GNFR) and construction.
Our responsibly sourced timber is independently audited
by recognised certification schemes such as FSC and PEFC.
We are making progress across all areas of responsible
sourcing but we do not yet have comprehensive data for
every operating company. We are working to address this
so we can report progress against our target in future years.

A consistent global approach

In 2014/15 our focus has been on ensuring consistency


between our companies. We updated our timber sourcing
standards, introducing a global policy that will help our
companies to prioritise their work on responsible timber
sourcing and take a holistic approach in line with our Net
Positive aspirations. It sets clearer standards and timescales
for companies in areas such as GNFR timber. Each company
has developed its own implementation strategy for progressing
towards our targets at the local level.
Our Net Positive team is working closely with operating
companies whose approach to responsible timber sourcing
is less well advanced. In 2014/15, this included carrying out
training on our timber standards in businesses such as Brico
Dpt Romania and Kotas in Turkey. Timber buyers in all our
companies complete our e-learning training on responsible
timber sourcing and compliance with the EU Timber Regulation.

1 WWF, Living Forests Report


2 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

18

Kingfisher Net Positive Report 2014/15

Products timber

Compliance and traceability

Achieved

Target 2020: 100% responsibly sourced


timber and paper in our products.

milestone

Milestone: 90% by 2016/17.


We reached 92% responsibly sourced timber and paper
products (by volume) in 2014/15, ahead of our 2016/17
milestone. The majority of our certified timber products
(by SKUs) use timber from FSC certified sources. B&Q UK
introduced FSC sandpaper for both its decorative and power
tool sandpaper ranges during the year, bringing it to 100%
responsibly sourced timber and paper. A further four companies
have reached over 90% (Brico Dpt France, Brico Dpt
Iberia, Castorama France and Screwfix).
Our companies include information in our stores and catalogues
and online to raise awareness of our commitment to responsible
timber and to engage customers on this issue. For example,
Brico Dpt France has introduced labelling for PEFC certified
products in its catalogues this year. Our forest projects are also
used to engage customers, employees and local communities
on forest conservation, see page 20.

Responsibly sourced timber products


% of timber sold (by volume) responsibly sourced

81%

86%

89%

87%

100%

92%

90%

We work with partners to make sure we comply with the EU


Timber Regulation and to improve traceability in our timber
supply chains. We use the FSCs wood fibre testing programme,
which helps to monitor compliance with FSC standards by cross
checking the species used to validate responsible sourcing claims.
We now send a selection of our FSC certified products from four
operating companies (B&Q UK, Brico Dpt Iberia, Castorama
Poland and KSO Hong Kong) for wood fibre testing spot checks.

Packaging
Target 2020: 100% responsibly sourced
timber and paper in our packaging.

Full Data Not


Available

Milestone: Establish a methodology and


data collection system by 2016/17.
We use significant volumes of timber and paper in our product
packaging. Our target is for 100% responsibly sourced packaging
and we also look for opportunities to reduce the volume of
packaging used and to increase recycling. We are starting to
take a more unified approach to packaging design across our
companies which will help us to achieve these goals. Responsible
timber and paper sourcing for packaging are part of this work
and have been integrated into our company-wide packaging
policy. Read more in the Packaging section, page 44.
We are working to improve our data in this area to enable us to
measure and report progress against our target in future years.

Catalogues and goods not for resale (GNFR)


On Track

Target 2020: 100% responsibly sourced


timber and paper in our catalogues and
goods not for resale.
10/11

11/12

12/13

13/14

14/15*

2016
2020
Milestone Target

Timber data was collected from operating companies and joint ventures
which accounted for 95% of the Group turnover in 2014/15 (94% or higher
in previous years). It does not cover data for Kotas and Castorama Russia.
Data for Brico Depot Romania was included for the first time.
* Within KPMGs limited assurance scope

Putting a value on responsible sourcing

We have seen for ourselves the positive impact of FSC


certification on forests. We know that it can make a
significant contribution to maintaining current forests.
It can support improvements in biodiversity and social
value and even contribute to the expansion of forested
areas. However, measuring and communicating this positive
impact can be challenging.
In 2014, we helped launch a new partnership, Value
Impact Analysis (VIA), that will establish a credible
methodology for quantifying the benefits of FSC certification
for forests, their biodiversity and communities. By helping
to quantify these benefits we hope to encourage more
businesses and people to choose responsibly sourced
timber. It will also make it easier to measure our progress
towards our Net Positive timber aspiration.
VIAs founding partners include FSC, IKEA, Tetra Pak,
IDH and ISEAL, the global membership association
for sustainability standards. The initiative will build
on the work previously undertaken by WWF and FSC
in monitoring the value of certification.

to milestone

Milestone: 100% of paper used in catalogues


and customer marketing by 2016/17.
We are improving our data to measure progress on responsible
sourcing for GNFR timber and paper. We have reached 97%
responsibly sourced paper in our catalogues and marketing
materials for countries where data is available1, meaning
we are on track to reach our milestone in these countries.
Two operating companies, Brico Dpt Iberia and Screwfix,
achieved 100% in 2014/15.

Construction
Target 2020: 100% responsibly sourced
timber and paper in materials procured
for construction and fit-out.

Full Data Not


Available

Milestone: 90% by 2016/17.


Small volumes of timber are used in store fit-out and
construction for items such as doors, shelving and racking
systems. A small number of construction projects also use
timber for building frames. We are working with contractors
to improve our data collection in this area and now have data
for seven operating companies covering a number of recent
construction projects. This shows that the majority of timber
used in construction relates to the fit-out process and that
much of this timber is already from certified sources. However,
until our data is more complete we cannot report progress
against our target, addressing this is a priority. A number of
store construction projects used 100% responsibly sourced
timber during 2014/15, including B&Q UKs Merthyr Tydfil
store, see page 13.

1 Data covers operating companies, which account for 85% of our Group turnover

www.kingfisher.com

19

Timber continued

Tropical deforestation
Target 2020: None of our products to be
sourced from materials that are linked to
tropical deforestation (including tropical
hardwood products, palm oil and leather).

Not On
Track

to milestone

Milestone: All new tropical hardwood products to comply


with Kingfishers Timber Policy Standard by 2016/17.
Our policy is that all new tropical hardwood products should
be FSC certified or endorsed by schemes working towards
FSC certification. We have achieved this target for 100% of
new tropical hardwood products in B&Q UK, Castorama France,
Brico Dpt France, Brico Dpt Iberia and Screwfix; however
we do not yet have data for our companies outside the EU.
Leather and palm oil production can contribute to deforestation.
We use relatively low volumes of these materials in our products,
for example leather is used in boots in our work wear ranges
while palm oil may be present in candle products.
We are starting to work with suppliers to identify the sources
of the leather and palm oil we use and to implement our
responsible sourcing standards. For leather, this includes
identifying the source and type of leather used, and phasing
out any leather sourced from areas that may be linked to tropical
deforestation due to cattle grazing. This work is being led in the
UK where Screwfix and B&Q have reviewed their leather and
palm oil supply chains and agreed action plans with a number
of suppliers.

Strategic sourcing
Target 2020: Demonstrate resilient supply
chain relationships that can guarantee the
future provision of responsibly sourced timber
across the Groups major timber categories.

On Track

to milestone

Milestone: At least one major timber category


by 2016/17.
With growing global demand for timber, we must secure the
supplies our business needs at an affordable price and in line
with our responsible sourcing standards. We aim to improve the
resilience of our timber supply chain through strategic sourcing
establishing long-term relationships with timber suppliers.

We measure progress against our target by assessing factors


such as: length of contracts and supplier relationships; use
of forest initiatives to help create local wood supply chains;
and traceability within timber supply chains.
As part of the new strategic direction for our business, see
page 4, we will be introducing more unified sourcing for our
own-brand ranges, such as gardens and bathrooms. This will
provide opportunities to consolidate our timber sourcing and to
work more closely with suppliers on our responsible sourcing
standards.
We are exploring potential opportunities for partnerships that
could help us to improve forest management and support
conservation efforts while providing a source of sustainable
timber for our business.

Improving forests
Target 2020: Every operating company to
On Track
have at least one forest or woodland
to milestone
enhancement initiative that makes a
substantial and quantifiable step towards the Group
aspiration of creating more forest than we use.
Milestone: Every operating company to have launched
an initiative by 2016/17.
Our aspiration to create more forest than we use means
increasing the social and environmental value of a forest
area larger than that used for our business.
We are launching forest projects designed to: expand forested
areas; improve forest biodiversity and ecosystems; engage
our employees and local people in forest conservation; and
in some cases to create new sources of sustainable timber
for our business.
Four operating companies, B&Q China, B&Q UK, Brico Dpt
Iberia and Castorama Poland, have now launched projects. We
estimate that to date this has benefited forested areas covering
over 13,000 hectares (equivalent to 19,000 full-sized football
pitches) across four countries, working with 255 landowners.
Projects during 2014/15 included Castorama Poland launching
its first reforestation project in partnership with the Polish
Forestry Service. Over 60 Castorama employees took part,
helping to plant 9,500 trees.
Brico Dpt Iberia launched its fifth forest project in Len,
working with rural communities in areas at risk from forest
fires. The project involved training for local people, to help
them prevent the outbreak of forest fires and to protect their
homes and local forest.
B&Q UK continued to support Good Woods, a partnership
with Bioregional and the Sylva Foundation, which aims to
improve woodland management and increase supplies
of sustainably sourced UK timber products.

20

Kingfisher Net Positive Report 2014/15

Our experiences so far have shown us that a number of factors


contribute to the success of forest improvement projects.
These include:
Sustainable financing: establishing a source of ongoing
finance for projects is important. For example, Brico
Dpt Iberia funds projects using the proceeds from
sales of its raffia bags.
Creating a link to product sourcing: selecting projects that
can generate supplies of sustainable timber products for
the business helps to increase internal engagement.
Involving local communities: projects that involve
employees and members of the local community
often have a bigger impact.
Going beyond tree planting: there are many ways to make a
meaningful difference to forests and woodlands in addition
to tree planting.
Scale: we need to extend the scale of our projects and take
a coordinated approach to increase our impact.

Engagement and advocacy

Deforestation and unsustainable timber sourcing are


global challenges, and addressing them requires action
by governments, businesses and communities. We aim
to improve awareness and to encourage progress through
our engagement and advocacy. In 2014/15, this included:
CDP Forest Program: We are a founding participant in the
CDPs Forest Program, an investor initiative which aims to
improve understanding around how companies are addressing
their exposure to deforestation risks. In addition to disclosing
our own performance via CDP, we have advised CDP on how
to encourage participation of suppliers in the Forest Program.
European Sustainable Tropical Timber Coalition: There is an
urgent need for good forest management practices in tropical
regions. However, after initial progress, sustainable forest
management in tropical regions is lagging behind. We are an
advisory board member to this coalition that aims to increase
demand for timber from sustainably managed tropical forests
to stimulate progress on responsible forest management.

Our forest projects have


benefited forested areas
covering 13,000 acres
equivalent to 19,000
football pitches.
The Verification Impact Analysis (VIA) Initiative: We helped
conceptualise and establish this partnership that will enable
the FSC to quantify the value of its work to protect forests,
see page 19. By coordinating and disseminating business-ready
impacts data, VIA has the potential to link standards schemes
with corporate communications and inform evidence-based
policy development. VIAs founding partners include FSC, IKEA,
Tetra Pak, IDH and ISEAL, the global membership association
for sustainability standards. It is hoped the findings will also
benefit other certification schemes.
WWF UK Forest Campaign: B&Q UK and Kingfisher have
signed up to this campaign aimed at improving the EU Timber
Regulation to prevent illegally or unsustainably sourced wood
from entering European markets.

Our business has an important role to play in keeping


forests standing by creating demand for sustainable
forestry and actually helping restore them. A restorative
approach is the only sensible strategy because we need
more forests, not less.
Pascal Gil, CEO of Brico Dpt Iberia, participated in a
panel discussion at the FSC General Assembly on tropical
deforestation with Kumi Naidoo, International Executive
Director, Greenpeace and Henri Djombo, Minister of
Sustainable Development, Forestry Economy and the
Environment, Republic of Congo.
Watch the video at https://youtu.be/R9VhYeecLMk

FSC: We are a founding partner of FSC via B&Q UK and


a member in various countries. Kingfishers Timber Adviser
is an elected member on the FSCs International Board.
Timber Retail Coalition (TRC): The TRC was initially established
by Kingfisher with Carrefour, IKEA, and Marks & Spencer to
support measures to curb illegally harvested timber and to
ensure that the EU Timber Regulation (EUTR) was effective and
workable. The TRC has recently been reconstituted to work on
the review of the EUTR which is taking place during 2015/16.
University of Cambridge: Our work with the University of
Cambridge to improve understanding of businesss reliance
on natural capital and to identify steps to ensure the long-term
viability of timber supply chains concluded in 2014. The Natural
Capital Leaders Platform explored a number of themes and
published the Doing Business with Nature report that identifies
the commercial benefits of investing in natural capital.

www.kingfisher.com

21

Energy

Energy
High energy bills are the number one concern for our customers1.
We are developing our products and services to help customers
save energy and create homes that are warm, comfortable and
affordable to run.
We are also improving energy efficiency in our stores, offices
and distribution centres. This helps to cut costs and enables
us to grow while reducing our impact on the environment.
Climate change is a major long-term threat to social and
economic stability and we support strong government policy
that facilitates the transition to a low-carbon economy. We take
action in our own business to reduce our carbon intensity and
engage with governments, businesses and NGOs to support
wider efforts to tackle climate change.
In the longer term we aim to become carbon positive so that
every Kingfisher store and customers home will be either zero
carbon or generate more energy than it consumes. This will
mean that a customer can visit any of our stores and be able
to purchase all the products and services they need from us
to create a zero carbon or carbon positive home. We still have
a considerable way to go to achieve this aspiration.

2050 Aspiration

Every Kingfisher store and customers home is zero carbon


or generates more energy than it consumes

Net Positive: Customer Energy


On Track

Target 2020: 38 TWh of energy


saved for customers across our
international businesses.

to milestone

Milestone: 11 TWh by 2016/17.


Our customers are now saving 8.6 TWh of energy every year,
from the energy-saving products and services they have
purchased from us since 2011/12 enough to power three
quarters of the homes in Paris, almost 900,000 households,
for a year. We estimate this is equivalent to a 600 million a
year saving on customer energy bills5. We are on track to meet
our milestone for the end of financial year 2016/17 but have
significant work to do to reach our 2020 target.

Customer energy saving


Estimated annual saving (TWh) from products
purchased from us since 2011/12
38.0

2020 target

38 TWh of energy saved for customers. 45% reduction in


energy intensity of our property

Why it matters external trends

50% rise in global energy demand by 20352.


High energy bills the number one concern for customers3.
70 billion market for energy-efficient products and
services in Europe by 2020 4.
Energy a major business cost.
Home energy use a major source of carbon emissions.

2.5
11/12

5.1

12/13

7.0

13/14

8.6

14/15*

11.0

2016
2020
Milestone Target

* Within KPMGs limited assurance scope

Our energy-saving products include insulation, draught-proofing


and low energy lighting and appliances. We are also developing
advisory and installation services to help customers plan and
complete their projects successfully and to access government
subsidies where available. For example, Castorama France
is trialling a new in-store energy advisory service, see page 9,
and also runs Prime Energie Casto that helped 1,800 customers
to implement energy efficiency projects in 2014/15, saving
customers 203 GWh in home energy use.

