Kingfisher – Yuan Yang – 2016

Goals 

Kingfisher, the largest home improvement retailer in Europe, has focused its attention on better management of carbon emissions from its supply chain. EDF Climate Corps fellow Yuan Yang was enlisted to conduct the supplier carbon emission survey for its sourcing organization, Kingfisher Sourcing & Offer (KSO), with its top-100 suppliers in China. Kingfisher needed help not only evaluating the current status of its supply chain emissions, but also identifying solutions to mitigate suppliers’ emissions and improving the process of the supplier carbon emission survey.

Solutions

Yuan conducted two supplier surveys–one on carbon emissions and the other on energy use. The results indicated that the majority of KSO’s supply chain emissions are generated from purchased electricity (87%) and on-site combustion of natural gas (6%). The bulk of electricity and natural gas use is produced by a few large suppliers. Yuan also identified product categories with high emission intensity.

To devise mitigation strategies, Yuan first needed to understand suppliers’ energy savings potential as well as their most energy-intensive processes and equipment. The list included: painting, lighting, injection molding machines, electric motors, and air compressors. After analyzing current energy management systems, Yuan identified 11 factories with strong energy saving potentials that should be prioritized for advanced supply chain carbon management.

To improve the accuracy and efficiency of data collection, Yang suggested KSO focus on electricity, on-site combustion, company owned vehicles, and economic data. He also recommended that KSO develops an online carbon reporting tool with new features based on his data collection. Training activities, such as online courses, can also improve suppliers’ basic understanding of emission reporting.

Potential Impact

By using Yuan’s program, KSO can better understand and manage its supply chain carbon emissions, as well as target suppliers with both large electricity or natural gas consumption levels and strong energy saving potentials. Moving forward, an improved supplier carbon emission survey will provide more high-quality data, helping KSO achieve its sustainability development goals.