You may have heard about Home Depot’s important announcement, but in case you haven’t,
here’s what CEO Arthur Blank said in his keynote speech at the company’s 20th anniversary
dinner: “Our pledge to our customers, associates and stockholders is that Home Depot will
stop selling wood products from environmentally sensitive areas. By the end of 2002,
we will eliminate from our stores wood from endangered areas — including certain lauan,
redwood and cedar products — and give preference to ‘certified’ wood. The company pledged
to hold the line on prices during the transition to sustainable wood products.
Rainforest Action Network, the leader of an international campaign to influence Home Depot
to change its policy, was both jubilant and cautious. Home Depot made a similar commitment in
1992 that it failed to follow through on. Blank said the company decided to act now because
“Frankly, given the size of the company today we have the ability…to make a change in the
world. For many years, when we were smaller, we didn’t have that opportunity.”
Home Depot joins 27 U.S. corporations – including IBM, Dell, Kinko’s, Nike, 3M, Levi-Strauss,
Mitsubishi Motors America, Mitsubishi Electric America, and others – who, in December 1998,
announced their commitment to stop selling or using old growth wood. Europe’s largest home
improvement center, B&Q, has nearly completed removing old growth wood from its shelves.
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