Our approach

Our approach 

We have been prioritising Responsible Business for over three decades – from collaborating across sectors to pioneer approaches for the responsible sourcing of wood and paper, to creating more sustainable products for our customers, and establishing innovative charitable partnerships. Our Responsible Business priorities are underpinned by our commitment to our Fundamentals – the many issues and impacts we need to measure and manage to ensure we continue to operate responsibly across our business.

Celebrating over 30 years of Responsible Business

Our four key priorities

Our Responsible Business strategy focuses on the four priorities where we can best use our experience, scale and influence to bring about positive change in our business for our customers, supply chain, society and beyond.

Colleagues

We will become a more inclusive company 

Planet

We will help tackle climate change and continue our journey to become Forest Positive

Customers

We will help make greener, healthier homes affordable 

Communities

We are striving for better homes for everyone in our communities

Fundamentals

Our priorities are underpinned by our commitment to our Responsible Business Fundamentals – the many issues and impacts we need to measure and manage to ensure we operate responsibly throughout our business value chain. We have clear policies in each of these areas, from health and safety, to responsible sourcing, cyber security and data protection, and ethical conduct, to ensure we take a consistent best practice approach across Kingfisher and our banners.

Safety at work

We believe every colleague is entitled to a safe working environment. Our Group Head of Health and Safety oversees our approach and is supported by Senior Management Safety Committees in each retail banner and a network of safety professionals.

Human rights and ethical sourcing

We respect human rights and take steps to protect the rights of our employees, workers in our supply chain and others affected by our business activities. We check supplier compliance with our standards through ethical audits, targeting suppliers in the highest-risk countries, sectors and locations.

Waste and recycling

We want to design out waste from our operations, find new ways to reuse and recycle resources and help our customers to do the same.

Ethical conduct

We expect everyone working with us to carry out business on our behalf fairly and with complete integrity. We do not tolerate bribery or corruption.

Tax governance and risk management

Our core tax objectives are to pay the right amount of tax at the right time and to comply with all relevant tax legislation in all Group entities. We have a zero tolerance approach to tax evasion and the facilitation of tax evasion. 

Public policy

We interact with regulators and government officials in our markets and at EU level. We give our views on proposed legislation and inform the development of policies that will impact our business and the retail sector.

Pensions

The Kingfisher Pension Scheme (KPS) manages the pensions of past and present UK employees. Reflecting our Responsible Business commitments, the KPS integrates responsible investment principles into its work and communicates with stakeholders on its approach to environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues.

Governance and engagement

We’ve embedded Responsible Business into our governance and management structures to enable progress against our goals and targets. Our Responsible Business Committee (RBC), reporting to the plc Board, oversees delivery of our Responsible Business strategy.

Engaging our stakeholders

Responsible Business challenges are often complex and systemic in nature. We partner with stakeholders to progress our work on Responsible Business issues and encourage change beyond our business. Stakeholder views and feedback helps us to develop our approach and improve our communications.

Material issues

Our materiality assessment helps us to identify our most important Responsible Business issues, risks and opportunities, taking into account business priorities and the views of our stakeholders. It informs how we focus our resources, and what information we choose to include in our Responsible Business reporting.

 

Reporting standards and disclosure

We align with a number of external disclosure initiatives including CDP, the Workforce Disclosure Initiative (WDI), the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) and the Task Force on Climate Related Financial Disclosure (TCFD).

The UN Sustainable Development Goals

We support the UN Sustainable Development Goals that provide a framework for governments, business and civil society to work together to end poverty, fight inequality and stop climate change by 2030.

We have reviewed our progress and strategy against the UN Sustainable Development Goals and have identified the priority goals for our business.