The Home Depot Announces Latest Carbon Emission Reductions, New Supplier Diversity Spending Goal and Progress on Community Investments in 2022 ESG Report

ATLANTA, July 28, 2022 /CNW/ -- The Home Depot reduced its combined Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions by approximately 172,000 metric tons in 2021, equivalent to taking more than 37,000 cars off the road for a year. The company reduced its electricity consumption by approximately 11 percent year-over-year in U.S. stores – while at the same time opening five new stores – and cut U.S. store electricity usage by 50 percent since 2010.

These and other highlights are included in The Home Depot's 2022 ESG Report, which provides updates on the company's progress centered around three environmental, social and governance (ESG) pillars: focusing on our people, operating sustainably, and strengthening our communities.

The Home Depot paid record Fiscal 2021 Success Sharing bonuses to non-management associates of approximately $739 million. The company's U.S. associate base was once again more ethnically diverse than the U.S. working population; approximately 36 percent of its new hires were women, and more than 57 percent were ethnically diverse in 2021. The Home Depot spent $3.3 billion with Tier I diverse suppliers in 2021 and announced a goal to spend $5 billion annually by 2025.

The Home Depot Foundation crossed a milestone of more than $400 million contributed to veterans' causes since 2011, while also making meaningful progress on its skilled trades training initiatives and responding to communities struck by natural disasters during the year.

"Our team knows that an effective ESG strategy works best when we all work together – our associates, nonprofit partners and supplier partners – to generate the most positive impact possible," said Ted Decker, CEO and president of The Home Depot. "The progress we've made in focusing on our people, operating sustainably and strengthening our communities is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our associates. I want to thank them and all our partners for their commitment to helping us do our part to take care of our customers, communities and each other."

Additional Fiscal 2021 highlights around The Home Depot's three ESG pillars include:

Focusing on People

• Awarded approximately $230 million in grants to approximately 164,000 associates since 1999 through its internal associate support program, The Homer Fund
• Completed its goal to launch a Tier II supplier diversity program to encourage its suppliers to spend more with diverse businesses 
• Increased the representation of female and underrepresented minority groups across its managers and above population in the U.S.
• Approximately 90 percent of U.S. store leaders started as hourly associates

Operating Sustainably

• In 2021, The Home Depot estimates that customer purchases of Energy Star products helped reduce annual electricity use by 7 billion kilowatt hours, saving $950 million on energy costs, and lowering carbon emissions by 4.9 million metric tons
• The company estimates that water-saving products sold at The Home Depot helped customers reduce consumption by over 66 billion gallons in 2021
• Eliminated 1.1 million square feet of PVC film by redesigning its private label packaging in Fiscal 2021 – enough to cover 19 football fields
• Completed a multi-year project to convert U.S. stores to LED overhead lighting
• Committed to participating in the CDP Forests Questionnaire

Strengthening Communities

• The Home Depot Foundation achieved the milestone of 10 years of its commitment to support the U.S. military veteran community, while also surpassing $400 million contributed to veterans' causes
• In 2021, approximately 14,000 associates volunteered in communities across 150 cities nationwide through Team Depot, The Home Depot's associate volunteer force
• Since 2011, Team Depot has volunteered more than 1.25 million service hours to veterans' causes
• The Home Depot Foundation committed more than $7 million in 2021 to help communities impacted by natural disasters
• Since 2009, the company's "Retool Your School" grant program has helped fund more than 100 campus beautification projects benefitting 65 percent of historically black colleges and universities (HBCU's)

About The Home Depot 
The Home Depot is the world's largest home improvement specialty retailer. At the end of the first quarter, the company operated a total of 2,316 retail stores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, 10 Canadian provinces and Mexico. The company employs approximately 500,000 associates. The Home Depot's stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: HD) and is included in the Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor's 500 index. The Home Depot is #17 on the 2022 Fortune 500.

Certain statements contained herein constitute "forward-looking statements" as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements may relate to, among other things, our goals, commitments and programs, and projections of future results, including our ability to meet our goals; the impact on our business, operations and financial results of the COVID-19 pandemic and the related recovery; our business plans, strategies, initiatives and objectives and their expected execution and impact; management of relationships with our associates, potential associates, suppliers and service providers; cost and availability of labor; costs of fuel and other energy sources; international trade disputes, natural disasters, climate change, public health issues (including pandemics and quarantines, related shut-downs and other governmental orders, and similar restrictions, as well as subsequent re-openings), cybersecurity events, military conflicts or acts of war, and other business interruptions that could disrupt operation of our facilities, our ability to operate or access communications, financial or banking systems, or supply or delivery of, or demand for, the Company's products or services; the impact of regulatory changes; the impact of acquired companies on our organization; and our assumptions, expectations and projections regarding any of the foregoing.

Forward-looking statements are based on currently available information and our current assumptions, expectations and projections about future events. They are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to future events, risks and uncertainties – many of which are beyond our control, dependent on the actions of third parties, or currently unknown to us – as well as potentially inaccurate assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those described in the "Risk Factors" section and elsewhere in our most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K, and also in future reports we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We encourage you to review these filings. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and we do not undertake to update these statements other than as required by law. You are advised, however, to review any further disclosures we make on related subjects in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and in our other public statements.

SOURCE The Home Depot

For more information, contact: Financial Community, Isabel Janci, Vice President of Investor Relations and Treasurer, 770-384-2666, [email protected]; News Media, Margaret Smith, Corporate Communications, 770-384-3130, [email protected]