We can take direct action on our energy consumption—and we are doing so. When it comes to transportation, we are optimizing the routes taken by our fleet of trucks and contributing to electrification efforts, with electric vehicle charging stations at some of our stores and at our head office.

For the past several years, we have also been investing in the implementation of technologies that help us improve the energy efficiency of our buildings to help us reach the ambitious GHG emission reduction targets we have set for ourselves: by 2025, bring our GHG emissions down 40% compared to our 2016 levels, and bring them down 60% by 2030.

To do so, we have injected some $30M in our network to implement building management systems and replace lighting systems by LED ones at our Lowe’s, RONA and Reno-Depot corporate stores, as well as at our Boucherville distribution centre.

It is estimated that by the end of 2022, these two initiatives will allow us to reduce our GHG emissions by approximately 8.6% compared to 2016, which is the equivalent of removing more than 2,675 vehicles from the roads.

As part of our efforts to reduce the environmental impact of our operations, we announced at the beginning of the year that we would be progressively eliminating single-use plastic shopping bags from our entire store network. This initiative will further our efforts–initiated in 2018 through the implementation of a fee on plastic bags– to encourage our customers to change their shopping habits and opt for more sustainable options.

Starting in June 2022, we will progressively withdraw single-use plastic shopping bags from our Lowe’s, RONA and Reno-Depot stores across the country. We will offer customers reusable bags, for which profits will be donated to Nature Conservancy of Canada to support conservation projects across the country.