Change That Builds
The Home Depot’s sustainability and human capital management strategy is centered on three key pillars: Focus on Our People, Operate Sustainably and Strengthen Our Communities.
OPERATE SUSTAINABLY
We strive to reduce our carbon footprint by improving the efficiency of our operations and by investing in alternative energy solutions. We partner with suppliers focused on social and environmental responsibility, and we help our customers reduce their environmental impact by offering products and packaging created with sustainability in mind.
We have a long-standing commitment to reduce the impact that our operations and products have on the environment, which we believe helps make our business stronger, more agile, and more resilient. This approach extends from the products and services we offer to our customers; to our store construction, maintenance and operations; to our supply chain and packaging initiatives; to our responsible sourcing program. As we strive to operate sustainably, we focus on sourcing products responsibly, protecting our business operations from climate-related risks, and reducing our environmental impact.
Ethical Sourcing
The Home Depot and our affiliates, divisions and subsidiaries respect and support the dignity, well-being and human rights of our associates, the workers in our extended supply chain, the communities in which we live and those affected by our operations.
For over 20 years, our Responsible Sourcing program has helped us assess and manage the many aspects of our supply chain oversight and support our efforts to conduct our business in a responsible and ethical manner. We engage our suppliers across many areas of compliance, including but not limited to laws and regulations, child/forced labor, compensation and freedom of association. We require suppliers to produce products in factories that adhere to our Responsible Sourcing Standards, and we report on our progress in our annual Responsible Sourcing Report.
Our Responsible Sourcing Standards establish the requirements our suppliers must meet in order to conduct business with The Home Depot and mandate that suppliers and factories abide by all applicable international and local laws, rules and regulations in the sourcing, manufacturing and distribution of merchandise or services provided to us. We conduct audits of factories around the world to ensure compliance with our Responsible Sourcing Standards.
Sustainable Forestry
As the largest home improvement retailer in the world, we leverage our supplier relationships to prioritize wood and wood product sourcing from sustainably managed forests.
For decades, we have sought to be an industry leader in prioritizing and promoting sustainable forestry practices. As a significant purchaser of wood and wood products, we recognize our ability to effect positive change by encouraging others to adopt sustainable forestry practices and address the loss of biodiversity.
Canadian Supply Chains Act Report
Greener Products
The Home Depot’s greatest environmental impact comes from the products we sell, and our biggest opportunity to create change is by helping customers live more sustainably. We work with suppliers to encourage the production of greener products, which we, in turn, offer to our customers.
Eco Options
The Home Depot’s greatest environmental impact comes from the products we sell, and our biggest opportunity to create change is by helping customers live more sustainably. We work with suppliers to encourage the production of greener products, which we, in turn, offer to our customers. The Home Depot Canada’s Eco Options® program helps our customers identify products that have less of an impact on the environment. It also encourages our suppliers to provide more sustainable offerings. For a product to receive Eco Options classification, the supplier must document attributes that prove it has less of an impact on the environment than comparable products in the same category.
Responsible Chemistry
Our Chemical Strategy, first published in 2017, is an important part of our commitment to offer greener products. It guides our efforts to work with suppliers to reduce the indoor air quality impact of chemicals used in the products we sell. Its publication was a milestone made possible by what we had learned over a decade of focusing on sustainability.
Honey Bees & Insecticides
In 2016, The Home Depot Canada set a goal to eliminate neonicotinoids in our live goods. Our local growers have risen to the challenge. Thank you to all the growers across Canada and live goods merchants who worked tirelessly to help remove neonicotinoids from our supply chain.
To further support pollinator friendly practices, The Home Depot Canada partners with the Canadian Wildlife Federation (CWF) to offers pollinator-friendly plants at our stores. A portion of the sales go to CWF to fund programs that help pollinators and other Canadian species. We also have our Nature’s Nutrients line of 75 to 100 pollinator friendly annual and perennials. We continue to expand the Nature’s Nutrients program each year.
Energy & Water Efficiency Products
We partner with our suppliers and the ENERGY STAR® and WaterSense® programs to sell more efficient products. We have over 1000’s of WaterSense® and ENERGY STAR® items in-store and online helping our customers save water and energy throughout their home.
Our dedication to helping customers make the switch to ENEGY STAR® is evident in our ENERGY STAR® retailer of the year award, which we have won for the last number of years.
Circularity
We introduced circularity as one of our five sustainability pillars in 2019, and our focus has been to prevent products and packaging from becoming waste throughout the product lifecycle.