1 Kingfisher European Home Report 2014


2 US Energy Information Administration, International Energy Outlook, 2010
3 Kingfisher European Home Report 2014
4 Boston Consulting Group report, commissioned by Kingfisher, 2011
5 Based on the average UK household energy bill

22

Kingfisher Net Positive Report 2014/15

We aim to provide affordable energy-efficient products and


services. As technology develops and economies of scale
improve, this can mean prices for products come down and
we can pass on these savings to customers. However, despite
this, home energy efficiency projects can still require customers
to make a significant financial investment. To enable more
customers to improve home energy efficiency, governments
need to create a supportive policy framework including
subsidies and incentives.
The positive policy environment in France, including challenging
national targets on greenhouse gas reductions and home
energy efficiency, is supporting progress in this area. However,
in the UK, initiatives such as the Green Deal have proved more
challenging than anticipated with inconsistencies in policy and
government support meaning growth in customer demand has
been slower than expected. As a result we no longer offer our
specialist energy efficiency service in the UK, B&Q Energy
Saving. We continue to deliver the ECO programme on behalf
of some energy companies, which aims to improve the ability
of low income and vulnerable households to heat their homes.
However, we have concerns that this programme, and so the
level of support the most vulnerable in society receive, will slow
down after the current obligation period finishes in 2017.

Energy-using products
Target 2020: All energy-using products
to meet best practice standards
on energy efficiency.

Data Not
Available

Milestone: 50% by 2016/17.


We stock a wide range of energy-using products from power
tools to appliances such as fridges and washing machines.
We aim for all appliances to meet best practice standards
on energy efficiency. We are still developing our approach
to monitoring performance in this area and do not yet have
group data to report.
Energy-using appliances can be expensive to run. By choosing
a more energy-efficient appliance, customers can save money
and reduce their environmental impact, without compromising
on performance. To help customers make informed choices,
B&Q UKs catalogues now include the annual running cost
for appliances such as washing machines, dishwashers, fridge
freezers and tumble dryers and highlight the models that are
cheapest to run. The estimated running cost for each appliance
is calculated based on its electricity and water use.

www.kingfisher.com

Sustainable lifestyles
Target 2020: Use our global brands and
marketing to help shift our millions of
customers towards sustainable lifestyles.

On Track

to milestone

Milestone: Give customers comprehensive


information and advice in-store and online
to help them with their sustainable choices by 2016/17.
External trends such as growing and ageing populations,
urbanisation, technological development and environmental
decline have an impact on how our customers live. Increasingly,
homes are smaller and more expensive to run, and are often
used as workplaces as well as for living.
We aim to bring our customers the products and services
they need to create a sustainable home one that is healthy
and comfortable, stylish and adaptable, efficient, less wasteful
and more affordable to run.
We aim to make it easier for customers to have a more
sustainable lifestyle by improving the performance of our
product ranges (see page 28) and by providing information
and advice in our stores, catalogues and online. For example,
B&Qs One Planet Home website includes advice and
information on issues such as saving energy and water,
recycling and wildlife-friendly gardens.
Brico Dpt France is using a range of approaches to
communicate the sustainability benefits of its products to
customers. It launched the Maison Brico Dpt tool on its
website this year, providing advice on 16 DIY projects for
completely renovating your home at an affordable price. It
aims to make it easier for customers to improve the comfort
and sustainability of their homes and includes a number of
projects that improve energy efficiency. Brico Dpt also has
a dedicated energy efficiency website (www.ecoperformancebricodepot.fr) which was visited by over 100,000 customers
in 2014/15, with many customers using its Eco Prime service
which makes it easier to access government subsidies. It
has signed a partnership with PEFC, the timber certification
organisation, to raise customer awareness of the benefits
of responsibly sourced timber which includes using the
PEFC logo in its catalogues.

23

Energy continued

Responsible marketing
Target 2016/17: All our customer
communications and marketing to be
in line with our guidelines on responsible
brand management and marketing
by 2016/17.

Property portfolio energy intensity

Not On Track
to target

175.1
153.5

All our marketing should be accurate and honest, particularly


when it includes claims about a products environmental or
social benefits. Our commitment is set out in our Responsible
Marketing Policy and Guidelines. B&Q UK, Castorama France
and Brico Dpt France have introduced their own eco
marketing guidelines which reflect our Group Guidelines;
however further work is needed at some operating companies.
We also have Eco Product Guidelines, developed with
independent sustainability experts Bioregional. These help us
to identify products with improved environmental performance
and to monitor progress in a consistent way between our
companies, see page 27.
Our companies train their marketing and communications
teams on responsible marketing in relation to sustainability.
For example, this year Castorama France trained its teams on
how to make sure that claims about responsibly sourced timber
are accurate and in line with guidance from the FSC and PEFC.
We are also involved in wider conversations about the role of
sustainability in marketing. For example, Chris Moss, Marketing
Director at B&Q UK addressed the Sustainable Brands
conference during 2014. You can watch the video at
www.sustainablebrands.com.

Net Positive: Own Energy


Target 2020: 45% reduction in the energy
intensity (kWh/m2) of our property portfolio
from a 2010/11 baseline.

kWh/m2 reported floor space

Achieved

milestone

Milestone: 15% reduction by 2016/17.


We have reduced the energy intensity of our property portfolio
by 17% since 2010/11. We reduced our energy intensity this
year and have met our 2016/17 milestone. However, we believe
that this reduction was due in part to mild winter weather in
Europe which meant our energy use for heating was lower than
in other years. This means we still have work to do to maintain
our current performance and to reach our 2020 target.
We aim to cut property energy use by: reducing demand
through energy-efficient building design and behaviour
change; increasing efficiency through our use of technology
(such as LED lighting); and by identifying and eliminating
inefficiencies. We are creating Energy Resilience plans for
every operating company to engage employees and managers
and to facilitate sharing of best practices.

157.9

160.4

145.5

148.8
96.3

10/11

11/12

12/13

13/14

14/15*

2016
2020
Milestone Target

* Within KPMGs limited assurance scope

LED lighting

Lighting plays a key role in creating a great shopping experience


for our customers and is a business cost. LED lighting can
significantly reduce energy use and costs, while providing the
right quality of light. Lighting typically accounts for over half of
store electricity use. We can make significant reductions by
installing LED technology which is approximately 40% more
efficient than the next best solution. Our target is to roll out
LED to all new and existing stores by 2020. We established a
cross-company unified LED team to: work with our companies
on LED roll-out; agree a group specification for LED; identify
a global supplier; and facilitate best practice sharing. To date
we have installed LED lighting in 15% of the estate. This is
delivering 3 million in savings per annum.
To build on savings achieved through efficient lighting, we will
now be looking at improving our heating and cooling systems
and running an awareness campaign to encourage energy
smart behaviour.

Energy monitoring

Smart metering and energy monitoring can help us to identify


where energy is being wasted and to eliminate losses. B&Q
UK has trialled a new system called Measure-My-Energy at
its Nursling store. This measures energy use down to the level
of each appliance and socket and has resulted in a 7.6%
reduction in electricity use each year. The trial is now being
extended to further B&Q UK stores.

We have installed LED lighting


in 15% of the estate. This is
delivering 3 million in savings
per annum.

Read about our wider commitment to sustainable construction


and property, page 44.

24

Kingfisher Net Positive Report 2014/15

IT

Absolute carbon footprint

We are reducing energy used for IT by focusing on:


Data centre efficiency: we are consolidating our data centres,
reducing the number of sites overall and moving to more
energy-efficient locations. We are also reducing the number
of physical servers through virtualisation (a solution that
enables servers to run more efficiently). This is avoiding
an estimated 900,000 a year in energy costs.
Managed print: we are reducing the overall number of
printers and installing measures such as swipe cards to
reduce wastage. Managed print is now in place in most
of our UK locations. This has reduced UK energy use for
printing by 21% compared with 2009 and means 18 million
fewer sheets of paper are used each year for printing, despite
business growth.
Upgrading software and hardware: we are investing in
energy-efficient machines and creating shared software
systems as part of a major programme to update and
centralise our IT systems. New desktop devices are now
in place at B&Q UK, Castorama, Kingfisher IT Services
and Corporate Centre that use 25% less energy than
previous devices. We are also rolling out tools to enable
easier collaboration between locations, potentially reducing
business travel.

Total carbon footprint


Target 2020: 25% reduction in our absolute
carbon footprint (tonnes CO2e) from
a 2010/11 baseline.

On Track

to milestone

Milestone: No increase by 2016/17.


We have reduced our absolute greenhouse gas emissions
from property energy use, dedicated delivery fleets and
business travel by road by 2% against our 2010/11 baseline.
However, emissions increased 3% year on year due to:
an increase in electricity consumption; updates to emission
conversion factors; and the inclusion of data for our
Romanian business.
Achieving our target for a substantial reduction in our absolute
greenhouse gas emissions will be very challenging as our
business grows. To address this, we are developing our strategy
for investment in renewable energy (see Alternative energy,
page 26) as well as focusing on energy efficiency and reducing
emissions associated with transport (see page 42).

2014/15 carbon footprint detail*


Thousand tonnes CO2 equivalent
Property: purchased
electricity and heat

307.9 (68%)

Property: gas
and other fuels

76.2 (17%)

Haulage: dedicated
store and home
deliveries

56.9 (13%)

Business travel
by road

thousand tonnes CO2 equivalent


460.0

426.3

445.3

438.9

450.2

460.0
345.0

10/11

11/12

12/13

13/14

14/15*

2016
2020
Milestone Target

* Within KPMGs limited assurance scope

Value chain carbon emissions

Outside our direct operations, the most significant carbon


emissions associated with our business are customer use
of electricity consuming products and the sourcing and
manufacture of product categories such as non-metallic
mineral products (for example cement and glass), tiles
and building products.
We aim to work with suppliers and others to achieve carbon
reductions in our value chain. Our focus is on helping
customers reduce their energy use and emissions through
our sales of energy-saving products, see page 22.
In addition, KSO, our sourcing organisation, is working with
its suppliers in China to support them to reduce greenhouse
gas emissions as part of WWFs Low Carbon Manufacturing
Programme (LCMP), which KSO helped develop. In total 24
suppliers to KSO took part in LCMP, collectively avoiding over
11,740 tonnes of carbon, an estimated 11% reduction in
carbon emissions compared with business as usual. KSO
aims for its top 50 vendors in China to be participating in
energy efficiency improvement initiatives by 2016.

Property carbon intensity


Target 2020: 50% reduction in the carbon
intensity (CO2e/m2) of our property portfolio
from a 2010/11 baseline.

On Track

to milestone

Milestone: 20% reduction by 2016/17.


Our property carbon emissions account for 85% of our carbon
footprint. We have achieved a 15% reduction in our property
carbon intensity (kg CO2e/m2 floor space) since 2010/11.
All new building and refurbishment projects must show a
tangible improvement in carbon intensity against our blueprint
baselines and we also have a target to reduce embodied carbon
(the carbon resulting from energy used to create materials for
store construction) by 10%.
We launched a new property database during 2014/15
which enables our companies to review the carbon and
energy intensity of each of their properties, and compare
the performance of properties in different locations. This
will help us target our efforts and to identify and learn from
examples of good practice.

9.2 (2%)

* Within KPMGs limited assurance scope

www.kingfisher.com

25

Energy continued
Property portfolio carbon intensity
kg CO2 equivalent/m reported floor space
2

57.4

50.9

51.8

50.0

48.9

45.9
28.7

10/11

11/12

12/13

13/14

14/15*

2016
2020
Milestone Target

* Within KPMGs limited assurance scope

Alternative energy

We established a renewable energy strategy this year, which


identifies opportunities to reduce costs and emissions while
improving our energy security.
We are focusing initially on solar photovoltaic generation, but
will be exploring other renewable technologies to find solutions
best suited to different locations and markets, including
biomass and ground-source heat pump technologies. Following
our solar PV project at Screwfix, see page 14, we are evaluating
further projects at UK distribution centres, data centres and
stores and exploring opportunities in other markets. Our
companies are also exploring new approaches to renewable
energy generation. For example, B&Qs Merthyr Tydfil store
uses a transpiring roof to harvest heat from the sun, a first for
the UK retail sector (see page 13).

We were a co-funder and champion of a report by Cambridge


Econometrics for E3G, Building the Future: The economic
and fiscal impacts of making homes energy efficient.
This included detailed modelling on the potential economic,
fiscal, and environmental impacts of improving UK household
energy efficiency. This showed a potential 2.27:1 cost benefit
ratio meaning that such an initiative would be classified as a
High Value for Money infrastructure programme according
to UK government criteria. Following publication, all political
parties committed to make domestic energy efficiency a
national infrastructure priority for the next government.
In France the government launched a policy programme
to oversee the countrys transition to a low carbon economy,
that includes plans for significant energy efficiency projects.
We engaged with the government on two related policy areas:
We supported the Certificates dconomie dnergie
programme through which Castorama France and Brico
Dpt France provide vouchers to customers when they
purchase energy-efficient boilers.
In France some subsidies for energy efficiency projects
are currently only available when projects are completed
by accredited suppliers. We secured government permission
for customers using our Castorama network of recommended
tradesmen to receive the 30% tax credit and also engaged
with governments to advocate for subsidies to be extended
to include DIY energy efficiency projects.

Engagement and advocacy

We work with governments and NGOs on issues relating to


energy and climate change, and advocate for policies that
support progress on these issues at a national and international
level. In 2014/15 we were a signatory to two communications
from the Corporate Leaders Group on Climate Change: the
Trillion Tonne Communiqu in support of a proactive policy
response to climate change; and the Business Statement
Text to Heads of State 2030 Climate and Energy Package,
urging the EU to strengthen its climate commitments. Our
then Group Chief Executive, Sir Ian Cheshire, contributed
an opinion piece to the Guardian newspaper in support of
the Trillion Tonne Communiqu.
We were also active at the UK level, for example:
We helped establish the Big Energy Vision, a campaign
aimed at creating a more positive dialogue on home energy
efficiency and empowering householders to take control
of rising energy bills. The campaign is backed by a range
of businesses and NGOs including John Lewis, Home Retail
Group, National Trust, Citizens Advice, Calor, uSwitch, Energy
Saving Trust, TrustMark, Energy UK, UK Green Building
Council, Global Action Plan, Willmott Dixon and Groundwork.
See www.energycontrol.co.uk.
B&Q UK sponsored a new energy-saving category in the
Observer Ethical Awards, to identify householders finding the
most innovative ways to save energy. Nine households took
part in the Great Energy Race, with the winner receiving a
renewable energy home makeover worth up to 10,000.
The awards were covered in the press and on social networks.

26

Kingfisher Net Positive Report 2014/15

Innovation

Innovation
We want to help and inspire millions of people to improve
their homes and we know that homes cant be better if they
arent sustainable. All our customers should be able to create a
more sustainable home. We are innovating in our products and
services to enable customers to live more sustainably, reducing
the environmental footprint of our ranges and designing out waste.
Closed loop systems, in which raw materials are continually
reused and recycled, offer huge potential for innovation and
could improve the sustainability of our products while reducing
waste and opening up new and more resilient raw material
supply chains. We are working with partners such as the
Ellen MacArthur Foundation, experts in the circular economy,
to identify and adopt more closed loop approaches.
We need to integrate sustainable thinking into our product
design, development and sourcing processes, and work more
closely with suppliers to identify sustainable innovations that
meet customer needs and benefit our business. We have a
number of tools to help us do this including: our eco product
guidelines, developed with sustainability experts Bioregional;
our range review processes that help our buyers and product
developers improve the sustainability performance of product
ranges; and our closed loop calculator.
Examples of recent sustainable product innovations are
featured in the In Store section of this Report, pages 911.

2050 Aspiration

Every Kingfisher product will enable a more sustainable


and ultimately Net Positive lifestyle

2020 target

Eco products
Target 2020: To be at the forefront of
sustainable product innovation, with 10%
of Group sales from the most innovative
(best-in-class) eco-products and services.

On Track

Target 2020: To bring eco-products into


the mainstream, by achieving 50% of
Group sales from products and services
with eco credentials.

to milestone

Milestone: 25% by 2016/17.


We are making progress on improving the sustainability
credentials of our products. Eco product sales were worth
2.4 billion in 2014/15, an increase from 2.3 billion the
previous year. This is equivalent to 22% of total sales.
Sales of best-in-class eco products, our most innovative
products and services, were worth 375 million.

