Trying to save energy is nothing new at P&G. It is something P&G has been trying to do for many years, with significant results.
Since 2002, P&G has reduced its worldwide carbon dioxide emissions from 3.15 million tonnes to 2.89 million tonnes, while at the same time increasing sales from US$40 billion to $68 billion.
Meanwhile, eco-efficiency has increased more than 60 index points between 2004 and 2006, or 300 index points compared to 1990. Each point represents the amount of product leaving P&G plants per metric tonne of carbon dioxide emissions.
This means that compared to 1990 P&G now makes its products with three times less greenhouse gas emissions per kilogramme of product. Examples of some of the things P&G has done to cut emissions include:
- Making improvements in the efficiency of P&G plants and distribution centres such as at Amiens (France) and Pomezia (Italy), for example by using the heat given off by some of the chemical processes to heat processes elsewhere, as well as recapturing heat from drying processes.
- Backing industry initiatives such as the Charter for Sustainable Cleaning, launched in 2004 by the International Association for Soaps, Detergents and Maintenance Products (AISE), and the A.I.S.E.'s 2006 Save Energy and Water Project.
- Setting a goal of an 18 per cent cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2012, set as part of P&G's support for the US Business Round Table's Climate RESOLVE (Responsible Environmental Steps, Opportunities to Lead by Voluntary Efforts) programme.
P&G achieved its RESOLVE goal in 2006, six years ahead of schedule and had reduced its global carbon dioxide emissions per unit of product by 65 per cent between 1990 and 2006. Following this, P&G's corporate sustainability goals were renewed at the end of 2007. By 2012, P&G is committed to an additional reduction of CO2 emissions, energy and water consumption, and disposed waste (per unit of production) contributing to a 40% reduction for the decade. To read more, click here.
Last but not least, P&G publicly reports its company-wide emissions every year in its sustainability report and it is one of the few companies that has been and continues to be a voluntary reporter through the Climate Disclosure Project since its inception in 2003.
Even with all this, P&G continues to accept responsibility to understand the potential contributions of greenhouse gases from its business and continues with its implementation of energy conservation and efficiency measures.
Click on the links below to find out more about what P&G is doing in its plants:
Amiens, France
Pomezia, Italy
You can also find out more about A.I.S.E. - the international Association for Soaps, Detergents and Maintenance Products by clicking here:
A.I.S.E.