“Proud to be a member of Make It Zero”

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the home improvement industry: that is the ambitious goal of the Make It Zero initiative, which was launched by the international DIY association Edra/Ghin with the support of its industry partner association, Hima. What may sound a little obvious is not: “It is an initiative of an entire industry – that is unique worldwide,” says Edra Managing Director John Herbert, who can rightly be described as the driving force behind this project.

Specifically, the reduction of CO₂ emissions in the industry concerns what are known as Scope 3 emissions. These are the emissions generated by the use of products sold in DIY and garden centers (and not by their production or transport). At the heart of Make It Zero is an industry-wide uniform standard for recording these emissions. The big advantage of an industry-wide solution is that manufacturers and retailers exchange this data in a specified format via a single interface, saving themselves a lot of effort that would be involved in parallel, company-specific individual solutions.

Currently, 36 companies from the retail sector – representing a combined turnover of €290 billion – and 33 companies from the manufacturing sector are participating in the initiative. “All the major retailers worldwide and the major manufacturer brands are involved,” says John Herbert. He makes no secret of the fact that he had expected greater enthusiasm in the industry, because he is convinced: “It's cheaper, faster, and easier to do something like this together.”

After all, climate protection is one of the most pressing, if not the most pressing, issues of our time. And if the home improvement industry were to take a united and, above all, active stand on this issue, it could have an enormous impact thanks to its enormous savings potential: its global greenhouse gas emissions are equivalent to those of Canada.

And the feedback from the companies that are already involved is extremely positive. In a survey, they unanimously confirm that the concept presented takes the right approach in the right way; At the same time, the survey also reveals a certain lack of understanding for the fact that many smaller companies, which find it much more difficult to undertake such projects than the big players, have so far held back.

In terms of content, Make It Zero continues to rely on the expertise of the…