Products with eco credentials


% of retail sales
50%

Why it matters external trends

10%

The way our customers live is changing and they need


new types of products and services.

US$1 trillion a year could be generated for the global


economy by 2025 by creating circular supply chains1.

to milestone

Milestone: 5% by 2016/17.

1,000 Kingfisher products with closed-loop credentials

9 billion global population by 2050. Increased competition


for resources and materials means rising and fluctuating
costs and potential shortages.

Not On Track

20%

20%

21%

22%

4%

5%

5%

3%

16%

15%

16%

19%

11/12

12/13

13/14

14/15*

Eco compliance products

25%
5%

40%

20%
2016
2020
Milestone Target

Best-in-class products

* Within KPMGs limited assurance scope

1 The Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Towards the Circular Economy Vol 3, 2014

www.kingfisher.com

27

Innovation continued
Our eco product guidelines are intended to act as a catalyst
for innovation and we regularly update them to reflect the
latest thinking and knowledge on eco design. The Guidelines
were completely reviewed and updated during 2014 in
consultation with sustainability experts, Bioregional. This meant
that some products (such as halogen light bulbs) which were
once defined as best-in-class were re-categorised as products
with eco credentials. This resulted in a drop in our best-in-class
product sales from 5% of total sales in 2013/14 to 3% of sales
this year, and contributed to a rise in sales of eco compliance
products. You can read the current Eco Product Guidelines
at www.kingfisher.com/netpositiveresources. We train our
commercial teams on our eco product guidelines, and training
took place at three operating companies during 2014/15.

Rooftrade Living Roof Kits

B&Q UKs new Rooftrade living roof kits for sheds boost
garden biodiversity and help extend the life of garden sheds.
The kits contain a low maintenance, drought resistant, ready
to lay sedum vegetation blanket grown in the UK. This
includes sixteen varieties of sedum plants, pre-grown into a
recycled crushed brick growing medium and a biodegradable
felt mat made from recycled British textiles. The sedum
blanket has been specially designed to provide a variety
of plants throughout the year whilst enhancing biodiversity,
and carries the RHS Perfect for Pollinators label.

Our companies hold innovation days that encourage suppliers


to showcase new products with improved environmental
performance. For example, 250 vendors attended an innovation
day at Castorama France with all the products showcased
assessed against our eco products criteria, while at B&Qs
innovation day for its building category suppliers pitched many
innovative product ideas with sustainability benefits.

Range reviews
Target 2020: To enhance the
eco credentials of all our products
by improving the sustainability rating
of every product range.

Not On Track

to milestone

Milestone: Conduct a sustainability rating


for every product range by 2016/17.
Target 2020: Demonstrate leadership
on eco innovation across our Group
own brands.

Not On Track

to milestone

Milestone: All own brands to conform


to minimum sustainability criteria by 2016/17.
Over time we aim to improve the sustainability performance of
every product range with a particular focus on demonstrating
leadership in our own brands.
Our approach is most developed at our largest operating
companies. For example, B&Q UK uses an annual range
sustainability rating process to engage product buyers.
The process identifies the sustainability impacts and issues
associated with each product range and provides suggestions
to buyers for improving sustainability performance, as well as
opportunities for increasing sales and revenue. Reviews were
carried out for every buying area during 2014/15, and the
process has helped B&Q reach 35% of sales from products with
eco credentials. New products launched that contributed to the
range sustainability rating include easyGrow (page 10), B&Qs
Rooftrade living roof kits (see right) and the B&Q flood protection
product range. We are now exploring the best approach to
introducing the range sustainability rating process at Screwfix.
In our French businesses we have developed the collaborative
ReMade process. This brings together internal specialists in
areas such as production, manufacturing, engineering, retail
and logistics as well as suppliers and external partners to
develop solutions that design out waste and enable materials
reuse and recycling. This has been used in development of
products such as Nods decking, see page 11.

28

As part of the strategic update for our business, see page 4, we


are introducing more unified sourcing and product development
for our own brand ranges which will provide opportunities to
improve sustainability performance. For example, we are
exploring how we can innovate in our garden and bathroom
ranges to better meet customers changing needs and our
garden, bathroom and Net Positive teams are working closely
together to fully embed sustainability into this review process.

Net Positive: Closing the loop


Target 2020: 1,000 Kingfisher products
with closed loop credentials.

Achieved

milestone

Milestone: 300 by 2016/17.


Adopting closed loop approaches is challenging and
requires close collaboration with suppliers. We are taking
initial steps within our business to begin improving the
closed loop credentials of our products and to create
more circular supply chains.
We are using our closed loop calculator to assess which of
our products already have closed loop credentials and identify
opportunities for improvement. The calculator, developed with
the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and Bioregional, includes a
number of criteria such as materials used, whether a product
can be rented or repaired and whether it can be disassembled
for recycling at end-of-life. Any product scoring Very Good or
Excellent is considered to have closed loop credentials. We have
identified 562 products so far (2013/14: 170). Examples include
B&Qs easyGrow bedding plants, (see page 10) and garden
fence supports created from recycled plastic bottles introduced
at Castorama Poland. We are training buyers on the calculator.
We are providing opportunities for employees to improve
their understanding of the circular economy and its practical
business potential. This includes places on an executive
education course for senior managers and a circular economy
MBA course both run by Bradford University School of

Kingfisher Net Positive Report 2014/15

Management and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Twelve


employees completed the executive education course during
2014/15 and three employees are enrolled on the MBA.

Closed loop supply chains


Data Not
Available

Target 2020: Ten closed-loop supply chains.


Milestone: Five by 2016/17.

We are exploring whether and how waste streams from our


business and our customers can be integrated into more circular
supply chains as a source of raw materials. Our companies have
undertaken a number of pilot projects including take-back trials
for customer waste. For example, Castorama Polands take-back
programme for waste electrical and electronic items ran at over
70 stores during 2014/15 collecting over 264 tonnes of waste,
while Screwfix ran a pilot with a reverse logistics company to
recycle materials from old and faulty power tools collected from
its stores. However, our experience so far suggests that customer
waste streams often do not provide sufficient or consistent
volumes of materials and that it can be challenging to generate
a commercial return sufficient to cover the costs of collecting
and recycling the materials. We are continuing to work with
our suppliers in this area which may include looking at
opportunities in relation to our own business waste.
We are also working with sustainability experts Bioregional
to develop a definition of a closed loop supply chain and a
methodology for monitoring performance, which will enable
us to report progress against our target in future years. This
follows an initial scoping project with the Ellen MacArthur
Foundation during 2014.

Alternative services
Target 2016/17: Explore and trial
alternative business models such as
product hire and repair, which encourage
a perpetual reuse of products.

Not On Track

to target

Services, such as rental and repair, can replace sales of


physical products and be profitable for the business while
reducing use of resources. Since fewer products are needed
overall and because products are easier to recycle at end-of-life,
these services can play an important role in the transition to a
circular economy.
We already have examples of successful services such as
Castorama Polands rental and repair services which carried
out over 205,000 repairs in 2014/15. Other services include
tool repair services at our companies including Kotas and
Screwfix and rental services such as B&Qs Rug Doctor. We will
continue to explore the potential for alternative services as well
as opportunities relating to the sharing economy, see page 31.

Learning stores
Target 2016/17: Every Operating Company Not
to develop at least three learning stores
and to have delivered, or confirmed, the site
for one eco store that champions low
carbon and sustainability innovation.

www.kingfisher.com

On Track

to target

We now have 19 learning stores and two eco stores in the


group, with two operating companies already meeting our
target on Eco Stores and a further three on track to do so.
However, progress in four companies has been slower
meaning we are not on track to reach our target by 2016/17.
See pages 13 and 45 for examples of sustainable innovation
in our stores during 2014.

Sustainability accounting
Target 2016/17: Calculate and account
for the impact and value of our
sustainability strategy to the business
and communicate this to investors
and employees.

Not On Track
to target

By becoming Net Positive we will generate new revenues and


reduce our costs through improved productivity and efficiency.
We aim to calculate the financial benefits for our business to
assist our decision-making and to help investors and employees
understand the business importance of Net Positive.
We already collect data in a number of areas including eco
product sales (page 27) and cost savings from the installation
of energy efficient LED lighting (page 24) and we are improving
our data on savings in areas such as packaging. We are also
trialling an approach to measuring the financial benefits of
initiatives to reduce waste, with a view to rolling this out across
Kingfisher. We have incorporated sustainability considerations
into our capital expenditure processes, reflecting the value of
Net Positive to the business.
The data we obtain from these processes will enable us to
provide a fuller picture of the direct financial benefits of Net
Positive over time. Our focus in future will be on continuing to
expand data collection in key areas such as these, rather than
attempting to provide an overall figure for the value of Net Positive.

Engagement and advocacy

We are working with other businesses, NGOs and government


to help stimulate innovation and encourage progress in areas
such as the circular economy. Examples include:
The European Resource Efficiency Platform we are
founding members of this forum which is helping to shape
EU policy and create the right regulatory conditions for the
circular economy.
Circular Economy 100 we helped establish this network
run by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation for companies,
innovators and regional governments.
Environmental Audit Committee our former Group Chief
Executive, Sir Ian Cheshire, gave evidence to this committee
on the potential role of the UK government in supporting
a circular economy and was quoted in their report Growing
a circular economy: Ending the throwaway society.
Disruptive Innovation Festival we supported this event led
by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation which brought together
thought-leaders, entrepreneurs, businesses, and suppliers
to explore themes relating to the circular economy, sharing
economy and systems innovation.

29

Communities

Communities
Our business exists to help people create better homes and
through doing so to have better lives. As part of this, we aim
to make a positive contribution in every community in which
we work, supporting projects that improve community resilience
and social cohesion. This benefits local people, including our
employees and customers, and is good for our business too.
Our community projects use our expertise as a home
improvement retailer to create positive change including
by helping people develop practical skills and improving
community facilities.
The sharing economy, with technology enabling people to
connect and exchange skills and resources more easily, can
make it easier for people to improve their communities by
helping each other. We aim to encourage these positive benefits
by sharing our knowledge and creating opportunities for
customers to learn skills and connect with and help each other.
Our community projects vary from company to company
but address common themes. To increase the impact of our
community investment and to speed up the rate of progress
to meet our 2020 target, we are reviewing our communities
strategy. We will establish priorities for projects across our
companies that are most relevant to our home improvement
expertise, our Net Positive ambitions and the core challenges
facing society. We will continue to focus on areas such as
building skills, renovation and forest projects.

2050 Aspiration

Every Kingfisher store and location supports projects


which build local communities or equip people with skills

Community projects
Target 2020: 4,000 community projects
completed by our people that deliver
Better Homes, Better Lives.

Not On Track

to milestone

Milestone: 1,500 projects by 2016/17.


Our companies have supported 805 community projects
since 2012/13, focusing on areas such as improving homes
and facilities for those in need and supporting young people
to develop practical skills. This is an increase from 530 in
2013/14; however, at our current rate of progress we are not on
track to reach our milestone of 1,500 by 2016/17. Our work to
strengthen our communities strategy will help to address this.

The value of our investment

Our total community investment was worth 2.38 million in


2014/15 (2013/14: 2.87 million), equivalent to 0.35% of
pre-tax profits. This includes cash donations, employee time
and gifts in kind, with product donations valued at cost price.
A number of projects were put on hold at B&Q UK during the
year as it reviewed its communities strategy and appointed a
new community manager. This contributed to the year-on-year
drop in our total community investment and fundraising.

2020 target

Our employees spent over 28,500 work hours volunteering in their


local communities. The total value of employee time (including
volunteering hours and management costs) is 540,000.

Why it matters external trends

In addition to our own giving, we encourage and facilitate


customers and employees to raise money for charities.
Examples include in-store collections, payroll giving, fundraising
events and using our contact centres to take pledges from the
public during charity fundraising appeals such as the UKs
Children in Need. In 2014/15 we helped employees and
customers raise 671,000 for charity (2013/14: 1.07 million).

4,000 community projects completed that deliver Better


Homes, Better Lives
Inequality, unemployment and housing shortages could
undermine community cohesion and the prosperity
needed for business growth.
The sharing economy is altering how people access goods
and services, with benefits for communities.
70% of customers say they will remain loyal to a brand
that demonstrates social value1.

We assess the impact of many of our community projects to


help us identify opportunities for improvement and maximise
the value of our investment. Examples are included in our
Data Appendix, www.kingfisher.com/netpositivereport.

1 RSA, Community Footprint Report, 2012

30

Kingfisher Net Positive Report 2014/15

Skills sharing

Community investment
thousand

Target 2016/17: Promote sharing of skills


and know-how in local communities
by building online community platforms
in the UK and France to help link people.

1,071
1,021
626

671

618

1,550

1,727

10/11

11/12

2,361

12/13

Company giving

2,868

13/14

to target

The DIY sector can encourage the positive benefits of the


sharing economy. We aim to share the knowledge and skills
that exist within our businesses and help customers connect
with and help each other.

2,380

14/15*

Value of employee and customer giving

* Within KPMGs limited assurance scope

2014/15 company input by category*


thousand
Cash donations

1,617 (68%)

Employee time

540 (23%)

Gifts-in-kind

On Track

223 (9%)

For example, Castorama France is supporting a new home


improvement wiki site an open-source and collaborative
knowledge-sharing platform that will help consumers complete
their DIY projects. Anyone will be able to join Wiki for home to
share their expertise and experiences and learn from the collective
intelligence of a large community including fellow DIYers and
home improvement enthusiasts, professional handymen,
schools, fab labs (workshops where people can use digital
technology to test and implement their ideas) and maker
spaces. See www.wikiforhome.org. This builds on Castoramas
experiences in launching Les Trocheures, Frances first DIY
community skill-sharing website.

Some of the recent projects we have supported include:

In the UK, B&Q established StreetClub in 2012 to encourage


neighbours to share skills and come together to improve their
local communities. To increase the impact of StreetClub and
enable members to connect with more people, StreetClub
merged with community platform Streetbank during early 2015.
This has created a network of 35,000 members across the UK.
See www.streetbank.com.

B&Q China has implemented 109 community projects


since 2012/13. Through its partnership with the Cherished
Dream Foundation, it has supported the opening of eight
Dream Centres multimedia classrooms in rural schools
in less-developed regions of China.

B&Q also encourages the sharing of DIY skills online through


videos and information on its YouTube and Facebook pages
and by making many of its Kids Can Do It workshop lesson
plans available for free online. Its DIY skills videos were viewed
7.5 million times during 2014/15.

* Within KPMGs limited assurance scope

B&Q UK is the first major UK retailer to donate 100% of the


money raised from its carrier bag levy to charity. In year one
the money will be donated to Children in Need. B&Q also
raised over 62,000 for the Royal British Legions Centenary
Poppy campaign through sales of poppy seeds.
Brico Dpt Frances HOME projects get employees involved
in improving social housing for people in need. In 2014/15,
160 employees took part improving three properties.
Castorama Poland has run its Majsterkowo programme since
2012, enabling 80,000 children to complete free DIY classes
at its stores.
KS&O supports the Left Behind Children programme which
helps children whose parents leave home for long periods
to find factory work. Left behind children face a range of
challenges including being vulnerable to psychological and
emotional issues, sexual abuse and other threats to their
safety. So far two KS&O suppliers have taken part, benefiting
728 workers and 350 children.
Screwfix has helped raise 300,000 for charity through
the Screwfix Foundation since April 2013, benefiting over
120 community facilities, see page 11.

www.kingfisher.com

31

Communities continued

Learning practical skills


can make individuals more
likely to help others which
in turn contributes to
stronger communities.
Also in the UK, the Screwfix Community Forum enables
tradespeople, customers and others to share DIY expertise,
ask for advice and discuss topical issues. It has over 100,000
members and 1.25 million posts and averages over 240,000
page views a week.

