Kingfisher – Mengdi Wang – 2018

Goals

Kingfisher Offer & Supply Chain HK & SH, the Asia buying office of British home improvement retailer Kingfisher plc. enlisted Mengdi Wang to conduct the carbon footprint survey on its top 100 suppliers in this fourth year of this annual program. She was charged with collecting supplier greenhouse gas emission data, evaluating energy management status, identifying suppliers for future carbon mitigation, and making recommendations on how to streamline the carbon footprint survey program.

Solutions

Wang began by collecting and analyzing carbon emissions data, energy management status and energy-saving measures suppliers had already implemented as a reference point toward the creation of a scorecard. This was designed to identify suppliers for future carbon mitigation projects and is based on three criteria: willingness to participate, necessity and the potential to cut emissions. Through the process of researching and creating this tool she recognized that problems of procrastination, data errors and lack of knowledge are pervasive with the suppliers. To remedy these problems, she recommended sending out simplified questionnaires to suppliers that would collect emission data and monitor implementations of general energy-saving practices.

Potential Impact

In the short term, Kingfisher Offer & Supply Chain HK&SH will be able to expand its green supply chain program to include the five suppliers identified by Wang’s scorecard. In the long term, her recommendations will help streamline the carbon footprint survey program by improving its relevancy, consistency and accuracy. Additionally, the data collected by Wang will help Kingfisher Offer& Supply Chain HK & SH build a baseline for its supply chain carbon emissions, which will act as a reference for Kingfisher plc’s global carbon mitigation target.