P&G Launches Climate Action Plan, Targets Net Zero Emissions Across Operations and Supply Chain by 2040
Consumer brands giant Procter & Gamble announced today a series of new climate goals, expanding and accelerating the company’s new climate action plans, including commitments to achieve net zero GHG emissions across operations and supply chain by 2040.
The new commitments build on P&G’s existing climate goals, announced last year, which include achieving carbon neutrality for the current decade. P&G also introduced new 2030 targets today to reduce emissions across its operations by 50%, and across its supply chain by 40%. The new 2030 goals have been submitted to The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).
P&G also announced that it has joined climate-focused initiatives, including the Business Ambition for 1.5°C campaign and the UNFCCC Race to Zero.
S. Taylor, Chairman, P&G President and Chief Executive Officer, said:
“We are fully committed to use P&G’s innovation and ingenuity to unlock new solutions to address climate change. The task ahead of us is urgent, difficult and much bigger than any single company or country. P&G is tackling these challenges head-on by reducing our footprint and leveraging our scale to foster unprecedented collaboration across our value chain.”
To reduce GHG emissions as quickly as possible, the company is utilizing natural climate solutions to balance any remaining emissions from its operations that cannot be eliminated by 2030, including new projects that support the protection and restoration of forests and other ecosystems. P&G stated that it has partnered with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), manufacturers, and local governments to create the Renewable Thermal Collaborative to identify and scale renewable, cost-competitive thermal energy solutions to continue to reduce emissions with more innovation.
According to P&G, the company’s supply chain and logistics emissions are approximately 10 times that of its operations. To reduce supply chain and logistics emissions, the company is planning to increase transportation efficiency of outbound finished products by 50% by 2030. The company’s Pampers brand is already working with suppliers to reduce their carbon footprint and has avoided an estimated one million metric tons of GHG from the production of its materials over the past five years. The company is also partnering to advance innovation in materials derived from renewable, bio-based, or recycled carbon across brands including Head & Shoulders, Pantene, Ariel, Tide and Pampers.
P&G is also partnering with consumers to reduce GHG emissions from the use phase of products, creating alliances for carbon-efficient homes, and advocating for policy solutions to decarbonize energy infrastructure. Some of its initiatives to reduce its product footprint, include reducing 15 million tons of carbon through cold water washing, and accelerating impact with an additional 30 million tons by 2030 through its Tide and Ariel brands, and helping people reduce hot water without trade-offs with industry partners through the “50L Home Coalition”.
Virginie Helias, P&G Chief Sustainability Officer, said:
“While no one has all of the answers on how to bring a net zero future into focus, we will not let uncertainty hold us back. To achieve these goals, we will leverage existing solutions and seek transformative new ones that are not available in the marketplace today. This will require partnership across the private, nonprofit, and public sectors and involve every aspect of our business, from the very beginning of our products’ lifecycle to the very end.”