We strive to offer products designed for a lower environmental impact, and we encourage suppliers to innovate how they produce and package products, with a focus on reuse and longevity. Through our supplier partnerships, we are able to drive measurable progress toward our circularity goals. Since we launched our goal to reduce 200 million pounds of plastic used in products and packaging material by 2028, we have been encouraged by the innovation our suppliers have been able to bring to market, and as a result, we are currently tracking ahead of our goal timeline.
Habitat for Humanity ReStore
The Home Depot Canada supports the Habit for Humanity ReStores program with donation of product from stores across the country. As of 2025, these donations provide quality items for sale at 105 Habitat ReStores across Canada. These ReStores are innovative social enterprises, and the funds generated are used to fund local Habitat for Humanity homebuilding projects.
This partnership with Habitat is not just about donating product to this great organization, it also supports The Home Depot Canada's sustainability objective to sustainably manage all waste materials at the store level. Donating materials to Habitat for Humanity keeps them in use rather than recycling the materials or landfilling the materials.
Resources and Reports
To find out more about the details of various sustainability policies please take a look at the resource and reports below.
Forest Stewardship Council Certification
Responsible Sourcing Standards
Responsible Sourcing Supplier Manual
Corporate Sustainability
People
Products
Operations
People
Products
Operations
Operations
FOCUS ON OUR PEOPLE
When The Home Depot was founded in 1978, Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank had no idea how revolutionary this new “hardware store” would be for home improvement and the retail industry.
Our founders' vision of one-stop shopping for the do-it-yourselfer came to fruition when they opened the first two Home Depot stores on June 22, 1979, in Atlanta, Georgia. The first stores, at around 60,000 square feet each, were cavernous warehouses that overshadowed the competition and stocked 25,000 products, much more than the average hardware store at that time.
Today, we’re proud to be the world’s largest home improvement retailer. In 2,300 stores across North America (182 in Canada), we aspire to excel in service – to our customers, associates, communities and shareholders. That’s what leadership means to us. That's The Home Depot difference.
We focus on our people by striving for a culture that is centered on The Home Depot’s Core Value of Respect for All People and that welcomes everyone. We believe this approach helps us achieve our business goals by driving excellent customer service and innovation, empowering our associates to thrive and excel, and enriching the communities in which we operate. This includes creating an environment where our associates feel valued and respected and providing equal opportunity for all of our associates.
Benefits
Our people make The Home Depot successful, and it’s our responsibility and privilege to take care of them. The Home Depot associates are at different life stages, and our Benefits program guides them to the right resources. With one click, associates can find support for wherever they are on life’s journey.
We also provide support for life’s unexpected challenges. Through our Employee and Family Assistance Program (EFAP) our associates have 24/7 access to counselling services. In addition, our associates and their families have access to a mobile app that provides instant access to Canadian healthcare practitioners specializing in family medicine.
Success Sharing
Our Core Value of Taking Care of Our People and motivating them to deliver a superior customer experience also shapes our profit-sharing program for our non-management associates. Success Sharing provides cash awards for performance against our business plan.
The program has granted awards totaling more than $860 million to associates over the last three years. The performance of our associates in 2024 enabled 100% of qualifying stores to earn Success Sharing in both the first and second half of the year. This resulted in Success Sharing bonus payments to our non-management associates of approximately $250 million for Fiscal 2024.
Associate Safety
We are committed to our Core Value of Taking Care of Our People, which includes making investments in training and tools to ensure we are reducing the risk of work-related injuries.
Through our continuously evolving training, innovative processes and engagement from store leadership, we aim to provide a safe working and shopping environment for our associates and customers.
Homer Fund
The Homer Fund was created to support The Home Depot associates and their families facing an unexpected difficulty or tragedy through two types of grants. The Direct Grant can help associates pay for basic living expenses such as rent, mortgage etc. Matching Grants is the “pass the hat” concept where associates collect money to help another associate in need. The Homer Fund will match the collection efforts of the associates.
Taking Care of Our People is a core value at The Home Depot. Since 1999 more than 2,800 Canadian associates have been supported by the Fund in grants totaling over $5 million. Every dollar donated by associates goes directly to supporting associates.
Learning and Development
The Home Depot’s learning and development programs expand skills and capabilities so associates can master their current roles and prepare for future ones. We strive to build a learning-rich workplace where associates and leaders are prepared to succeed, motivated to serve our customers well and given opportunities to grow. We see results from our approach to turning front-line jobs into careers. We support associate training at all levels of the career journey. As a result of our efforts, we invested ~533,000 hours of associate training in 2024.
