Boston, October 21, 2024 – Lowe’s Home Improvement*, the world’s second-largest home improvement retailer, announced significant progress toward its goal of reducing the sale of gasoline-powered lawn care equipment at its stores across the United States and Canada. The company’s latest sustainability report disclosed that 60% of the powered lawn care equipment it sold, not including riding lawn mowers, was battery-powered. The information was provided as part of an agreement with Green Century°, an environmentally responsible mutual fund.
The report highlights the importance of the company ramping up the sale of battery-powered lawn care equipment to meet its greenhouse gas emission reduction targets. The emissions caused by running all 1,745 Lowe’s stores is a tiny fraction of the emissions created by people using the products they purchase at Lowe’s – less than one half of one percent.
“We are pleased to see that Lowe’s supports the move away from polluting and noisy gas-powered lawn equipment to cleaner and quieter options,” said Leslie Samuelrich, President of Green Century Funds. “Battery-powered lawn equipment is better for investors and the environment, and we encourage Lowe’s’ to build on this momentum.”
A few items can have a large climate impact
Gas-powered lawn care equipment emitted more than 30 million tons of carbon dioxide and nearly 19,000 tons of methane in 2020 in the U.S. Replacing this equipment with electric alternatives would provide an emissions reduction equivalent to taking as many as 6.5 million gasoline-powered cars off the road.
“Lowe’s has made a commitment to cut its greenhouse gas emissions,” said Andrew Shalit, shareholder advocate at Green Century. “This report makes clear that one of the simplest and fastest way for Lowe’s to do that is to replace gasoline-powered lawnmowers and leaf blowers with cleaner, quieter, electric models.”
States, retailers and reviewers increasingly favor electric products
States have begun taking action to limit the sale of gas-powered lawn care equipment or encourage the sale of battery alternatives. California banned the sale of most gasoline-powered lawn care equipment on January 1, 2024. Colorado now offers a 30% rebate to consumers purchasing electric lawn care equipment.
Lowe’s competitor Home Depot has said that 85% of its lawn care equipment will be electric by 2028.
The New York Times product review site The Wirecutter gives top marks to battery-powered models in its recommendations for lawnmowers, leaf blowers, and string trimmers. Consumer Reports also positively reviews electric models, noting that they are quieter and easier to maintain than their gas-powered counterparts.
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About Green Century
°Green Century Capital Management, Inc. (Green Century) is the investment advisor to the Green Century Funds (The Funds). The Green Century Funds are one of the first families of fossil fuel-free, environmentally responsible mutual funds. Green Century hosts an award-winning and in-house shareholder advocacy program and is the only mutual fund company in the U.S. wholly owned by environmental and public health nonprofit organizations.
*As of 9.30.2024, Lowe’s Companies comprised 0.00%, 0.61%, and 0.00% and Home Depot comprised 0.99%, 1.62%, and 0.00% of the Green Century Balanced Fund, the Green Century Equity Fund, and the Green Century International Index Fund respectively. As of the same date, other securities mentioned were not held in the portfolios of any of the Green Century Funds. References to specific securities, which will change due to ongoing management of the Funds, should not be construed as a recommendation by the Funds, their administrator, or their distributor.
You should carefully consider the Fund’s investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses before investing. To obtain a Prospectus that contains this and other information about the Funds please visit www.greencentury.com, email info@greencentury.com, or call 1-800-934-7336. Please read the Prospectus carefully before investing.
Stocks will fluctuate in response to factors that may affect a single company, industry, sector, country, region or the market as a whole and may perform worse than the market. Foreign securities are subject to additional risks such as currency fluctuations, regional economic and political conditions, differences in accounting methods, and other unique risks compared to investing in securities of U.S. issuers. Bonds are subject to a variety of risks including interest rate, credit, and inflation risk.
This information has been prepared from sources believed reliable. The views expressed are as the date of this writing and are those of the Advisor to the Funds.
The Green Century Funds are distributed by UMB Distribution Services, LLC. 235 W Galena Street, Milwaukee, WI 53212. October 2024