Trees for Change is a major forestation project from Reckitt Benckiser that will offset two-years of the greenhouse gas emissions from our global manufacturing energy use. This means the more than 8 billion products we will produce at our worldwide factories during 2006 and 2007 will effectively be ‘carbon neutral’ in terms of their manufacture.

This ambitious project will see us plant more than two million trees on previously deforested land in British Columbia, Canada. These new forests will be made up of locally grown seedlings that are indigenous to the area, including White Spruce, Lodgepole Pine and Interior Douglas-fir.
Bob and Alan, from the project team, in the Pilot Planting Area
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Carbon dioxide is released when fossil fuels such as coal and gas are burnt to provide electricity and heat. It is generally believed that the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in this way is a major, human cause of climate change (also known as ‘global warming’).

Trees take carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air and expel oxygen (O2) through the process of photosynthesis. Carbon (C) extracted from this process is turned into organic matter and used for growth. As a result, when forests grow they have the net effect of removing – or ‘sequestering’ – carbon from the atmosphere, both within the trees themselves and, over time, in forest soils and ground litter. By growing new forests on previously deforested land, Trees for Change takes CO2 from the atmosphere in the same way.
Bob and Alan, from the project team, in the Pilot Planting Area
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Trees for Change sits alongside a whole range of programmes Reckitt Benckiser is backing to tackle climate change at source. They include:
  • our 2010 target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from our manufacturing energy use by 20% per unit of production. As of December 2005, we have achieved a 13% reduction.
  • encouraging consumers to reduce their own emissions when using our products, through detergent industry initiatives such as Save Energy and Water and the Washright Campaign (www.washright.com).
  • improving the way our products are transported (from factories to distribution centres and from distribution centres to our customers) to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that come from this.
  • minimising packaging materials to reduce the energy and resources used to manufacture them, and establishing recycling schemes to increase the public recycling of waste plastic packaging.
  • encouraging our third-party product suppliers to have environmental management programmes and targets in place.
  • our membership of the Corporate Leaders Group on climate change.
Information on these and other initiatives can be found in our latest Sustainability Report at www.reckittbenckiser.com

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The benefits of Trees for Change go beyond taking up carbon to help tackle climate change – the project will also make a positive contribution to local biodiversity and the protection of native wildlife. It should also benefit the local community as all land preparation, planting, monitoring and maintenance work is being done by local British Columbian forestry professionals employed by Reckitt Benckiser Canada. Through the carbon monitoring and modeling we are carrying out, Trees for Change is also contributing to the scientific understanding of carbon sequestration by forestation.

This is all part of our passion for delivering better solutions to consumers in household cleaning and health & personal care. Better solutions for us means products that work better for the consumer, for society and for the planet.
Ted and Mike
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