• Blank challenged competitors to follow Home Depot’s lead, and within two years several had met that

challenge, including Lowe’s, the number-two home-improvement retailer; Wickes, a lumber company; and
Andersen Corporation, a window manufacturer.

• By 2003, Home Depot reported that it had reduced its purchases of Indonesian lauan, a tropical rainforest
hardwood used in door components, by 70 percent, and it continued to increase its purchases of certified
sustainable wood products.

• In addition to sustainable wood products, Home Depot offers compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) in its
stores and has even introduced an in-store recycling program for CFL bulbs.

• Customers can drop off their used bulbs in stores, and Home Depot works with an environmental
management company to recycle the bulbs safely and responsibly. Home Depot made cash and in-kind
donations exceeding $50 million in 2008 and awarded $15.5 million in grant monies to housing
development organizations.

• In 2002 the company founded the Home Depot Foundation, which provides additional resources to assist
nonprofits in the United States and Canada.

• The Foundation awards grants to eligible nonprofits three times per year and partners with innovative
nonprofits across the country that are working to increase awareness and successfully demonstrate the
connection between housing, the urban forest, and the overall health and economic success of their
communities.

• The company has established a carpooling program for more than three thousand employees in the Atlanta
area, and remains the only North American home-improvement retailer with full-time staff dedicated to
environmental issues.

• These efforts have yielded many rewards in addition to improved relations with environmental
stakeholders. Home Depot’s environmental programs have earned the company an A on the Council on
Economic Priorities Corporate Report Card, a Vision of America Award from Keep America Beautiful,
and, along with Scientific Certification Systems and Collin Pine, a President’s Council for Sustainable
Development Award.

• The company was voted number five in Fortune magazine’s “America’s Most Admired Specialty Retailer”
in 2008 and also has been recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency with its Energy Star
Award for Excellence.

• Despite the fact that Home Depot has established better relations with some environmental activists, it has
not placated all of them.

• In 2008, Home Depot came under controversy for doing business with two Chilean wood suppliers that
supported the building of a dam in the Chilean region of Patagonia, a project that would cause irreparable
harm to a fragile ecosystem.

• An environmental institution known as International Rivers demanded that Home Depot pull its contracts
with the suppliers if they refused to abandon the dam project.

• However, Home Depot’s environmental chief Ron Jarvis said that the two suppliers were obeying the 2003
agreement not to cut down endangered forests for tree farms..
• Since they were also not supplying Home Depot with wood products from native forests, Home Depot had
no legitimate reason to cancel the contracts.

• Additionally, Jarvis maintained that the two Chilean suppliers were only minor players in the dam project
and that the company’s pull-out would not have much of an effect.

• This raises the question of how much responsibility major companies have for the environment,
particularly when the company itself is not directly doing harm.

• Is it fair for environmentalists to target companies simply because they are large? No matter how
environmentally-friendly Home Depot attempts to portray itself, these are questions it will likely have to
weigh constantly as it struggles to address its environmental stakeholders.

After philanthropy:

• One of its grant programs, Affordable Housing Built Responsibly, was used to produce 12,223 homes in
2007.

• Home Depot supports Youth Build USA, a nonprofit organization that provides training and skill
development for young people.

• Youth Build USA gives students the opportunity to help rehabilitate housing for homeless and low-income
families.

• Additionally, Home Depot supports other programs to help at-risk youth, such as Big Brothers/Big Sisters,
Ka BOOM!, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

• Home Depot believes that every child should have a safe and fun place to play.

• In 2007, Home Depot partnered with KaBOOM! to create 1,000 play spaces in only 1,000 days. Home
Depot donated $25 million and 1 million volunteer hours in support of the program.

• Home Depot has addressed the growing needs for relief from disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes, and
earthquakes.

• After Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma, Home Depot, the Home Depot Foundation, their suppliers, and
Home Depot’s Homer Fund contributed $9.3 million in cash and materials to support recovery.

• Home Depot also donated $500,000 to support the tsunami relief efforts of the American Red Cross in
Southeast Asia, and donated $300,000 to the American Red Cross for disaster relief for people who suffer
from hurricanes.

• Separately, Home Depot’s Homer Fund donated $500,000 to 650 associates who had suffered through
Hurricane Gustav in 2008.