P&G continues to shrink energy footprint

Dayton Business Journal

 

Procter & Gamble Co. reduced its water and energy consumption by 6 percent to 8 percent in its last fiscal year, increasing its reductions since 2002 to roughly 50 percent.

 

The maker of Tide, Charmin and Pantene also cut its waste disposal by 21 percent in the year ended June 30, according to its annual sustainability report (www.pg.com/sustainability). In the same period, P&G (NYSE: PG) reduced its water consumption by 7 percent, its energy use by 6 percent and its carbon dioxide emissions by 8 percent.

 

All are part of an ongoing, three-part campaign by P&G to markedly reduce its consumption and improve the lives of children over a 10-year period. Since 2002, P&G has cut its corporate water use by 51 percent, its energy use by 46 percent, its carbon dioxide emissions by 52 percent and its waste disposal by 50 percent.

 

As part of the program, the consumer products maker also wants to develop and market, by 2012, $20 billion in earth-friendly or “sustainable innovation” products, such as Tide Coldwater or Bounty Mega rolls. As of the end of the last fiscal year, P&G sold almost $2.1 billion in such products.

 

Lastly, P&G reached more than 60 million children globally through its “Live, Learn and Thrive” clean water program. The goal, by 2012, is to reach 250 million children, according to the report.

 

“Sustainable development is a very simple idea,” A.G. Lafley, P&G’s CEO, wrote in the report. “It’s about ensuring a better quality of life for everyone, now and for generations to come.”

 

P&G has been investing in geothermal energy, windmills and landfill gases. At a manufacturing plant in Mehoopany, Pa., a heat-recovery system can reclaim enough energy to power almost 12,000 U.S. households annually. In Utah, P&G in the last fiscal year broke ground on a 1 million-square-foot-facility that will use solar-tracking skylights, a tissue-making machine that uses 19 percent less energy and geothermal industry.

 

 

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