Cincinnati – On November 12, the Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) released its 14th Annual Sustainability Report, demonstrating its commitment to making everyday life better for people around the world through an integrated approach to environmental and social responsibility. The report includes the Company’s sustainability results from the past Fiscal Year, announcing absolute reductions in its energy, waste, water and CO2 manufacturing footprints over the past five years.
“P&G’s commitment to environmental and social sustainability is unwavering,” said P&G Chairman, President and CEO Bob McDonald. “From our founding, we have invested in the communities where we sell our products, and we have embraced the responsibility of ethical and sustainable operations. To grow and thrive for another 175 years requires us to accelerate our sustainable innovation and resource efficiency so that we have less environmental impact and, at the same time, continue to invest in our communities to help create the conditions for future growth.”
The report published on November 12 shares specific progress in P&G’s sustainability focus areas of Products, Operations, and Social Responsibility.
Highlights from this year’s report include:
- Launching Pilot in the Philippines to Address Global Issue of Waste
After conducting a comprehensive study in the Philippines, with the cooperation of government stakeholders, P&G designed an integrated, profitable and replicable waste management business model that extracts value from materials that would otherwise be thrown away. In partnership with the Asian Development Bank, P&G is working to pilot this self-sustaining model in the Philippines beginning in 2013.
- Eliminating Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus in Six Countries
The Pampers “One Pack = One Vaccine” partnership with UNICEF has been providing vaccines against Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus (MNT) for more than five years. The disease takes the life of a baby every nine minutes, but is easily preventable by a vaccine. With help from Pampers, six African countries have been validated by the World Health Organization (WHO) as having eliminated MNT – Burkina Faso, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Senegal and Uganda.
- Committing to Sustainable Forestry
As a member of the Consumer Goods Forum, P&G joined other member companies in a pledge to help achieve Zero Net Deforestation by 2020. To act on this commitment, P&G is announcing two new goals. First, all virgin wood fiber in its tissue/towel and absorbent hygiene products will be third party certified by 2015. Second, all paper packaging will contain either recycled or third-party certified virgin content by 2020. In combination with P&G’s existing goal to ensure sustainable sourcing of palm oil by 2015, these goals demonstrate P&G’s commitment to working towards zero net deforestation by 2020.
- Decreasing Days of Illness and Absenteeism through Handwashing Education
As part of Safeguard’s work to promote handwashing, P&G joined up with Save the Children to develop workshops in schools across Mexico. After working with more than 13,000 children in southeastern Mexico, data showed that diarrheal illness rates decreased by 50% and related school absences were down 11%.
P&G’s environmental results demonstrate progress toward its long-term environmental vision, which was announced in September 2010. The vision includes powering plants with 100% renewable energy, using 100% renewable or recycled materials for products and packaging, sending zero manufacturing or consumer waste to landfills, and designing products that improve lives while conserving resources.
“We are pleased to share meaningful progress toward our long-term vision, and will continue to embrace environmental challenges as opportunities to innovate,” said Len Sauers, Global Vice President of Sustainability at P&G. “The issues we all face require collaboration and collective responsibility to address, and we are committed to working together to find solutions that ensure our improvements are delivered in an economically sustainable way.”
In addition to marking P&G’s 14th Annual Sustainability Report, this is also the 14th consecutive year the Company has been included on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. P&G is also among the Corporate Knights “Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World” and is 5th on Gartner’s “Top 25” list of Global Supply Chain Leaders.
About Procter & Gamble
P&G is an American multinational consumer goods company headquartered in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, and serves approximately 4.6 billion people around the world with its brands. The Company has one of the strongest portfolios of trusted, quality, leadership brands, including Pampers®, Tide®, Ariel®, Always®, Whisper®, Pantene®, Mach3®, Bounty®, Dawn®, Fairy®, Gain®, Charmin®, Downy®, Lenor®, Iams®, Crest®, Oral-B®, Duracell®, Olay®, Head & Shoulders®, Wella®, Gillette®, Braun®, Fusion®, Ace®, Febreze®, Ambi Pur®, SK-II®, and Vicks®. The P&G community includes operations in approximately 75 countries worldwide. For more information, visit www.pg.com.
Source: Procter & Gamble Company.
