Data and targets summary

Introduction

This section provides a summary of our data and progress against targets for each of our seven Future Homes goals. The latest information is for the financial year 2009/10. This section is updated annually at the end of May.

Our data

Group-wide figures are reported throughout unless otherwise indicated and are subject to review by the audit firm Ernst & Young. See our CR reporting for more about the scope of our data. The group performance section provides further details of performance, including detailed data and explanatory notes.

Our targets

We have started working with the independent sustainability experts Forum for the Future to set new targets. We are pleased to report that our targets on timber, energy efficiency and CO₂ emissions have been met ahead of schedule and we plan to set revised targets on these issues during 2010. There are a number of targets which are more challenging, including those on packaging, chemicals, water use and further work will be needed in these areas to achieve our targets.

Most of our current targets aim to drive improvement over a five-year period and run until 2011/12. We have started working with the independent sustainability experts Forum for the Future to set new targets.

One of the key pieces of feedback from our stakeholder panel last year was that we should set some long-term objectives in addition to our short-term targets. As part of our work with Forum for the Future, we are setting key milestones for 2012 as well as some longer-term targets to drive forward progress against our Future Homes strategy over the next ten years. B&Q UK (our largest operating company) has already set out a bold long-term ambition to reduce its direct CO₂ emissions by 90% by 2023 (from 2006/07).

We develop our targets following consultation with our businesses and take into account their past performance and future plans. However, with the evolving CR agenda and dynamic nature of our business, we need to review our targets on a regular basis to ensure they remain challenging.

We recognise that it is regarded as best practice to set Group numeric targets, particularly to reduce environmental impacts. Our current numeric targets cover our key environmental impacts including our carbon footprint, energy, transport, waste and sustainable timber sourcing. We plan to set additional numeric targets on water use and packaging during 2010.

We seek to drive forward improvement against our numeric targets through our 166-point Steps programme. This sets out actions to be achieved by each of our businesses within specific timeframes. It is these actions that ultimately translate into improvements in our data.

Our Group targets include some of the key Steps 'policy target' criteria. We have set the deadline of 31 January 2011 for these targets because this is the timeframe set out within our Steps programme for achieving these milestones. However, a number of our businesses have already made progress in these areas ahead of these deadlines.