Kingfisher – Wuguizi Zhou – 2019

Goals 

Kingfisher enlisted Wuguizi Zhou this summer to continue the carbon footprint survey on its top 100 suppliers in fifth continuous year of this annual program. Zhou was tasked to conduct the first-time evaluation on Kingfisher’s energy saving program, which was started in 2010 for 40+ suppliers. She collected suppliers’ GHG emissions data, calculated their carbon footprint, analyzed the current trends and sources behind the emissions, and made recommendations to Kingfisher on how to better achieve energy saving and GHG emissions reduction goals through future implementation.

Solutions

Zhou designed a new survey template and survey guideline, and then integrated them into a carbon survey, which helps improve data quality and facilitate suppliers to report data more easily. After collecting and analyzing the data from targeted suppliers, Zhou found a major barrier for Kingfisher’s Energy Saving program – A factory’s turnover rate plays a vital role in deciding the carbon intensity of the factory, and this factory could make huge difference on the total carbon footprint of Kingfisher’s supply chain in China. She also provided a few strategic suggestions to Kingfisher on how to turn this barrier into opportunities.

Potential Impact

Kingfisher will incorporate and use the new survey and all supporting materials that Zhou helped develop during her fellowship in the company’s Energy Saving program. In addition, the data of Kingfisher’s Top 100 suppliers that she helped calibrate and analyze can allow future fellows save their time on data analysis. Her suggestions targeted on energy saving program are practical and implementable, which will be a good starting point for Kingfisher’s energy saving program.