Engagement and advocacy

During 2014, we supported the launch of Collectively, a new


digital platform developed to drive conversation and action
on sustainability and make sustainable living the new normal.
Collectively was launched through a coalition including Forum
for the Future and leading businesses such as Kingfisher,
Unilever, BT Group, The Coca-Cola Company, Marks &
Spencer, Carlsberg, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, McDonalds,
Nike, PepsiCo and Nestl. It is designed to encourage action
at the grass-roots level and to enable audiences to act
more sustainably in whatever way they can from buying,
investing and campaigning to sharing an idea they believe in.
See www.collectively.org.

Exploring the links between skills


and wellbeing

When people have the skills and motivation, they can


improve their homes and their neighbourhood; thats
why many of our community projects focus on helping
people to acquire practical skills. Now a report by the
New Economics Foundation, supported by Kingfisher,
has shown the positive impact of practical skills on
personal and community wellbeing.
The report, called Hands-on Communities, draws on
data from the UK Big Lottery Fund, academic research
and expert interviews. It found that learning practical
skills and undertaking tasks like DIY, cooking or gardening
can have a significant impact on an individuals wellbeing,
leading to higher levels of life satisfaction.
The report also shows that learning practical skills can
make individuals more likely to help others which in turn
contributes to stronger communities. 25% of people who
learnt practical skills in one study increased their social,
voluntary or community involvement. Other benefits
included saving money, improved employability and better
social cohesion from creating bridges between community
members who might not otherwise interact.
To raise awareness of the research among professionals
working in the community sector, the report was launched
at the annual conference of Locality, the network for
community-led organisations.
Read the report at www.neweconomics.org/publications/
entry/hands-on-communities.

32

Kingfisher Net Positive Report 2014/15

Employees

Employees
Retail is a people business and this is particularly true in our sector
as customers often need help and advice when shopping for home
improvement products and services. It is our people that make us
what we are and will determine our sustained success.
We want Kingfisher to be a great company to work for and an
employer of choice in our sector. We aim to recruit and retain
diverse and talented teams to serve our customers and we
prioritise investment in training and development, creating
a pipeline of talent for our business to grow. Our ability to
engage employees and to work together across functions and
companies will become even more important as we implement
our new strategic approach and create a more unified ONE
Kingfisher business.
To achieve our Net Positive goals we need to make sustainability
part of our day for everyone at Kingfisher. We are engaging our
employees on our sustainability ambitions to encourage them
to change the way they do things so we can meet changing
customer needs and drive sustainable growth.

Inclusion and diversity


Target 2020: To be recognised as a
best practice company for equality
and diversity within our local retail markets.

Not On Track

to milestone

Milestone: All companies to have an action plan


in place for their market by 2016/17.
A workforce that reflects the diverse communities we work
in helps us to better serve our customers and encourages
innovation and creativity in our business. We aim to recruit
people of all backgrounds with a wide range of skills,
experience, perspectives and leadership styles. Our current
focus is on improving gender balance at all levels of the
business and supporting young people to develop their
careers with us.

Our leaders have an important role to play in enabling the


development and progression of a diverse talent pool and
in embracing and cultivating different styles and approaches
within their teams. We also work with our external recruitment
partners to make sure that women are well represented on
recruitment lists and development programmes.

Gender diversity
(% female representation)

Total workforce
Senior
management
All management
positions

10/11

11/12

12/13

13/14

14/15*

40

40

40

39

40

17

19

21

22

21

29

29

30

29

30

Senior management covers the Board, directors and heads of department (401 full time
equivalent employees)
* Within KPMGs limited assurance scope.

Ethnic diversity

Ethnic minorities accounted for 11% of employees in the UK


(2013/14: 9%). The increase reflects improvements to data
quality and improved consistency in how we define ethnic
minorities across our UK companies. Our definition of ethnic
minorities now includes all employees who do not define
themselves as White British. We believe the percentage
of ethnic minorities was under-reported in 2013/14.
We dont report a Group figure for ethnic diversity since
definitions of what constitutes an ethnic minority vary by country
and in markets such as France it is illegal to ask employees to
declare their ethnicity.

Gender balance

During 2014/15, women made up 40% of the Kingfisher


Board (2013/14: 27%) and 24% of One Team Leaders,
our most senior leaders (2013/14: 18%). There was a slight
decline in female representation across the wider senior
management population, see table, but a small rise in
female representation across all management positions.
To achieve balanced representation of men and women
among our senior leaders, we are focusing on increasing
the participation of women in development programmes,
increasing female candidates in succession planning and
raising the visibility of our female leaders. The Kingfisher
Women in Business network provides opportunities for
female employees to build their network across the company.

www.kingfisher.com

33

Employees continued

Learning and development

Awards and recognition


Our companies have been recognised with a number
of awards for their Human Resources practices.
Brico Dpt Iberia Great Place to Work Spain, fifth
best company and European Business Awards in
Spain Employer of the Year
Castorama France Top Employer 2015 from the
Top Employers Institute for the fifth consecutive year
Castorama Poland Reliable Employer of the year award,
DIY sector, 2014 for its approach to career development,
working environment and employee benefits
Kingfisher Top Retail Company for Graduates to Work
for 2014/15 from JobCrowd

Age diversity

A workforce with employees of many different generations


brings a range of insights and experiences that can help
us better serve our customers. We have a focus on creating
jobs for young people as well as supporting older workers to
continue their careers with us.
For example, Screwfix is committed to supporting efforts to
reduce youth unemployment and during 2014/15 created
over 1,350 new roles of which almost 40% were filled by
people under the age of 24. At B&Q UK, policies such as
flexible retirement have helped it achieve around a fifth of
employees aged over 50, compared with the Group average
of 16%.

Employees by age 2014/15*


Percentage
Employees 25-49

(71%)

Employees 50 and over

(16%)

Employees 24 and under

(13%)

* Within KPMGs limited assurance scope

Disability

Having a disability shouldnt be a barrier to a career at


Kingfisher. We aim to create accessible workplaces and provide
the right support to employees with disabilities. This also helps
us to comply with legislation regarding employment of disabled
people that has been introduced in a number of our markets.
In 2014/15, the proportion of employees with a declared
disability was 2% (2013/14: 2%). Our companies in France
are particularly focused on supporting people with disabilities
to build their careers with us, reflecting national legislation and
targets. Over 5.3% of employees at Castorama France have a
disability and 6.1% at Brico Dpt France.

34

We provide exciting training opportunities that enable


employees to develop their skills, better serve our customers
and progress their careers with us. In total, employees
completed almost 777,000 training hours (an average of
10 hours per employee). Training spend was 16.6 million in
2014/15. Most of our operating companies conduct annual
performance appraisals for employees.
We provide a mixture of centrally and locally delivered training
programmes for employees at every level of the business.
Examples include:
Apprenticeships, internships and work placements
Our apprenticeship and work placement programmes help
young people to get started in their careers and to gain
valuable experience while completing their studies.
For example, 500 young people took part in Castorama
Frances Go Alternance programme during 2014/15 which
recruits and develops young people for a variety of career
paths at Castoramas stores and offices. Screwfix is working
with several UK universities to provide work placements to
high potential undergraduates. 26 young people have taken
part to date. See page 13 for information on apprenticeships
at Brico Dpt France.
Graduate programmes
Our graduate programmes such as the Kingfisher IT Graduate
Programme and Kingfisher International Commercial
Graduate Programme help us identify and develop future
leaders. Participants complete international placements
and benefit from a wide range of development opportunities.
31 graduates have taken part over the last three years.
Store employees
Our store employees have the most important jobs in the
business giving our customers the help and advice they need
to chose the right products and complete their projects. Training
helps store employees improve their retail skills and product
knowledge and often includes opportunities to gain new
qualifications.
We also run talent development programmes for store staff
to help them develop their careers and to ensure we have
employees with the right skills and experience to fill key roles.
For example, Screwfix has developed its First Steps and Fast
Track programmes to help store colleagues move from Service
Assistant right through to Store Manager. Through its Fast Track
to Branch Manager Programme employees can study towards
a Level 4 Diploma in Leadership and Management from the
Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM).

Closer to the customer at Castorama Russia

We want to make home improvement easy and affordable


for customers and to offer the products, information and
support they need to complete their projects successfully.
To help and inspire employees to do this, Castorama Russia
has launched Meet the Customer, a programme of home
visits. Every employee is visiting five customer homes during
the year to find out for themselves how customers plan and
implement their home improvement projects.

Kingfisher Net Positive Report 2014/15

Management and leadership training


Management and leadership training gives employees
opportunities to grow their careers with us. For example, B&Q
UK runs Aspire, a set of five talent programmes that support
employees to reach management and senior management
positions. It ranges from the Aspiring Trading Managers
programme for customer advisors and supervisors, to the
Aspiring Head of programme for managers looking to move
to senior leadership roles.
Kingfisher One Academy is our executive education offer
for our most senior leaders. The Academy has a number of
bespoke programmes that enable senior leaders to develop
a strong understanding of the Kingfisher strategy and the
associated challenges. Programme topics include leadership,
financial and commercial strategy and Net Positive.

Employee health and safety (H&S)


Target 2020: Achieve a 20% reduction
in the employee lost-time accident rate
from a 2010/11 baseline.

Not On Track

to milestone

Milestone: 10% reduction by 2016/17.


Our total lost-time accident rate (number of lost-time accidents
per 100,000 full-time equivalent employees) was 3,426, an
increase on last year and on our 2010/11 baseline. We believe
this is due to improvements in our data reporting and collection
processes, rather than a worsening in performance. This
reflects the work our H&S professionals have been doing to
raise awareness across our geographies of the importance
of accurate and consistent H&S reporting and in creating a
culture in which managers feel confident to report accidents.
We expect to see further improvements in our data over the
coming year after which point it will be possible to more
accurately monitor changes in our H&S performance over time.
There were no work-related fatalities (2013/14: zero fatalities).

Employee accident rate


Major and over three-day lost-time accidents
number per 100,000 full-time equivalent employees
3,425

10/11

3,220

11/12

3,426

3,360
2,899

12/13

13/14

2,740

14/15*

* Within KPMGs limited assurance scope

www.kingfisher.com

3,083

2016
2020
Milestone Target

We have a set of mandatory minimum H&S standards for use


by all operating companies that form the basis for store H&S
audits. Each company has an action plan to address any gaps
in their policies or procedures in relation to our group standards.
To help embed a safety culture we have a Board-level Group
Safety Committee, chaired by our Group General Counsel
that meets monthly. A monthly H&S Dashboard, summarising
performance at each company and any H&S issues during
the month, is reviewed at every meeting of our Group Board
and Group Executive Committee.
A Group Safety Manager was appointed during 2014 to
oversee our approach and drive progress in this area across
the business. Each of our operating company boards reviews
safety performance on a monthly basis, and all operating
companies have a senior management safety committee.
We encourage our H&S professionals in our companies
to share information and good practices with each other.
The majority of employee accidents related to injuries from
handling products in store. We carried out a review of how
we safely deliver our products to stores and are focusing on
reducing the need for employees to manually handle products.
This includes looking at pallet standards and changing our
delivery procedures so products are placed directly onto the
sales floor. During 2014/15 we also held National Safety Days
to raise safety awareness in several of our operating countries.
There was one safety prosecution during the year at B&Q UK
relating to an accident at its Yeading store in November 2012,
when an employee was injured while parking a forklift truck.
B&Q was fined 65,000 plus costs.

Customer and contractor health and safety


Target 2016/17: Develop a Group-wide
Not On Track
accident reporting framework for customers
to target
and onsite contractors, and set a reduction target.
We collect data on accidents in stores involving customers and
contractors, and this is included in our monthly H&S Dashboard
and reviewed by our Group Board and Executive.
There were 4,796 accidents reported by customers during the
year (2013/14: 4,275) and 505 contractor accidents (2013/14:
387). We believe this increase reflects improvements in data
quality with some countries reporting data in this area for the
first time this year. The majority of customer accidents related
to slips, trips and falls. We are introducing measures such as
additional matting at store entrances to reduce slips and trips.
Our data does not yet include construction contractor accidents
(for new stores and major refurbishment projects) and we are
still working on developing a robust data collection process in
this area.

35

Employees continued

Employee engagement: surveys


Target 2016/17: Improve our employee
engagement by extending engagement
surveys to cover all employees.

Employee turnover

On Track

to target

We work hard to create an engaging environment for colleagues


in our stores, head offices and call centres, so that every
employee feels motivated in their job. Employee engagement is
a key driver for high performance.
We measure engagement once a year through our One Team
Engagement Survey, run in conjunction with Gallup. The survey
gives our teams an opportunity to talk about how they feel at
work and helps us to identify opportunities for improvement.
The survey covers all operating companies and employees,
except for Kotas, which participates in a separate survey within
the Ko Group. A set of 12 core questions are used across each
company to help us evaluate engagement.
There was an 86% response rate for the survey in 2014. The
results show that our strengths as a Group include colleagues
feeling committed to doing quality work and feeling they have
someone at work they can trust and confide in. Opportunities
for improvement included making sure employees have the
materials and equipment they need to do their work right
and ensuring that colleagues have real clarity about their
role and the actions they need to take every day to help the
business grow.
We achieved an overall engagement score of 4.06 out of 5,
an improvement from 3.95 in 2013. This result means that
Kingfisher sits in the top 50% of the Gallup database of retail
companies. Individual team results are reviewed by line
managers, who are encouraged to have regular engagement
conversations with their teams and agree one to two
improvement actions for the year.

Our employee turnover rate was 23% (2013/14: 22%). Our


companies in France have the lowest employee turnover rate
(8% in Castorama France and 11% in Brico Dpt France).

Net Positive part of our day

We aim to make sustainability part of all our business


decision-making and the work our colleagues do every day.
To achieve this we need to both improve understanding and
build capacity so people are able and motivated to start putting
sustainability at the heart of what they do. We are using a
combination of engagement, awareness raising and training
combined with integrating sustainability into performance
management systems.
One of the most important steps we have taken this year is to
support our companies to develop local implementation plans
for Net Positive. These are based on our commercial model for
delivering Net Positive, see page 6. They show how each part of
the business will integrate sustainability into their core business
in a locally relevant way and contribute to our Net Positive
targets overall. Each companys local implementation plan
identifies how integrating sustainability will generate value for
the business in four areas: revenue opportunities; customer
preference; supply chain resilience; and efficiency and
productivity. Local plans are now in place at B&Q UK, Brico
Dpt Iberia, Kingfisher Corporate Centre, KITS and Screwfix,
and further plans will be launched in 2015/16.

Leadership training on Net Positive


Target 2016/17: To have a development
programme on Net Positive for the top
250 managers from around the Group.

On Track

to target

We developed our Kingfisher One Academy Net Positive


executive education module to inspire our leaders on
sustainability, improve understanding of the business
benefits and catalyse further action.
The module is an interactive process through which our
leaders together develop a common vision for what sustainability
means in their part of the business. It explores why sustainability
is important and the business benefits, and supports leaders
to develop a local implementation plan. 116 of our most senior
leaders completed the module in 2014/15.
We have also worked with the University of Cambridge Institute
for Sustainability Leadership to create a bespoke executive
education course for members of our Group Sustainability
Committee. This three-day intensive course was launched
in 2015 and aims to: deepen participants understanding of
sustainable business issues and how these relate to Kingfishers
priorities; to promote a sense of ownership of the sustainability
agenda at Kingfisher and enable participants to lead on
sustainability in their part of the business; and to build
confidence among participants to enable them to engage,
challenge and communicate on sustainability within the
business and with sustainability experts.

36

Kingfisher Net Positive Report 2014/15

Performance management
Target 2020: Integrate Net Positive into
the performance management systems
for all relevant employees.

Not On Track

to milestone

Milestone: Top 250 managers by 2016/17.


