Tractor Supply sets new sustainability and diversity goals

Tractor Supply Company has announced new goals to further reduce carbon emissions from its operations as well as new diversity, equity and inclusion goals (DE&I).

The moves are part of Tractor Supply’s commitment to its environmental, social and governance (ESG) journey of sustainability and stewardship, the Brentwood, Tenn.-based retailer said.

“These new goals are meaningful to our business and are designed to drive positive environmental and social impact within Tractor Supply and our communities. Today’s announcement is a natural extension of our Mission and Values in action as we work to help ensure a sustainable future for all our stakeholders,” said Hal Lawton, president and CEO of Tractor Supply. 

After exceeding initial carbon reduction goals set in 2018, Tractor Supply is setting new carbon reduction goals to further reduce emissions from its operations by 20% by 2025 and by 50% by 2030 from its 2020 baseline. The company is also committing to achieving net zero emissions across all operations by 2040.

In December 2020 (for the reporting year 2019), Tractor Supply announced that it had reduced carbon emissions from its operations by 29% on a per square foot intensity basis (compared to its 2015 baseline), five years ahead of plan and surpassing its initial target of 25%. 

As of the release of the Company’s 2020 ESG Tear Sheet in April 2021, the Company had reduced carbon emissions from its operations by 34.8% compared to the 2015 baseline, while at the same time growing comparable-store sales by 23.1%.

In this next phase, Tractor Supply will increase efforts to procure renewable energy, continue investments in energy efficiency and cleaner technologies, avoid future emissions through better design of both stores and distribution centers, and enhance its Scope 3 focus with greater transparency and reduction efforts, including new vendor engagement to drive down value chain emissions. As sustainability becomes even more embedded in Tractor Supply’s operations and strategy, the Company looks forward to establishing further commitments and reporting on progress.

The farm and ranch retailer is also is establishing comprehensive 5-year diversity, equity, and inclusion goals to support and advance underrepresented groups across its workforce, vendors, suppliers and communities. This initiative includes the following goals, with the baseline from 2021 and achievement of the goals by 2026:

• Double the number of stores where Team Members mirror the communities it serves,
• Increase People of Color at the manager level and above by 50%,
• Increase spending with diverse suppliers by 35% and
• Increase commitment to funding programs and education for Black and African Americans by 30%.

Over the last 20 months, the retailer said that it has made substantial progress in its DE&I strategy and efforts. This includes establishing a DE&I council led by the CEO and a DE&I committee; providing training on unconscious bias for 40,000 team members; providing parental leave for full-time team members regardless of how the child enters the home; expanding the diversity of the company’s board of directors, which now includes four women and three ethnic minorities; achieving a goal of three women on its executive committee; and founding four new Team Member engagement groups (TMEGs) for a total of seven TMEGs.

In recognition of its ESG practices, Tractor Supply announced it was recently named to the FTSE4Good index for the fourth consecutive year. 

Additional information about Tractor Supply’s ESG efforts and sustainability initiatives can be found here. Also, click here to read Tractor Supply’s 2020 ESG Tear Sheet.

As of late June, Tractor Supply operated 1,955 stores in 49 states along with 174 Petsense stores in 23 states.