How we will achieve it

We are consuming less energy and switching to renewable and more efficient energy sources

Our first tactic for reducing carbon emissions is to simply use less energy over the product lifecycle. Not just in manufacture, distribution and packaging disposal (e.g. by greater recycling), but in helping consumers to consume less energy when they use our products in the dishwasher or washing machine.

Our second tactic is to make the energy that do we use increasingly come from renewable energy sources or from highly efficient conventional energy sources (e.g. Combined Heat and Power).

In fact we are working in both of these areas at the same time, since it means we can reduce our carbon footprint faster.

We are helping and working with consumers

We have already started during 2007 campaigns advising consumers how they can save energy (and water) by doing their dish washing at lower temperatures and by using a dishwasher rather than washing up by hand.

Many people are surprised to hear it, but research by the University of Bonn in Germany really does prove that a full dishwasher uses significantly less energy and water than most people use when washing dishes by hand!

So, we are making it easier for people to reduce their energy use, with products like Finish (which gives better cleaning results than washing up by hand, and for as little as half the energy and a fifth of the water) and Vanish (which allows consumers to use less detergent and wash clothes at lower temperatures, whilst still removing stains).

We are re-engineering how we make, package and distribute our products

We are working with our partners across our supply chain to find ways of consuming less energy, both directly and in the materials and packaging we use to make our products. For example, 26% of our manufacturing energy use already comes from more sustainable sources such as highly efficient or renewable energy – moving to 40% would save an additional 28,000 tonnes of CO2e.

We are also seeking to redesign our products and their packaging, to use less materials and materials that have lower volumes of embedded carbon in their own lifecycles. We are also working to make our packaging easier to recycle. For example, our packaging redesign for Air Wick Freshmatic, moving from a plastic blister to a cardboard box, will save in Europe alone about 680 tonnes of plastic in 2008, which equates to around 2,400 tonnes of CO2e a year.

We are getting our own house in order at all levels

Our office activities and travel have only a small impact upon our products Total Carbon Footprint, however even here we are working hard to reduce energy use and take a low-carbon approach. For example, our global ‘Low Carbon Business Guidelines’, with initiatives such as low-energy lighting and video conferencing (instead of travelling long distances for only short meetings) will make a real difference – reducing our annual business air travel by 10% will for example save around 2,600 tonnes of CO2e a year.

We are starting from a base point that already includes substantial savings

Since 2000, we have slashed our global manufacturing energy use by 33% per consumer unit, reduced our CO2e emissions from manufacturing energy use by 30% per consumer unit and by 21% in terms of actual emissions.

26% of our manufacturing energy comes from highly efficient or renewable sources. So, given that worldwide we sell around 5.5 billion consumer units a year, we’ve made significant savings already. But that is just the start! With Carbon 20 we are going significantly further in making both our business and our products ‘low carbon’.