Integrating sustainability into our performance management
systems is one way to engage and motivate employees to
achieve our Net Positive targets. During 2014/15 all members
of our One Team Board (our most senior leaders) had
performance objectives relating to Net Positive.
A number of our companies have also integrated sustainability
into performance management. For example, Castorama
France has integrated objectives on Net Positive for key
employees including store managers.
At KSO, our sourcing organisation, a number of employees have
Net Positive-related KPIs that are linked to their performance
bonuses, including General Managers and functional managers.
At Brico Dpt France logistics managers have targets relating
to waste management, which has helped the business increase
its recycling rate to 74% of waste.

Net Positive engagement


On Track

Target 2020: Net Positive engagement


and development programmes to motivate
all our employees to become more
sustainable at work and at home.

to milestone

Milestone: Net Positive included in induction


training for new employees by 2016/17.
Target 2020: Every employee has
the right skills to help customers lead
sustainable lifestyles.

Not On Track

to milestone

Milestone: Store staff trained on eco


products and services to help customers
make more sustainable choices by 2016/17.
All employees have a part to play in Net Positive and we aim
to engage, inspire and involve them in our Net Positive journey.
As we work to improve the sustainability performance of our
product ranges, we need to make sure our colleagues in store
have the knowledge and confidence to advise customers and
help them make more sustainable choices.
Our internal magazines and TV channels keep employees
informed and engaged on our progress. For example,
B&Qs internal monthly video magazine In the Know
included features on the journey of sustainable timber
https://youtu.be/HgFUZTji8nYand 25 years of responsible
retailing at B&Q https://youtu.be/Y-QHzpij8_c during 2014.

www.kingfisher.com

Net Positive is being integrated into induction training so


that employees understand its importance right from the start
of their career with us. Five Operating Companies B&Q
China, B&Q UK, Brico Dpt France, Brico Dpt Spain and
Castorama France have already introduced this. For example,
every new starter at B&Q completes e-learning training modules
on Forest Friendly (covering B&Qs timber programme), One
Planet Home, B&Qs sustainability programme and a diversity
module launched in 2014. Over 30,000 people have completed
the Forest Friendly and One Planet Home modules in the past
two years.
We also run more in-depth training for employees in key areas.
For example, Brico Dpt Iberia has run eco product training
for all store employees and has launched a recycling e-learning
module that is compulsory for store employees.
Our Net Positive team runs eco product train the trainer
sessions at our operating companies to raise awareness of our
eco product guidelines and make sure our companies know
how to use them to improve the sustainability performance of
our product ranges. See page 27 for more on our eco products.
During the year we also worked with partners to engage and
inspire colleagues on sustainability. This included a competition
for participants on our graduate programme during 2014,
with the prize an opportunity to attend the One Young World
Summit, a global forum for young leaders. Read about their
experiences at www.kingfisher.com/OneYoungWorld. The two
winners presented back to members of the Kingfisher Board.
Fifty members of our Net Positive network had the opportunity
to complete the leading online course on sustainable business
from the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability
Leadership. The course is an engaging, interactive programme
designed to build managers understanding of the fundamentals
of sustainability, its relevance to their role and its importance to
business success.
In addition, 12 employees took part in the executive education
course for senior managers covering the circular economy run
by Bradford University School of Management and the Ellen
MacArthur Foundation, while three employees are enrolled
on the circular economy MBA course.

37

Suppliers & partners

Suppliers
and partners
We work with thousands of suppliers to source our products
and the goods and services we need to run our business.
Our procurement spend was 7.4 billion in 2014/15.
We aim to work with companies who meet standards consistent
with our own in areas such as ethics, health and safety, human
rights and environmental practices. This is important to us as
a responsible business as it reduces legal, reputational and
financial risks and helps us to meet customer expectations.
With such a large supply chain, we need to prioritise our ethical
assessment and auditing programme and we have further work
to do to strengthen our approach and to improve consistency
across our group and operating company procurement.
We are also working with suppliers on responsible timber
sourcing and to improve the environmental performance
of our products, see pages 18 and 27.

Supplier ethical assessment


Target 2020: All suppliers of Kingfisher
own-brand/exclusive brand products
will meet or exceed our ethical and
environmental standards.

Not On Track

to milestone

Milestone: High priority suppliers of own-brand/exclusive


brand products will meet our standards by 2016/17.
Our ethical assessment and auditing programme is currently
focused on purchasing via KSO, our central procurement
organisation. KSO has offices in Brazil, China, India, Poland,
Turkey and Vietnam and sources products directly from
factories, of which most are used in our own-brand and
exclusive brand ranges. KSO and Group sourcing accounted
for around 22% of sales in our top five operating companies
in 2014/15 (Castorama France, Brico Dpt France, B&Q UK,
Screwfix and Castorama Poland).
Our operating companies also source some own-brand
products directly from suppliers, and are responsible for
implementing our standards at the local level.

38

Our supplier code

Our Code of Conduct for Factory Working Conditions includes


nine minimum requirements that all supplier factories must
meet and additional standards they are expected to work
towards. It incorporates the requirements of international
frameworks such as those from the International Labour
Organization and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational
Enterprises.
We are in the process of updating our policies and approach
to supplier ethical and environmental assessments and hope
to publish a new policy standard in 2015.

Audit programme

New KSO supplier factories outside the EU are audited


against our Code of Conduct for Factory Working Conditions
and must comply with our minimum standards before any
orders are placed. These factories are reassessed at least
once every three years. If improvements are needed, an
action plan will be put in place and must be achieved within
a required timeframe. KSO runs training for suppliers on our
ethical and environmental standards.
Our operating companies focus on first-tier suppliers who are
responsible for managing standards in their own supply chains.
Some second-tier suppliers are also audited directly where
there is a higher risk of non-compliance with our standards.
For an example of our work with indirect suppliers of raw
materials, see the B&Q UK case study on page 39.

Performance in 2014/15

Own-brand and exclusive brand products


KSO sourced from 1,028 factories (the majority of which supply
us with own-brand/exclusive brand products). Of these, 98%
have had an on-site audit at some stage in the past three years.
The remaining 2% are factories in Europe that are considered
lower risk. During 2014/15, seven potential new factories were
not accepted as KSO suppliers because they failed to meet the
required ethical and environmental standards. KSO audited a
further 511 factories, of which 75% were required to implement
a corrective action plan in relation to ethical or environmental

Kingfisher Net Positive Report 2014/15

standards. No sourcing can take place until all major issues


have been resolved through the action plan process.
Our operating companies sourced own-brand/exclusive brand
products from a further 1,308 suppliers. Our companies
audit suppliers on a risk basis, focusing on high-risk sectors
and countries. Of these suppliers, 21% have had an ethical
assessment at some stage in the past three years (201 have
had an on-site assessment and a further 68 a desktop
assessment). We have set a stretching target to audit all
these suppliers by 2020.
Manufacturer branded products
Our operating companies also carry out ethical assessments of
selected suppliers of manufacturer branded products. Around
8% of the 5,400 suppliers have had an ethical assessment
at some stage in the past three years (345 have had on-site
assessments and a further 105 a desktop assessment).

Working with direct and indirect suppliers at B&Q UK

B&Q UKs supplier engagement programme focuses on its


direct suppliers and their finished goods production sites
as well as priority areas further down the supply chain.
For its direct suppliers, B&Q has integrated ethical
assessments into its overall supplier assurance process
which includes working with Sedex, the online supply
chain ethical data exchange, to improve oversight of
suppliers. It carried out 197 desktop and on-site audits
of its direct suppliers during 2014/15 with 85% of those
suppliers sharing information on their sites and finished
goods production facilities via Sedex.
The risk of poor ethical and human rights practices can
be higher for suppliers involved in the extraction and
processing of raw materials. These are indirect suppliers
to B&Q, but the company works with partners to improve
standards and working conditions in key areas. For
example, natural stone is used in B&Qs patio paving
and kitchen worktop ranges. B&Q is a member of the
TFT Responsible Stone Programme, which works to
improve ethical and environmental standards in quarries
and stone processing factories in developing countries
through auditing and capacity building. During 2014
B&Q was involved in projects to improve labour conditions
for over 600 workers in two quarries and three major stone
factories in India.
Addressing supplier concerns
A small number of suppliers raised concerns in the UK media
during early 2015 about B&Q UKs Investment for Growth
programme, an initiative through which B&Q suppliers
were asked to invest to help the business reduce prices for
customers, with the opportunity to benefit from subsequent
growth in sales as a result of the price reduction. Our suppliers
are very important to us. We aim to be an ethical retailer and
to treat suppliers fairly. We were disappointed to hear that a
small number of suppliers were unhappy with Investment for
Growth. The vast majority of suppliers have seen increases in
sales as a result of the scheme. Suppliers with genuine grounds
for concern were invited to meet with B&Q senior managers to
discuss their concerns.

Goods not for resale


Target 2020: Key GNFR contracts
will meet or exceed our sustainability
standards.

Not On Track

to milestone

Milestone: Process in place to apply


our sustainability standards to key GNFR
contracts by 2016/17.
We are integrating sustainability standards in key areas such
as GNFR timber, page 19, and store construction and fit out,
see page 44 and have started making progress on some KPIs.
For example, we reached 97% responsibly sourced paper in
our catalogues and marketing materials for countries where
data is available, see page 19.
Further work is needed to map our GNFR supply chain and
to identify further priority categories of procurement. In line
with our new strategic direction we plan to take a more
unified approach to GNFR sourcing across our companies
and sustainability criteria will be integrated into this work.

Carbon and water footprint


Target 2016/17: To define and
measure the carbon and water footprint
of our value chain and to set a carbon
reduction target.

Not On Track
to target

Outside our direct operations, the most significant carbon


emissions associated with our business are customer use
of electricity-consuming products and the sourcing and
manufacture of product categories such as non-metallic
mineral products (for example cement and glass), tiles and
building products. Read more in carbon footprint, page 25.
We are also taking steps to manage the water footprint associated
with our operations and products, see page 43, but have not yet
assessed the wider water footprint of our value chain.

SRI indices and ratings


Target 2016/17: Kingfisher to maintain
its leadership position in key SRI indices
and corporate responsibility ratings.

On Track

to target

We are included in a number of the leading responsible


investment indices and rankings, including:
Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) we are included
in the DJSI and were listed in the RobecoSAM Sustainability
Yearbook 2015.
FTSE4Good Index we are listed in the FTSE4Good Index.
Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) 2014 we received a
score of 95A-, a significant improvement on 83B last year.
This reflects both performance on climate change (A- rating)
and disclosure around our climate impacts (95%). We were
included in the FTSE 350 Carbon Disclosure Leadership
Index (CDLI) of the top 10% of companies in the CDP.
We are also included in the CDP Forest Programme.
We will continue to work on maintaining and improving our
position in these and other relevant rankings.

www.kingfisher.com

39

Suppliers & partners continued

Ethical business conduct


Target 2020: Maintain the highest standards
On Track
of ethical business conduct through ongoing
to milestone
implementation of, and compliance with,
the Group Governance Manual and Code of Conduct.
Milestone: Operating Companies to demonstrate
robust reporting and compliance with the Group
Governance Manual and Code of Conduct by 2016/17.
Our Code of Conduct explains our ethical principles and
minimum standards. It is supported by our Group Governance
Manual, The Way We Do Business which contains our
key policies and management procedures as identified
by our Board of Directors. The Code and Manual help us
to comply with regulation such as the UKs Bribery Act and
to take a consistent approach across countries while giving
our companies flexibility to reflect their business model and
local circumstances.
The Code forms part of the contractual terms and conditions
for all new employees and is included in our contracts with
product suppliers, who are expected to communicate its
requirements to their own employees. We also integrated the
Code into contracts with key GNFR suppliers during 2014.
To implement the Code, our companies have established
reporting and compliance procedures including: the appointment
of a senior compliance officer in each company; training for
relevant employees; raising awareness of our whistle-blowing
procedures; and integration of the Code of Conduct into
employee and supplier contracts. During 2014/15 our
focus has been on working with our businesses to create a
compliance culture in which everyone feels able to report
concerns and companies have the confidence to identify,
acknowledge and address gaps in policies or performance.
This included establishing a compliance network which enables
our compliance officers to regularly exchange information and
best practices and discuss queries or cases of concern.

40

We monitor compliance through our internal audit programme


and our annual self-certification process through which our
companies must confirm compliance with our Code and group
policies and explain how they are addressing any gaps. Our
internal audit team reviews the results of our self-certification
process, compares these with internal audit results for each
company and follows up with our companies to help them
strengthen policies or procedures where needed. In 2014
our internal audit programme also included a group-wide
review of compliance with the UK Bribery Act.
All employees whose location or role poses a potential corruption
risk must complete our anti-bribery and corruption training
module, which has been integrated into the induction process
for relevant employees.
Employees can report any concerns via our whistle-blowing
hotline or get advice via a dedicated email address. All reports
are investigated and if an employee is found to have breached
our Code of Conduct appropriate disciplinary action is taken.
The number of open and resolved cases and the outcomes
are reported to the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors.
221 cases were opened during 2014/15. Operating Companies
are required to raise employee awareness of the hotline and
email address.
We also run an online reporting system for vendors which is
communicated in variety of ways including via the Code of
Conduct, regular reminder letters, during annual contract
negotiations and on procurement portals used by vendors.
Download our Code of Conduct
www.kingfisher.com/netpositiveresources

Kingfisher Net Positive Report 2014/15

Environment

Environment
Our aspiration is for our business to be restorative
to environments, eliminating our negative impacts and
creating positive change. As a first step we are working
towards reducing our footprint, minimising our use of
resources and tackling waste. Our approach covers key
environmental issues such as waste, water, transport,
packaging, chemicals and biodiversity.
Waste
Target 2020: Achieve zero waste
to landfill.

Waste recycled

On Track

% of waste recycled

to milestone

Milestone: 75% recycling by 2016/17.


We aim to reduce the waste generated by our products
and operations and to recycle resources wherever possible.
This includes designing out waste from products through
closed loop innovation (see page 28), our work on packaging
optimisation (see page 44), and our focus on reducing
waste in our operations.
Our main types of operational waste are wood, paper, cardboard,
metal, plastic and rubble (such as broken tiles, bricks, stone
and soil). We generated 236,731 tonnes of waste in 2014/15,
an increase of 2% year-on-year (2013/14: 231,806). Our
recycling rate also increased to 70%, on track for our milestone
of 75% by 2016/17. A number of companies have already
reached our milestone including B&Q UK and Castorama
Poland. Screwfix has achieved zero waste to landfill from
its stores and distribution centre (see page 14).

63

65

10/11

11/12

68

69

70

12/13

13/14

14/15*

75

2016
Target

* Within KPMGs limited assurance scope


Waste recycled covers our stores, offices and other buildings from 2011/12.
Data for previous years covers stores only.

Waste recycling and disposal 2014/15*


Thousand tonnes

Brico Dpt Iberias recycling rate is below the group average


and it has implemented a Zero Cost Waste project to address
this. Data on recycling rates at each store is now reviewed
monthly and bonuses for store managers are linked to progress
on reducing waste and increasing recycling. This has improved
the recycling rate from 28% in 2012/13 to 45% in 2014/15,
and has saved the business 400,000 to date.

Waste recycled

166 (70%)

Waste disposed
to landfill

44 (19%)

Waste disposed
to incineration with
energy recovery

23 (10%)

Waste disposed
to incineration without
energy recovery

4 (1%)

* Within KPMGs limited assurance scope


Some of our waste contractors do not provide a breakdown of the waste
disposed by destination (landfill or incineration). In these cases, we have
assumed the waste goes to landfill.

www.kingfisher.com

41

Environment continued

Transport

We aim to reduce CO2 emissions from transport. This includes


transport of goods between our suppliers, distribution centres
and stores, and, increasingly, delivering orders to our
customers homes. It also covers our own business travel,
employee commuting and customer travel to our stores.

Carbon emissions direct haulage


Thousand tonnes CO2 equivalent from
dedicated store and home delivery fleets
54.1

52.4

52.9

56.9

56.6

48.7

Achieving our targets is challenging, given the growth in our


business and in particular the increased number of customer
home deliveries due to the rise in internet shopping. Our
approach is to focus on improving efficiency in each journey
and to integrate new lower carbon technologies where possible.