We aim to create an engaged workforce that feels connected and empowered to contribute to the success of our Company. By listening to our associates through our surveys and engagement platform, we foster a welcoming culture where all associates can share their views and stay connected.
Voice of the Associate
Our highly engaged associates care about their work and the performance of The Home Depot. We are passionate about maintaining an engaging and inclusive workplace, and we do so by proactively communicating with our associates, while also listening and responding to their feedback.
In 2024, we conducted our annual Voice of the Associate (VOA) survey, as well as our follow-up Pulse survey, for all our associates. Through questions, like whether associates feel they are treated with respect regardless of their background and if associates feel their work is connected to the goals of The Home Depot, the VOA survey provides an in-depth look at our associates' engagement and satisfaction with their job, their leaders and the Company.
Engagement Platform
Our voluntary associate engagement platform — Viva Engage — helps associates celebrate and connect with each other.
In 2024, more than 417,000 associates across the U.S. and Canada had access to Viva Engage. As our associates continue to drive engagement, now with more than 970 active communities in the network, the digital hub links associates across North America. Viva Engage serves as a central hub for frontline and corporate associates to build connections and highlight their orange-blooded spirit.
WeAreTHD
We are proud to have a culture that welcomes everyone, and we believe it helps us achieve our business goals by empowering associates, driving innovation and enriching our communities.
The Home Depot's culture is built on a foundation of Respect for All People, fostering an inclusive environment where associates feel valued and empowered to excel. The Company's commitment to taking care of our people drives investments in competitive wages, benefits and professional development opportunities, and ensures associates have the tools to succeed. A strong entrepreneurial spirit encourages innovation and problem-solving, allowing associates to take ownership of their roles and contribute meaningfully to the Company's success.
Hear from VP, Human Resources, The Home Depot Canada, Vinod Nalajala about how The Home Depot is expanding our DEI mission.
Associate Resource Groups
The Home Depot Canada’s associate resource groups (ARGs) drive associate engagement and promote inclusion through fostering development, raising cultural awareness, and celebrating community outreach. Our ARGs are open to all associates, are led by associates and sponsored by executive leaders. They drive associate engagement and promote inclusion at our Store Support Center and across all locations through:
- Professional development
- Cultural awareness
- Community outreach
We have five ARGs for Canadian associates, each of which support the company’s business objectives and policies. The Home Depot’s commitment to Doing the Right Thing and Taking Care of Our People extends to fairness in our pay practices.
We are excited to further the engagement and access of our associate resource groups.
STRENGTHEN OUR COMMUNITIES
Our core values shape our commitment to making the communities we serve stronger and more resilient. Our Community Investment work focuses on; Team DepotDisaster Response and The Home Depot Canada Foundation. It is through the work of these pillars The Home Depot strives to positively impact the communities we serve across Canada.
Learn more about The Home Depot Canada Foundation’s commitment to preventing and ending youth homelessness.
Our core values shape our commitment to making the communities we serve stronger and more resilient. Our Community Investment work focuses on; Team Depot, Disaster Response, and The Home Depot Canada Foundation. It is through the work of these pillars The Home Depot strives to positively impact the communities we serve across Canada.
Learn more about The Home Depot Canada Foundation’s commitment to preventing and ending youth homelessness.
Team Depot
Giving Back to our communities is a value that The Home Depot is founded on, and one that’s important to all associates, as it allows us to establish strong, local relationships with our communities.
Team Depot is The Home Depot's associate volunteer force designed to empower all associates to take an active role in supporting their communities through hands-on service. Each year our associates donate their time and sweat equity to help the community through small scale renovation and repairs projects, such as gardening, painting, and other projects that help strengthen the community by building greater capacity for those most in need.
Follow #TeamDepotCA for more information.
The Home Depot Canada Foundation
The Home Depot Canada Foundation is committed to preventing and ending youth homelessness in Canada. Together with community partners across the country we work to remove barriers, break cycles of inequity, and enable youth at-risk of facing homelessness to achieve positive development outcomes and realize their full potential.
Disaster Response
When nature unleashes its worst, we’re ready. We work to be the last stores to close and the first to reopen to help communities prepare and recover, and when it's time to help repair the damage, Team Depot volunteers are among the first on the scene.
Rebuilding after a natural disaster takes time, money and energy that many victims simply don’t have to spare. That’s where we come in. From making sure emergency supplies are on hand to helping repair and rebuild, Team Depot, our associate-led volunteer force, instinctively goes into to action to make sure our communities have the support they need to recover.