Eco-developing our global network

Making our products accessible for everyone is an important part of our growth strategy. To ensure that all users will be able to access the sporting equipment they need, we are improving our infrastructure development across the world.

That is why we are exacting when it comes to store locations, scrutinising the catchment area and the physical accessibility of the site (public transport, cycling lanes, etc.). We know that constructing new buildings has an impact on the surrounding environment. We think about how to preserve the local environment and, whenever possible, we aim to increase the use of renewable energy at our sites.

At the same time, we encourage the use of digital technology to make it easier for people to access our products. We are also studying the consequences of this aspect of our business development and measuring the environmental impact of the increased use of computing equipment in connection with our expansion.

Key Figures

31/12/2017

1352

stores across the world

185 more than in 2016

4928

MWH

of renewable energy produced in 2017

sites certifiés

certified for their environmental performance worldwide, compared with 64 sites in 2016

6,5%

of our commercial activity

takes place online

2017 Summary

We increased our purchases of green energy across all our sites in France (stores, warehouses, branded sites, etc.). Sites produced renewable energy for their own use in four countries: Italy, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands.

We promoted eco-construction approaches to protect local environments.

We analysed the impact of our increasing use of digital technology.

Renewable energy initiatives and education

Throughout the world, we promote efforts to use eco-building methods for the stores we own. Decathlon currently recognises four certifications: LEED, DGNB, HQE93 and BREEAM. All our company-owned stores in France are certified and in Italy 100% of new stores have been LEED-certified since 2012. For stores where we are tenants, we have a policy in place to manage our consumption of energy and use of resources: we have now equipped every store in France with LED lighting and centralised building management systems that regulate temperatures and equipment operating times. We regularly provide training on this policy to our teams and have an environmental handbook available in every store.

We are aware of the impact our activities can have and in 2017 we decided to switch to purchase green energy in France, the United Kingdom and Italy, despite the higher price tag. Our energy consumption is covered by certificates guaranteeing the origin of the energy and attesting to the fact that our supplier has the renewable energy production capacity (wind, hydro, solar, etc.) to meet our needs.

To further contribute to this approach and to pivot to local energy sources, two solar power systems have been installed at our stores in Le Pontet (Haute-Garonne) and Toulon (Var), which produce more than enough power for the stores (lighting, heating, air conditioning needs, etc.).

Worldwide, we are choosing the best energy options for our new stores, based on their geographic location and local regulations.

We are committed to maintaining this approach to renewable energy over the long term, and we have created a position to oversee it.

Our goal is to consume 80 kWh/m²/year on average to operate our stores in 2019.

Our Saint-Malo store: experimenting with eco-designed stores

The Saint-Malo store in France is a model for how Decathlon would like to manage all our stores. The store has crafted a comprehensive corporate social responsibility policy covering every aspect of its operations, not just the building itself.

Preserving biodiversity is addressed with a habitat for bees: a biodiverse garden maze with nectar-producing species was created so that hives could be installed, increasing the amount of pollination activity for the local environment. The store has also addressed water issues, putting a rainwater recovery system in place and making changes to the car park to improve ground permeability.

All these initiatives are shared with the community through eco-walks led by the store for sports users and regular educational presentations in local schools.

Eco-hikes are also organised, where participants from community organisations and local schools pick up trash along the trails

Green it: designing a sustainable digital transformation

In 2017 we decided to calculate the impact our IT activities have had on the environment. The ongoing digital revolution has brought with it a proliferation of technological devices and an uptick in the energy we use to power them and to securely store the data we work with every day.

That is why we drew up an inventory of all the different types of IT equipment at our company: laptop and desktop computers, screens, tablets, registers in stores, mobile and landline phones, servers and so on, for every Decathlon activity (stores, logistics and services) in order to calculate the total carbon footprint.

We combined this data with the average electricity consumption for these devices from 2016 to 201795. We then took into account the life cycle for IT equipment, from their production and use through to the end of their service life.

This report helped us identify several priority areas where improvements could be made, and we implemented these actions in our activities in 2017:

Devices: the manufacturing of IT equipment accounted for around 80% of its impact, so we are focusing on recovering, repairing and using refurbished and second-hand devices. After the devices have been used, we recycle the salvageable components by donating them to various organisations.

Data storage: we calculated the impact from our use of datacentres and it is considerable. We issued a guide to all our stores that contains good practices for optimising the use of the email, internet and storage applications that consume the most energy.

In our stores, digital technology has also helped us find ways to reduce energy consumption. We are now testing digital receipts for our customers and we have automated the system for powering off all our registers and mobile electronic equipment for teammates.