Direct haulage emissions dedicated delivery


fleets
Target 2020: Achieve a 20% reduction
in CO2 emissions from our direct transport
impacts from a 2010/11 baseline.

Not On Track

to milestone

Milestone: 10% by 2016/17.


Direct haulage emissions are those from our dedicated
delivery fleets that are owned by our operating companies
or operated on their behalf by suppliers. These include:
Store deliveries: Three of our companies, B&Q UK,
Castorama France and Screwfix have dedicated fleets
for store deliveries.
Home deliveries: Four of our companies, B&Q UK, Castorama
France, Castorama Poland and Kotas, have dedicated fleets
for home delivery. Other home deliveries are made by third
party delivery companies and by post and we do not have
data for these.
Overall our direct haulage emissions increased by 5% against
our 2010/11 baseline. This increase is primarily due to the
growth in home deliveries, with home delivery emissions
doubling since 2010/11.
We have reduced emissions from dedicated store delivery
fleets by 10% since 2010/11, despite a 7% increase in
the volume of products delivered over the same period.
Year-on-year emissions increased by only 2% despite
an 8% increase in products delivered. This is due to a
combination of improvements in the fuel efficiency of our
fleet vehicles, the introduction of low carbon fuels such
as biomethane, and work to optimise transport routes and
improve truck fill rates. The efficiency of dedicated store
delivery fleets (litres of fuel used per m3 of product delivered
to stores) has improved by 9% since 2010/11.

10/11

11/12

12/13

13/14

14/15*

43.3

2016
2020
Milestone Target

* Within KPMGs limited assurance scope

Our companies are investing in lower carbon fuels to improve


efficiency and reduce costs and emissions. This includes
B&Q UKs 50 dual fuel trucks which run on diesel and liquid
biomethane extracted from landfill sites that have helped B&Q
cut CO2 emissions from product transport by 33% since 2006
and the introduction of compressed biomethane gas lorries for
deliveries to five Castorama France stores this year. In total,
lower carbon fuels now account for 11% of fuel use for store
deliveries by dedicated fleets.
We are also introducing measures to improve truck fill rates,
including double decker lorries and redesigned packaging
and pallets, and replacing road journeys with rail and train
freight to reduce emissions.

Indirect haulage emissions supplier


delivery fleets
Target 2020: Demonstrate a comprehensive
On Track
programme of action to reduce the overall
to milestone
carbon footprint of our indirect transport impacts.
Milestone: To have made progress in measuring
and reducing the carbon footprint of our indirect
transport impacts, eg in a key supply chain by 2016/17.
Indirect transport includes third-party fleets and deliveries
made by our suppliers to our distribution centres, stores and
customers. Eight of our companies use third-party fleets for
store deliveries B&Q China, Brico Dpt France, Brico
Dpt Romania, Brico Dpt Spain, Castorama France,
Castorama Poland, Castorama Russia and Kotas.
CO2e emissions from third-party haulage have increased by
72% since 2010/11, due to improvements in our data collection
and to business growth. There was a 1% increase in emissions
this year due to a rise in emissions at Castorama Russia, which
accounts for 29% of our emissions from indirect transport, and
the inclusion of data from Brico Dpt Romania for the first time.
We work with haulage suppliers to encourage reductions
in emissions. This includes specifying fuel-efficient vehicles,
improving truck fill rates and switching to rail freight
where possible.
We also partner with external organisations to address transport
related emissions. For example, Castorama France is a member
of TKBlue, a European organisation that works to improve the
environmental performance of transport suppliers. TKBlue is
assessing the fuel and carbon efficiency of Castoramas own

42

Kingfisher Net Positive Report 2014/15

fleet and its transport suppliers, enabling the business to


compare the cost and footprint of different transport options.
Castorama will be working with suppliers to introduce lower
carbon LNG vehicles.

Green travel
Target 2020: Demonstrate proactive green
travel initiatives to minimise the environmental
impact of travel by employees and customers.

On Track

to milestone

Milestone: Some key actions taken on green


travel by 2016/17.
We aim to reduce CO2 emissions from business travel by air
and road and to encourage employees to adopt greener forms
of transport for their daily commute.
We have a Group telepresence videoconferencing system to
help reduce unnecessary air travel between our key locations,
and our companies have also introduced measures such
as Brico Dpt Frances transport policy that requires all
employees to travel by train rather than air for journeys under
three hours. CO2e emissions from business air travel increased
by 1% since 2010/11.
We aim to make it easier for employees and customers to
choose lower carbon transport options when travelling to our
stores. This includes providing shuttle bus services and electric
vehicle charging points as well as car-sharing websites and
subsidised tickets for public transport for employees. CO2e
emissions from business road travel have increased by
1% since 2010/11, but fell by 9% on the previous year.
During 2014, B&Q UK completed an initial analysis of its
customer transport emissions, working with sustainability
experts Bioregional. This showed that its customer transport
footprint is higher than the carbon emissions associated
with B&Qs own operations.

Water use in our operations


Target 2016/17: To understand the water
footprint of our own operations.

Not On Track
to target

In our operations, we are not major water users but we recognise


the importance of water conservation, particularly in areas of
water stress. Our water use fell by 2% on 2010/11 levels.
Many of our new stores incorporate water efficiency features.
For example, B&Qs new eco store at Merthyr Tydfil will source
50% of the water it uses from a rainwater harvesting system
and is the eighth B&Q building to use rainwater harvesting.
B&Q has also installed water smart meters at 37 stores,
enabling it to monitor consumption and quickly identify leaks.
One of our major sources of water use is for the plants in
B&Q garden centres. B&Q has introduced training for staff
on efficient watering techniques.

Water-using products
Target 2020: All water-using products
to meet best practice standards on
water efficiency.

Data Not
Available

Milestone: 50% of water-using products


to meet best practice standards on
water efficiency by 2016/17.
We can help our customers to use water more efficiently
through our kitchen and bathroom ranges, appliances and
products such as water butts. We are developing guidance
to help our companies adopt best practice in this area and
do not yet have data to report our performance.
B&Q is one of the first retailers to use the Water Label, enabling
customers to choose more water-efficient products. All toilets
and baths carry the label online and in catalogues and it is now
being rolled out to taps. See www.diy.com/one-planet-home/
save-water-bathroom/.
Appliances such as washing machines can also use a lot
of water and be expensive to run. B&Q catalogues now
show how much an appliance will cost to run each year
based on its electricity and water use, giving customers
the information they need to choose products that are
better for the environment and their wallet.

Chemicals
Target 2020: None of our own-brand or
Data Not
exclusive brand products will contain the
Available
chemicals of concern we have committed
to remove (on Kingfishers Chemical Action List).
Milestone: Work is in progress to phase out,
substitute or eliminate the chemicals of
concern from our own-brand or exclusive
brand products by 2016/17.
We stock many chemical-based products such as paints,
treatments and cleaning products and chemicals are also
used in the manufacturing process for many finished goods.
There is increasing customer interest in the use of chemicals
and a growing number of chemicals are being identified for
phase out or potential phase out under legislation such as
the EUs REACH Directive.
We aim to improve our understanding of the chemicals used
in our products so we can provide customers with information,
phase out or substitute any chemicals of concern and comply
with changing legislation. With a large supplier base and
393,000 products sold in our top five companies alone,
this is very challenging. We have started development of a
company-wide Chemicals Policy to help us implement a
consistent approach.

B&Q is one of the first retailers


to use the Water Label, enabling
customers to choose more
water-efficient products.

www.kingfisher.com

43

Environment continued
Our first step in working towards our targets is to improve
transparency around the chemicals used in our products and
supply chain. Suppliers of own-brand products will be required
to provide information on the chemicals used in the product
or during manufacturing, known as a likely Bill of Substance.
Scientific understanding of the impact of chemicals on people
and the environment is evolving as research develops and
regulatory lists of chemicals of concern are continually
changing. By having a clear picture of the chemicals
used in our products, even those not currently covered
by legislation, we will be better placed to respond if new
chemicals of concern are identified.
Our next step will be to focus on sustainable substitution of
chemicals where there are concerns around a substances
potential impact on people or the environment. We will prioritise
chemicals based on regulatory requirements and we will need
to work in partnership with suppliers and other stakeholders
to identify the best alternatives to ensure that substituting
chemicals does not affect product performance.
We have already begun working with suppliers and are rolling
out our requirement for suppliers to provide likely Bill of
Substance for their products. This included an initial trial
project during 2014 involving 40 suppliers and more than
200 products. Training was provided to some of our suppliers
in Shenzhen and Shanghai, China. We cannot yet allocate a
score for our chemicals target and milestone as work is still
in progress to update the Kingfisher Chemical Action List.
Our current approach to chemicals builds on our previous
work in areas such as reducing the use of volatile organic
compounds in paint and our global phase out of neonicotinoid
chemicals used in some pesticide products that are thought
to contribute to bee decline.

Packaging
Target 2020: Packaging on all own-brand
Data Not
and exclusive brand products to conform
Available
to Kingfisher packaging sustainability standards.
Milestone: Packaging on new own-brand and
exclusive brand products to conform to Kingfisher
packaging sustainability standards by 2016/17.
Packaging is essential to protect products while in transit and
on display and for branding and marketing purposes but is
also a significant source of waste and cost to the business.
Our business is affected by regulations on packaging and
packaging disposal.
We are working with suppliers to redesign packaging for key
product lines to improve the visual impact of packaging while
reducing the overall volume of materials used, enabling more
efficient product transport and improving recyclability. We
introduced a company-wide packaging policy this year which
sets minimum standards for our companies and helps them
to work with suppliers to improve packaging design. We are
working to strengthen our data collection systems so we can
monitor compliance with our policy and establish a baseline
against which we can track progress towards our target.
We have launched packaging optimisation pilot projects
for some products in our group brand ranges, working with
packaging specialists, designers and manufacturers. For
example, packaging for 70 lighting products has been redesigned,
reducing the amount of materials used and making the

44

products more efficient to transport. The new designs will be


rolled out in B&Q UK and Castorama France and Poland
initially, and are expected to save 600,000 for B&Q alone in
the first two years. The improvements will be rolled out across
the rest of our lighting ranges and projects are also underway to
improve the packaging of door furniture (such as door handles)
and leisure furniture.
Changes in our business can affect the amount of packaging
we use and create new priorities for packaging optimisation.
For example, online paint orders are an area of considerable
business growth for B&Q. Previously paint orders were delivered
to customers homes using moulded foam packaging which
was not recyclable. Working with suppliers, we are replacing
foam with moulded pulp cardboard packaging starting with our
2.5 litre round paint pots. This is 100% recyclable, reducing
waste to landfill and costs to the business.
We will use what we have learned from these early projects to
gradually improve packaging across our ranges. We are also
working with suppliers to make sure that timber and paper
used in packaging are sourced responsibly, see page 19.

Sustainable construction

We aim to improve the sustainability of our property estate


and to work with landlords to improve the performance of
our leased properties, which account for 61% of our floor
space. Our sustainable property road map covers issues
such as energy and carbon, construction waste, timber,
climate change and biodiversity.
We promote best-practice sharing between our companies.
For example, the Kingfisher Property Exchange is our online
forum where those involved in property projects throughout the
company can learn from examples of sustainable construction
and building design, and attend webinars and training sessions.
During 2014/15, 129 webinars were held. We also encourage
employees to learn from new thinking and best practice
examples outside the business, and property professionals
from around the business attended events such as the UKs
Ecobuild conference during the year.

Reducing timber packaging at B&Q

A major source of waste wood for B&Q is the clean and


treated timber used in pallets and transit packaging for
imported, heavy, oversized or bulky products. B&Q aims
to reduce, eliminate or reuse this timber, cutting waste
and reducing the amount of wood used, supporting our
work on responsible timber sourcing.
B&Q is working with suppliers to implement a number
of approaches to tackling the waste wood. For example,
a project with our kitchen door supplier, Ilcam, will
eliminate 700 tonnes of treated timber currently used
in packaging each year by replacing it with corrugated
cardboard, while a project with Metsa Wood, one
of B&Qs largest timber suppliers, means that up to
600 tonnes of timber bearers (used in place of pallets)
could now be reused each year.
B&Q is also partnering with the National Community Wood
Recycling Project (NCWRP), a network of wood recycling
social enterprises that aims to create sustainable jobs,
as well as offering training and volunteering opportunities
for local people. NCWRP has collected 300 tonnes of
waste wood from 34 B&Q stores so far which is sorted
at its community wood recycling shops and sold or used
in the creation of new products.

Kingfisher Net Positive Report 2014/15

We test out sustainable approaches to building design,


construction and operation at learning stores in each of
our businesses. We now have 19 learning stores, see page 29.
Our property awards celebrate best practice in our businesses
and include categories for Net Positive and Innovation.

Sustainable construction waste


Data Not
Available

Target 2020: 90% of construction


waste recycled in new build and
major refurbishments.
Milestone: 50% by 2016/17.

We are improving our data collection in this area but are not
yet able to report progress against our target.
Our companies are working with their construction and waste
management suppliers to increase the volume of waste recycled
from construction projects. For example, Brico Dpt France
and Castorama France have established a joint methodology for
managing construction waste from new store builds and major
refurbishments. This was used for Castoramas HninBeaumont store refurbishment in 2014, see case study, and
Castorama France achieved an overall 91% recycling rate for
construction waste.

Peat elimination
Target 2020: All bagged growing media sold
in the UK to be from sustainable sources,
ahead of the government 2020 deadline.

On Track

to milestone

Milestone: 65% of bagged growing media (by volume)


sold in the UK to be from sustainable sources by 2016/17.
The use of peat in horticulture threatens important natural
habitats and contributes to climate change. B&Q is the largest
garden centre in Europe and among the biggest retailers of
garden compost. It has been working to phase out peat from
its bagged growing media for a number of years.
B&Qs new formula Verve peat-free compost range, launched
in 2014, was developed through a series of rigorous growing
trials. It was voted a Best Buy by Which, the consumer
magazine, out-performing many peat-based composts.
See case study on page 10.
In 2014/15, 64% of UK bagged growing media (by volume
sold) was peat-free (2013/14: 61%). B&Q sold 497 million litres
of peat alternative in 2014, enough to fill almost 200 Olympic
sized swimming pools.

B&Q recycled over 90% of construction waste at its Merthyr


Tydfil store by working closely with the landlord and waste
management suppliers.

B&Q is also working with horticultural suppliers to minimise


peat from the plants sold in its stores. The introduction of
easyGrow bedding plants which are 95% peat free was an
important step in this process, see page 10.

Sustainable construction biodiversity

Environmental prosecutions

Target 2020: Enhance biodiversity on new


build projects, major refurbishments and
existing stores.

Not On Track

to milestone

Milestone: Biodiversity audits and action


plans to be completed for all new build projects
and major refurbishments by 2016/17.
Operating Companies are developing plans to protect and
enhance biodiversity on new-build projects, major refurbishments
and existing stores. A number of biodiversity audits were
carried out during the year, including audits of all three of
Castorama Frances major refurbishment projects. These
assessed the potential impact of the projects on local plants,
animals and habitats and identified steps that could be taken
to enhance biodiversity.

Biodiversity and our products

Through our garden product ranges we can help our customers


to encourage local biodiversity. For example, B&Q worked with
campaign group Friends of the Earth and the UKs Royal
Horticultural Society to help people get involved in protecting
bee health. In 2014/15, this included launching the Great
British Bee Count App, part of a citizen science project which
gathers data on bee populations to help inform the UKs
National Pollinator Strategy. Over 823,000 bees have been
spotted by more than 20,000 people and 800 participating
schools so far. Users of the app can also get discounts on
Perfect for Pollinator plants at B&Q, and tips on how to create
a bee-friendly garden. See www.greatbritishbeecount.co.uk/.

