P&G Aims for 100% Renewable Energy by 2030, Focusing on Packaging and Supply Chain

In a statement this week, Proctor and Gamble announced its goal to use 100% renewable energy at all of its plants by 2030. In addition, the company’s plants will source 5 billion liters of water from circular sources to recognize a 35% increase in water efficiency.

This information came to light in the company’s sustainability goals report,“Ambition 2030.” Specific goals within the report include:

• Brands: P&G’s 20 leadership brands including Always, Ariel, Dawn, Fairy, Febreze, Head & Shoulders, Pantene, Pampers, and Tide will enable and inspire responsible consumption through packaging that is 100% recyclable or reusable, launching more sustainable innovations, and building trust through transparency and sharing our safety science.
• Supply Chain: P&G manufacturing sites will cut greenhouse gas emissions in half and will purchase enough renewable electricity to power 100% of plants. The company will also source at least 5 billion liters of water from circular sources.
• Society: P&G will continue to create transformative partnerships that enable people, the planet and our business to thrive, including those that stem the flow of plastic into the world’s ocean, protect and enhance forests, expand recycling solutions for absorbent hygiene products, and protect water in priority basins around the world.
• Employees: P&G will engage, equip and reward employees for building sustainability thinking and practices into their everyday work. We will reward progress and integrate recognition into performance assessments.

Focusing on packaging, the company says that by 2025, all of its major packaging platforms will be recyclable or reusable. “This will encompass ~95% of all packaging materials and we will make this happen through a combination of material choice, package design, and working with others to create new innovative solutions for recycling,” the sustainability report states.

It goes on to say that the remaining fraction of its packaging consists of materials and formats thatare used in much smaller amounts and present unique challenges that P&G will need to address through both technical and commercial innovation. By 2030, the company will identify solutions for this packaging that will allow it to be recyclable or reusable.

In September 2017, the company announced, in collaboration with Constellation, a subsidiary of Exelon Corporation, the completion of a 50-megawatt biomass-fueled combined heat and power plant located at one of P&G’s largest US facilities. The biomass-fueled plant provides P&G with 100% of the steam energy used to manufacture Bounty paper towels and Charmin toilet tissue at that location.

The 3rd Annual Environmental Leader & Energy Manager Conference takes place May 15 – 17, 2018 in Denver. Learn more here.