We take our environmental responsibilities seriously and aim


to comply with, or exceed, regulatory requirements. If mistakes
do occur we aim to take prompt action to address them. There
was one ongoing environmental prosecution during the year
concerning Castorama Frances distribution centre at St Martin
de Caux. The case, brought by an NGO, is contesting the
authorisation granted by the local authority for the construction
and use of the site on the grounds of environmental impact.
We are cooperating fully with the authorities to resolve the case.

Hnin-Beaumont a more sustainable approach


to refurbishment

Castorama Frances newly refurbished store at HninBeaumont includes a range of sustainable features
including LED lighting panels which reduce energy use
for lighting by 52%, a charging point for electric vehicles,
and a new approach to waste management which enabled
90% of demolition and construction waste to be recycled.
The store also features a new energy efficiency advisory
service for customers, see page 9.

Through our work in areas such as responsible timber sourcing


(page 18), peat elimination (right) and chemicals (page 43),
we aim to minimise negative impacts on ecosystems and
biodiversity associated with our products.

www.kingfisher.com

45

Governance & management

Governance &
management
We are integrating sustainability into the way we run our business
and engaging with our stakeholders internally and externally to
learn from their expertise and improve how we work.
We have made good progress on many of our Net Positive
targets; however, we know we need to significantly increase
our rate of progress and to address gaps in our performance.
We will be reviewing our approach during 2015/16 to identify
how best to do this.

Roles and responsibilities

Our Group Sustainability Director has overall responsibility


for delivery of our Net Positive targets. He sits on the Executive
Committee and reports directly to our Chief Executive Officer.
Monthly Net Positive progress reports are submitted to the
Kingfisher Board of Directors.
We established our Group Sustainability Committee in 2014
to provide direction on the development and integration of
sustainability. The Committee, which met twice during the
year, is chaired by the Chief Executive Officer and its members
include senior leaders from our companies. It is responsible
for agreeing the direction of our sustainability approach and
for monitoring progress against our Net Positive targets.
It also facilitates sharing of best practices across the Group
and supports the development of capacity and capability
at all levels throughout the business to deliver Net Positive.
Each of our companies is developing an implementation plan
for how they will deliver on our Net Positive targets in a locally
relevant way. Each plan is based on our commercial model
for delivering Net Positive, see page 6. Operating companies
provide a regular performance update against their plan to
the Group Sustainability Committee.
Operating companies report progress against our targets to
the Group once a year via our Foundations questionnaire.
The results are reviewed by our operating company CEOs and
senior directors at Group level. We publish an annual internal
progress report which enables our senior leadership to track
and compare performance across our companies. This is
reviewed at a meeting of our One Team Board and by the
Group Sustainability Committee and shared with all operating
companies to encourage best practice sharing.
Our central Net Positive team works closely with our businesses,
including monthly meetings with representatives from our
largest operating companies. The Kingfisher Net Positive

46

Network, made up of the Group Net Positive team and


representatives from each operating company, meets twice
a year in person and through monthly webinars. It is a forum
for reviewing progress and sharing ideas and best practices.
A number of function-specific networks are also in place, such
as the Kingfisher Property Sustainability Network. We also
launched the Kingfisher Exchange in 2014, an online forum
where our companies can share information on Net Positive,
ask advice, get inspired and network with colleagues.
We are updating our policies to integrate sustainability criteria
and published company-wide policies on timber and packaging
during 2014, which were approved by the Group Sustainability
Committee.

Stakeholder engagement

We engage with our stakeholders to learn from their expertise


and insights and to bring new ideas into our business that help
us achieve our goals. It is also important that we are open about
how we work and communicate regularly with stakeholders on
our approach and progress.
At a Group level we consider our key stakeholders to be
employees, investors, suppliers and government as well as
NGOs, the media and other third-sector organisations. Most
stakeholder engagement takes place as part of everyday
business practice, but we also have more formal mechanisms
for dialogue. Information on our approach to engaging our
employees is included on page 36 and our suppliers page 38.

Customers

Most engagement with our customers is managed within


our companies; however, we also undertake larger research
projects to help us understand changing customer priorities.
For example, we published our second European Homes
Report in 2014, a survey of 17,000 householders attitudes
to home improvement in nine European countries. This
showed that changing lifestyles and demographics such as high
property prices, working from home and children living at home
for longer are putting our living spaces under more pressure.
The research also revealed a number of insights related to our
sustainability work. For example, high energy prices are the
number one worry about the home for 65% of those surveyed.

Kingfisher Net Positive Report 2014/15

This is more than double the number worried about keeping


up with the mortgage/rent. You can read the report at
www.kingfisher.com/europeanhomereport.

Investors

We communicate our approach to Net Positive to our investors


and participate in many responsible investment benchmarks
and indices. We hold a roadshow each year to update both
SRI (socially responsible investors) and mainstream investors
on our progress. The roadshow in 2014 included meetings
with 13 investor organisations in the UK and France. To raise
awareness among the mainstream investment community, we
include information on Net Positive in all investor presentations.
We are included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and the
RobecoSAM Sustainability Yearbook. We are listed in the
FTSE4Good Index. We participated in the Carbon Disclosure
Project and received a score of 95A-, a significant improvement
on 83B last year. This reflects both performance on climate
change (A- rating) and disclosure around our climate impacts
(95%). We were included in the FTSE 350 Carbon Disclosure
Leadership Index (CDLI) of the top 10% of companies in the
CDP. We also participated in the Forest Footprint Disclosure
project of which we are a founding partner.

Advisory Council

The Net Positive Advisory Council is composed of senior


external experts in different aspects of sustainability who
provide advice, insight and challenge to help us progress
towards Net Positive. The Council convenes twice a year to
review our progress and to meet with our senior management.
You can read a perspective from Sally Uren, chair of the
Advisory Council on page 15.
Key themes discussed by the Advisory Council during 2014
included: the importance of and challenges associated with
engaging consumers on Net Positive; the role of Kingfisher
companies in local communities including how our business
can engage in the sharing economy; the need to strengthen
our approach to supply chain management and to develop our
strategy on energy and carbon; and the importance of further
integrating Net Positive into our businesses and reporting.
The Advisory Council members are:
Craig Bennett, CEO, Friends of the Earth
Clare Chapman, People Director, BT and Non-Executive
Director of Kingfisher
Vivienne Cox, Executive Vice President of Alternative Energy
BP, and non-executive Director of Rio Tinto plc, BG Group
plc, Pearson plc and Vallourec SA
Eric Fouquier, Associate Director and Founder, Thema
Victoria Hornby, Director of Grants and Evaluation, The Royal
Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge
and Prince Harry
Elisabeth Laville, Founder and Director, Utopies
Peder Michael Pruzan-Jorgensen, Vice President Europe,
Middle East and Africa, Business for Social Responsibility
(BSR)
Rt Hon Caroline Spelman, MP
Jamie Taylor, B&Q Youth Board member and undergraduate
Dr Sally Uren, Chief Executive, Forum for the Future (Chair)

www.kingfisher.com

Following the appointment of our new CEO and the


development of our new strategic direction we are evaluating
our approach to external engagement, including the role of our
Advisory Council. We expect to update our approach in the year
ahead to more fully integrate stakeholder engagement.

Audit and risk

Net Positive is an important and high-profile priority for the


business. We have robust governance processes in place to
ensure the completeness, accuracy and reliability of our Net
Positive performance data. These include the use of in-house
and third-party experts to review data and qualitative statements
included in our Annual Report and Net Positive reporting. For
example, sustainability experts Bioregional coordinate our head
office data review process for Net Positive and review our data
and monitor our progress on eco product innovation. Our timber
data is reviewed by Efeca, who are also the lead consultants to
the UK governments timber procurement policy.
The CEO of each operating company is responsible for ensuring
that appropriate processes and controls are in place to monitor
and report progress against our Net Positive targets. They are
required to complete an annual self-certification process to
confirm that Net Positive performance data submitted to the
Group is materially accurate and has been subject to an
appropriate level of review prior to submission.
Group Internal Audit performed testing over a selection of
performance data at each of our operating companies. We
appointed KPMG LLP to provide a limited assurance opinion
on selected aspects of this report. Their work included: testing
the Group-level data collation processes; assessing the work
performed by a number of our in-house and external experts;
assessing the work performed by Group Internal Audit at each
of our operating companies; and reviewing the narrative content
of this report. Further details are set out in their full assurance
statement on page 52.
Identification and management of risks relating to Net Positive,
at an operating company and Group level are incorporated in
our strategic risk assessment processes. This means key risks
to achieving our Net Positive targets are considered at least
twice a year. In addition we conduct topic-specific internal
audits or risk reviews where required. For example, this year
Group Internal Audit performed a limited desktop review
of ethical supply chain management following on from a
governance review in this area during 2013. Read more on
our approach to risk management in our Annual Report and
Accounts: www.kingfisher.com/AR14-15.

Materiality

A wide range of social, environmental and economic issues


are relevant to our business and to stakeholders. We prioritise
our most material issues through extensive consultation within
and outside our business. We look at which issues are of most
concern to our stakeholders and assess their potential impact
on our business including commercial, operational and
reputational risks and opportunities.
This is a continual process that includes:
1. Internal review: stakeholder mapping to identify priority
stakeholders for engagement, and collating and reviewing
feedback and information from internal and external sources.
2. External review: engaging directly with stakeholders through
channels such as face-to-face meetings, investor roadshows,
and membership of organisations including Forum for the
Future, BSR and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. From this
we identify a shortlist of issues considered most material to
our stakeholders.

47

Governance & management continued


3. Prioritisation: working with key internal and external
stakeholders to identify priority issues for action, including
through: workshops and specialist forums such as our Net
Positive Advisory Council and internally through our Net
Positive Network meetings and review processes.
This process was used to develop our Net Positive aspirations
and targets and to identify which issues should be included in
our reporting.

Our material issues

Our Net Positive strategy and reporting is structured around


seven themes: timber; energy; innovation; communities;
employees; suppliers; and environment. Each theme relates
to a number of material issues, as demonstrated in the table
below. Our Net Positive targets are designed to help us take
action on our most material issues.
Net Positive key themes

Material sustainability
issues and impacts

Timber

Deforestation
Climate change

Energy

Biodiversity
Climate change
Home energy efficiency

Innovation

Fuel poverty
Sustainable lifestyles
Natural resource use
Waste

Communities

Circular economy
Community cohesion
Decline in practical skills
Sharing economy

Employment

Community relations
Equality and diversity
Training and development
Health and safety

Supply chain

Human rights
Human rights

Environment

Labour standards
Climate change
Natural resource use
Waste
Biodiversity

Governance and
management

Water
Business ethics
Tax
Lobbying
Pensions

We keep our materiality assessment under review and welcome


feedback to [email protected].

Human rights

We take steps to protect the human rights of people affected


by our business, in line with the UN Universal Declaration on
Human Rights and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and
Human Rights. This commitment applies to all our interactions
with our stakeholders, including employees, suppliers and
communities.
We are signatories to the UN Global Compact (UNGC), and are
committed to its 10 principles including those relating to human
rights. See page 54 for our UNGC Index.
Read more about our approach to human rights issues in our
supply chain on page 38 and in relation to our employees on
page 33 (Diversity and inclusion).

Public policy

Sustainability issues are complex and often global in scale.


To achieve our Net Positive aspirations we need to change
how we work, but our success will also depend on changes in
policy and practice beyond just our own business. Governments
and regulators can play an important role including by setting
minimum standards, incentivising sustainable business
practices and creating a level playing field that supports
investment in sustainable business and innovation.
We engage with national and regional governments and
international institutions, such as the European Union,
governments and regulators to encourage policy that supports
sustainable business practices and helps to catalyse positive
change. Examples of our public affairs advocacy work on issues
relating to our Net Positive priorities are included throughout
this report. See timber (page 21), energy (page 26), innovation
(page 29) and communities (page 32).
We also engage in the political process in our markets and at
EU level to inform the development of policy that has a material
impact on our business. It is important that all our public
policy work reflects our commitment to building a sustainable
business and our Group Government Affairs function sits within
our Net Positive team to ensure an integrated approach.
Examples of public policy activity from 2014/15 include:
Interchange fees: These fees, levied by banks for customer
transactions made by credit or debit card, have a material
impact on our business and that of all retailers large and
small. Working together with our EU-based operating
companies, we have advocated the case for reform and
the European Council, Commission and Parliament have
now agreed proposals to set a limit on these fees which will
be law across Europe by the end of 2015.
Business rates reform in the UK: We believe tax levied on
property in the UK has a disproportionate impact on retailers
and no longer reflects the way people shop. Working with
other retailers through the British Retail Consortium, we
advocated for fundamental reform of the rates system and
a continued cap on the annual percentage increase. All
political parties have now committed to a review of the
business rates system.

Human rights

48

Kingfisher Net Positive Report 2014/15

Reflecting our commitment to


Net Positive, the Kingfisher
Pension Scheme integrates
responsible investment
principles into its work.
Our approach to government relations involves working through
trade associations and industry groups to increase the impact
of our policy messages. Our memberships include: the British
Retail Consortium (BRC), the European DIY-Retail Association
(EDRA), the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), the French
Association of Private Businesses (AFEP), the French
Federation of DIY Retailers (FMB) and the Green Building
Council (GBC). We are involved in many similar organisations at
the national level in our operating markets. In line with EU and
UK corporate governance best practice, it is Group policy not to
make donations directly to political parties or politicians. This is
clearly set out in the Kingfisher Code of Conduct.

Pensions

The Kingfisher Pension Scheme (KPS) manages the pensions


of past and present employees. Reflecting our commitment
to Net Positive, the KPS integrates responsible investment
principles into its work and communicates with stakeholders
on its approach to environmental, social and governance
(ESG) issues.

Principles

Investment decisions at KPS are governed by the schemes


Statement of Investment Principles (SIP). This sets out KPSs
commitment to act as a responsible investor and states the
Trustee Boards belief that all companies should be run in
a socially responsible way.
Investment managers acting on behalf of the KPS are required
to take account of social, environmental and ethical
considerations where these may have a financial impact on
investment performance. They are encouraged to engage with
investee companies on these issues, including exercising voting
rights where appropriate.
Investment managers must disclose their investment approach
to KPS and state whether this integrates ESG factors. All
investment managers acting for KPS are asked to disclose
whether they are signatories to the UN Principles for
Responsible Investment and the UK Stewardship Code.

Ethical funds

As well as integrating responsible investment principles across


its investments, the KPS also offers participants in its Money
Purchase scheme the opportunity to select an Ethical Fund for
their pension. This fund aims to provide long-term growth by
investing in the shares of companies that meet a set of ethical
criteria. A similar fund is offered to participants in the final
salary scheme, in respect of members additional voluntary
contribution investments.

www.kingfisher.com

The KPS Trustees are also exploring opportunities to invest in


specific funds that support progress on issues relevant to Net
Positive, such as renewable energy and social housing projects.
Existing investments include a 20 million stake in the Global
Farmland Fund which invests in farmland operated according
to sustainable farming methods.
KPS aims to make its pension provision inclusive so that it
meets the needs of all employees. For example, the Money
Purchase scheme offers a Shariah fund which invests in shares
of companies around the world whose practices are consistent
with Shariah principles.

Communication on responsible investment

To improve understanding and awareness among Trustee


Directors, information on ESG risks and opportunities is
included in the quarterly training days held for Trustees. Regular
communication between the KPS Trustee Directors and senior
Kingfisher executives and the Kingfisher Net Positive team help
to improve integration of ESG factors.
The KPS keeps investment managers updated on its investment
approach and raises awareness of Kingfishers commitment to
responsible business. KPS supported development of The
Guide to Responsible Investment Reporting in Public Equity
in 2014 and has shared the guidelines with its investment
managers. The Guide, developed by 16 UK pension funds, has
been developed to help improve the integration of responsible
investment considerations into investment management
decision-making.

Employee engagement

The KPS uses a number of innovative approaches to engage


Kingfisher employees and encourage them to plan and save
for their retirement. This includes educational DVDs for store
managers to use during team meetings and a mobile app
game designed to engage younger employees. The app was
downloaded 519 times and 78% of players said it encouraged
them to think about saving for their future. This approach
helped reduce opt-out rates from 6.2% to 4.89% by the end
of December 2014.

External recognition

Engaged Investor Trustee Awards 2014, Best Defined


Contribution Initiative and Best Trustee Training awards
Professional Pensions Pension Scheme of the Year Awards
2014, Pension Scheme Trustee and Defined Benefit Scheme
awards
European Pensions Awards 2014, Communication Award
Investment & Pensions Europe Awards 2014, Best Long-term
Investment Strategy Gold Award
Very Important Benefits Awards, Best DC Pension Plan.

49

About our reporting

About our
reporting
Our Net Positive Report explains our progress towards our 50
Net Positive targets and longer-term aspirations. It summarises
performance at a Group level covering the financial year
February 201431 January 2015.
In addition to this report we also communicate our progress via:
Our Net Positive Review, which summarises our progress
against a selection of our key performance indicators
during 2014/15.
Our more integrated Annual Report for investors which
explains the financial, economic, social and environmental
value our business creates over both the short and long term,
see www.kingfisher.com/AR14-15.

Our data is still incomplete in some areas and we are


working to address this so we can report progress against
all 50 targets in future years. We are also working with our
partners to explore how we can track and report progress
against our longer-term aspirations.

Regular updates on our website www.kingfisher.com/netpositive.

Sustainability experts Bioregional coordinate our head office data


review process for Net Positive. Bioregional helped to develop
our eco product guidelines which are reviewed and updated on
an annual basis. They also monitor our progress on eco product
innovation and calculate our figure for customer energy savings.

Data and targets

External assurance

This report contains our key performance data showing


progress against our targets. More detailed data is available
in our Net Positive Report Appendix Detailed Performance
Data. Detailed information on the scope of the data and the
methodologies used to calculate our data are explained in
our Net Positive Data Collection Methodology document.
See www.kingfisher.com/netpositivereport.
We publish a Group score for each of our targets, where data is
available. This is a weighted average of the individual operating
company scores for each target. The weighting is based on the
sales contribution of each operating company. We also indicate
where we are on track to our milestones for the end of financial
year 2016/17.

50

Our report is subject to external assurance. KPMG LLP


has provided limited assurance over selected aspects of
the Net Positive report for the year ended 31 January 2015,
see page 52.

Reporting standards

This report contains standard disclosures from the Global


Reporting Initiative Sustainability Reporting Guidelines.
To aid comparison with other businesses we provide a GRI
Index on our website: www.kingfisher.com/netpositivereport.

United Nations Global Compact Index

We joined the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC)


in early 2014, and are committed to its 10 principles
covering the areas of human rights, labour, environment
and anti-corruption. Our UNGC Index on page 54 shows
where information on our performance relevant to the 10
principles is included in our Report.

Kingfisher Net Positive Report 2014/15

Operating company performance summary

We measure the progress of each of our companies against our


50 targets annually and we publish the average scores for each
operating company.
We have multiple targets for each issue and the scores included here are average scores, calculated from the individual scores for
each relevant target. The details of how we score progress on each target is explained in our Foundations Questionnaire Scoring
Guide (www.kingfisher.com/netpositiveresources).
The up and down arrows indicate where scores have changed since 2013/14. The results show that performance is strongest in
our largest and longest established companies those in the UK and France. This is the first year we are reporting data for Brico
Dpt Romania and we do not yet have data for this operating company across all our Net Positive themes.

Overview of results January 2015


B&Q China

Issue

B&Q UK

Brico Dpt
France

Brico Dpt
Iberia

Brico Dpt
Romania

Castorama
France

Castorama
Poland

Castorama
Russia

Kotas
Turkey

Screwfix

Timber
Energy

N/A

Innovation

N/A

Communities
Employees
Suppliers
and partners

N/A

Environment

0-25%

www.kingfisher.com

26-50%

51-75%

76-99%

100% target
achieved

51

Assurance Report
Independent Limited Assurance Report to
Kingfisher plc

KPMG LLP (KPMG or we) were engaged by Kingfisher plc


(Kingfisher) to provide limited assurance over the Selected
Information described below for the year ended 31 January 2015.

Our conclusion

Based on the work we have performed and the evidence we


have obtained, nothing has come to our attention that causes
us to believe that the Selected Information has not been
properly prepared, in all material respects, in accordance
with the Reporting Criteria.
This conclusion is to be read in the context of the remainder
of this report, in particular the inherent limitations explained
below and this reports intended use.

Selected Information

The scope of our work includes only:


the Selected Net Positive performance data for the year
ended 31 January 2015 marked with the symbol *; and
the assertion by Kingfisher about the process followed to
gather and report progress against selected Net Positive
Foundations Targets for the year ended 31 January 2015
marked with the symbol
included within Kingfishers Net Positive Report for the year
ended 31 January 2015 (the Report) (together, the Selected
Information).
We have not performed any work, and do not express any
conclusion, over any other information that may be included
in the Report or displayed on Kingfishers website for the
current year or for previous periods unless otherwise indicated.

Reporting Criteria

The Reporting Criteria we used to form our judgements


in relation to the Selected Information marked with the
symbol * and with the symbol are included within
Kingfishers Data Collection Methodology Document 2015
as set out at www.kingfisher.com/netpositiveresources.
The Selected Information needs to be read together with
the Reporting Criteria.

Inherent limitations

The nature of non-financial information; the absence of a


significant body of established practice on which to draw; and
the methods and precision used to determine non-financial
information, allow for different, but acceptable evaluation and
measurement techniques and can result in materially different
measurements, affecting comparability between entities and
over time.

52

Directors responsibilities

The Directors of Kingfisher are responsible for:


designing, implementing and maintaining internal controls
relevant to the preparation and presentation of the Selected
Information that is free from material misstatement, whether
due to fraud or error;
selecting and/or developing objective Reporting Criteria;
measuring and reporting the Selected Information in
accordance with the Reporting Criteria; and
the contents and statements contained within the Report
and the Reporting Criteria.

Our responsibilities

Our responsibility is to plan and perform our work to obtain


limited assurance about whether the Selected Information
has been prepared in accordance with the Reporting Criteria
and to report to Kingfisher in the form of an independent
limited assurance conclusion based on the work performed
and the evidence obtained.

Assurance standards applied

We performed our work in accordance with International


Standard on Assurance Engagements 3000 Assurance
Engagements other than Audits or Reviews of Historical
Financial Information (ISAE3000) and, in respect of the
greenhouse gas emissions information included within the
Selected Information, in accordance with International Standard
on Assurance Engagements 3410 Assurance Engagements
on Greenhouse Gas Statements (ISAE3410), issued by the
International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board.
The work performed in a limited assurance engagement varies in
nature and timing from, and is less in extent than for, a reasonable
assurance engagement. Consequently, the level of assurance
obtained in a limited assurance engagement is substantially
lower than the assurance that would have been obtained had
a reasonable assurance engagement been performed.

Independence, professional standards and quality control

We comply with the Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants


issued by the International Ethics Standards Board for
Accountants and we apply International Standard on Quality
Control (UK and Ireland) 1 Quality Control for Firms that
Perform Audits and Reviews of Historical Financial Information,
and Other Assurance and Related Services Engagements.
Accordingly, we maintain a comprehensive system of quality
control including documented policies and procedures
regarding compliance with ethical requirements and
professional standards (including independence, and other
requirements founded on fundamental principles of integrity,
objectivity, professional competence and due care, confidentiality
and professional behaviour) as well as applicable legal and
regulatory requirements.

Kingfisher Net Positive Report 2014/15

Summary of work performed

Considering the level of assurance and our assessment of


the risk of material misstatement of the Selected Information,
whether due to fraud or error, our work included, but was not
restricted to:
assessing the appropriateness of the Reporting Criteria for
the Selected Information;
interviewing specialists in Kingfisher Head Office and
Operating Company (OpCo) teams to obtain an
understanding of the Net Positive management procedures,
performance data collection, aggregation and internal and
external reporting processes and controls;
planning and agreeing with Kingfisher Management the
scope of work and extent of testing that Kingfishers Internal
Audit function would perform at each OpCo which included:
Timber (B&Q UK, Castorama Poland)
Energy (B&Q China, B&Q UK, Brico Dpt France, Brico
Dpt Spain, Brico Dpt Romania, Castorama France,
Castorama Poland, Castorama Russia, Kotas Turkey,
Screwfix)

This reports intended use

This assurance report is made solely to Kingfisher in accordance


with the terms of the engagement contract between us. Those
terms permit disclosure to other parties, solely for the purpose
of Kingfisher showing that it has obtained an independent
assurance report in connection with the Selected Information.
We have not considered the interest of any other party in the
Selected Information. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we
accept no responsibility and deny any liability to any party other
than Kingfisher for our work, for this assurance report or for the
conclusions we have reached.

Paul Holland

for and on behalf of KPMG LLP


Chartered Accountants
London 9 June 2015

Innovation (B&Q UK, Brico Dpt Spain)


Communities (B&Q UK, Brico Dpt France)
Suppliers and Partners (Castorama France, Screwfix,
KSO Hong Kong)
Environment (Castorama France, Screwfix)
Employees (Castorama France, Poland)
evaluating the work performed by Kingfishers Internal Audit
function and re-performing a selection of their work;
considering a selection of the documentation and findings
relating to the review process performed by Kingfishers
Internal Audit function on the OpCos self-assessment against
their progress on Net Positive Foundations Targets;
considering the data collation and validation processes at the
Kingfisher Head Office level, including:
understanding the functionality of Kingfishers online CR
reporting system
re-performing a selection of the calculations and
conversion factors used by Kingfisher to prepare the
Selected Information;
reading the query logs completed by the Kingfisher Head
Office team and submitted to OpCos
reading the Report and narrative accompanying the Selected
Information in the Report with regard to the Reporting
Criteria, and for consistency with our findings.

www.kingfisher.com

53

United Nations Global Compact Index


We joined the United Nations Global Compact in 2014, and are committed to its 10 principles
covering the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption. This Report forms
our first Communication on Progress against the Global Compact Principles, covering our financial
year 2014/15. This table summarises our approach and shows where information on our targets
and progress for each principle can be found in the report:

Summary of approach

Location in our reporting

Principle One
Businesses should
support and respect
the protection of
internationally
proclaimed human
rights; and

We take steps to protect the human rights of people affected by our


business, in line with the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights
and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

Human rights, page 48

Principle Two
make sure they are
not complicit in human
rights abuses.

Our Code of Conduct for Factory Working Conditions, see page 38

Human rights

We have clear policies on human rights for employees and suppliers.


These include:

Suppliers and partners,


page 38
Ethical business
conduct, page 40

Our Code of Conduct, see page 40

Employees can report concerns via our independently managed hotline,


see page 40. The number of open and resolved cases and the outcomes
are reported to the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors. We also
run an online reporting system for vendors.
We have an ethical assessment and audit programme for supplier factories
which covers human rights. We set targets and report our progress annually,
see page 38.

Labour

Principle Three
Businesses should
uphold the freedom
of association and the
effective recognition
of the right to collective
bargaining;
Principle Four
the elimination of all
forms of forced and
compulsory labour;
Principle Five
the effective abolition
of child labour; and

We respect the rights of our employees and suppliers in areas such as


freedom of association, the right to collective bargaining, no child labour
or forced or compulsory labour. We work to eliminate discrimination and to
promote inclusion and diversity in our workforce and take steps to protect
the health and safety of employees, customers and contractors. We set
targets and report our progress annually.

Suppliers and partners,


page 38

Our Code of Conduct for Factory Working Conditions incorporates


the requirements of international frameworks such as those from
the International Labour Organization and the OECD Guidelines
for Multinational Enterprises. See page 38.

Health and safety,


page 35

Human rights, page 48


Inclusion and diversity,
page 33

Employees can report concerns via our independently managed hotline.


The outcomes of cases are reported to the Audit Committee of the Board
of Directors. We run an online reporting system for vendors.

Our ethical assessment and audit programme for supplier factories covers
labour practices, page 38.
Principle Six
eliminate discrimination
in respect of employment
and occupation.

54

Kingfisher Net Positive Report 2014/15

Summary of approach

Location in our reporting

We aim to be restorative to the environment, going beyond zero impacts


to create positive change. We focus on our own operations and on our
products and services, helping customers to live more sustainably.
Our approach is summarised in our Sustainability Policy.

Timber, page 18

We have assessed our footprint and identified the issues of timber,


energy and sustainable innovation as most significant for our business.
We are working towards the aspirations of: creating more forests than we
use; helping our customers have homes that are zero carbon or generate
more energy than they use; and enabling more sustainable lifestyles
through our products and services.

Environment, page 41

Environment

Principle Seven
Business should
support a precautionary
approach to
environmental
challenges;
Principle Eight
undertake initiatives
to promote greater
environmental
responsibility; and
Principle Nine
encourage the
development
and diffusion of
environmentally
friendly technologies.

Energy, page 22
Innovation, page 27
Net Positive part
of our day, page 36

We are also reducing our impacts in areas such as waste, transport,


packaging, water, chemicals and biodiversity. We have set ambitious targets
and report progress annually. We support a precautionary approach as
illustrated by examples such as our decision to remove pesticide products
containing neonicotinoid chemicals that are thought to contribute to bee
decline, across our global operations (see Chemicals page 43).
We are reviewing our product ranges to improve their environmental
performance and training our employees to encourage greater
environmental responsibility.

Anti-corruption

Principle 10
Businesses should
work against corruption
in all its forms, including
extortion and bribery.

We will not tolerate bribery or corruption in any form. Our Code of Conduct
explains our approach and helps us to comply with regulation such as the
UKs Bribery Act.

Ethical business conduct,


page 40

To implement the Code, our companies have established reporting and


compliance procedures including the appointment of a senior compliance
officer in each company, training for relevant employees, raising awareness
of our whistle-blowing procedures for employees and suppliers and
integration of the Code of Conduct into employee and supplier contracts.
All employees whose location or role poses a potential corruption risk
must complete our anti-bribery and corruption training module.
We have a target on ethical conduct and we monitor compliance with our
standards through our internal audit programme and annual self-certification
process. In 2014 our internal audit programme included a Group-wide
review of compliance with the UK Bribery Act.

I am pleased to reaffirm Kingfishers support for the United


Nations Global Compact and its principles on human rights,
labour practices, the environment and anti-corruption.
We will continue to strengthen our approach in each of
these important areas over the year ahead and to share
our progress with our stakeholders.
Vronique Laury

Chief Executive Officer

www.kingfisher.com

55

Kingfisher plc,
3 Sheldon Square,
Paddington,
London W2 6PX
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7372 8008
www.kingfisher.com

About our reporting

This Report summarises our progress against our Net Positive targets during 2014/15.
We also publish more detailed performance data in our Data Appendix available at
www.kingfisher.com/netpositivereport.
Our more integrated Annual Report for investors explains the financial, economic,
social and environmental value our business creates over both the short and long term,
see www.kingfisher.com/AR14-15.

Find out more about Kingfisher and sustainability:

Annual Report and Accounts www.kingfisher.com/AR14-15


B&Q UK One Planet Home www.diy.com/eco
Castorama France Corporate Responsibility www.castorama.fr/store/pages/rse-home.html

Get in touch

Wed love to know what you think about Net Positive and sustainability at Kingfisher.
Get in touch at [email protected]

Printed by Park Communications on FSC certified paper.


Park is an EMAS certified company and its Environmental
Management System is certified to ISO 14001.
This document is printed on Symbol Freelife Satin, a paper
containing 100% virgin fibre sourced from well-managed,
responsible, FSC certified forests. The pulp used in this product
is bleached using an elemental chlorine free (ECF) process.
Designed and produced by Black Sun Plc www.blacksunplc.com
Advice and writing: BDH Sustainability Ltd www.bdhsustain.com
Editorial oversight, Kingfisher: Becky Coffin and Alex Duff

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