Environmental Sustainability
Environmental sustainability is embedded in how we do business. It is core to our purpose of improving lives now and for generations to come.
Virginie Helias
Chief Sustainability Officer
“We are committed to improving people’s lives with irresistible superiority that is sustainable. We create value by making sustainability an integral part of our vectors of superiority, building on the strength of science-based pillars — Climate, Waste, Water and Nature. We are building transformative partnerships to help solve some of the world’s most pressing global challenges where we can make the biggest difference.”
AMBITION 2030
P&G’s Ambition 2030 supports our brands’ ability to provide irresistible superiority that is sustainable to improve lives now and for generations to come. Learn more about how we are bringing this to life.
Our Ambition 2030 goals support our company and brand’s ability to positively impact our homes, our communities and our planet. At its foundation is improving the livelihoods of people across our operations, supply chain and the communities we serve. We are continuing to create products that encourage responsible consumption, reduce our manufacturing footprint, and strive for more circular approaches in our supply chain. We cannot achieve these goals alone. This will require partnership across the private, nonprofit and public sectors and involve every aspect of our business. To learn more about our projects and partnerships around the world, please visit Mapping Our Impact.
Read more about our Ambition 2030 goals.
CLIMATE
At P&G, we set a new ambition to achieve net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across our operations and supply chain, from raw material to retailer by 2040. P&G’s Climate Transition Action Plan covers the entire lifecycle emissions of our products and packaging, across supply chain, operations, consumer use of our products, and product end of life. Our comprehensive approach to accelerating climate action also includes navigating the key challenges ahead.
Climate Goals and Progress
OPERATIONS
We continue to drive progress towards our emission reductions in operations exceeding our Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions target and accelerating our purchase of renewable electricity. To further reduce Scope 1 and 2 GHG, we are developing solutions at pilot manufacturing sites that we can scale globally toward our Net Zero 2040 ambition.
| GOALS | PROGRESS through June 30, 2022 |
|---|---|
| Reduce Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 50% by 2030 vs. 2010 baseline1 | 57% reduction — Achieved |
| Purchase 100% renewable electricity globally by 2030 | 99% renewable electricity globally |
1 Validated by the Science Based Target Initiative.
INCREASING ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN OUR OPERATIONS
Total (absolute units x 1,000)
| Energy and GHG | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Energy Consumption (GJ) | 62,340 | 63,077 | 62,816 |
| Total GHG Emissions (metric tons)2 | 2,316 | 2,398 | 2,613 |
| Scope 1 — Direct GHG Emissions (metric tons) | 2,160 | 2,238 | 2,221 |
| Scope 2 — Indirect GHG Emissions (metric tons)3 | 156 | 160 | 392 |
2 Total GHG emissions = Scope 1 + Scope 2.
3 Market-based Scope 2 GHG emissions. Note: Location-based Scope 2 emissions in 2022 were 2,323,446 metric tons.
All data references fiscal years.
For more detailed information on emissions, including Scope 3, please visit our ESG portal.
TRANSPORTATION
While 2022 transportation results showed a slight increase to emissions intensity, our efforts to increase intermodal transportation and optimize container fill rates yielded improvements in finished product freight emissions intensity. These advancements did not overcome industry-wide ocean freight supply chain disruptions. We are optimistic that our further acceleration in key regions and a normalizing global landscape will drive reductions over the coming year.| GOALS | PROGRESS through June 30,2022 |
|---|---|
| Reduce Global Upstream Finished Product Freight emissions intensity by 50% by 2030 (vs. 2020 baseline) | 2.9% increase |
SUPPLY CHAIN
In 2021, we expanded our supply chain target to be inclusive of all P&G categories, in line with our Science Based Target Initiative approved goals. By taking a closer look at our Scope 3 emissions, we now know that ~10% of our ingredients (which equates to ~500 individual ingredients) account for ~90% of our supply chain emissions, which allows us to focus where we can drive the most change and advance better solutions. Further quantitative progress will be reported in 2023.| GOALS | PROGRESS through June 30,2022 |
|---|---|
| Reduce supply chain emissions by 40% per unit of production by 2030 (vs. 2020 baseline) | New Goal — progress to be reported end of 2023 |
CARBON NEUTRAL OPERATIONS FOR 2020–2030
P&G is committed to be carbon neutral for the decade (2020–2030) for our own operations (Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions).
We are prioritizing cutting our operational emission as much as possible. For residual emissions that cannot be eliminated, we will use natural climate solutions that remove and store carbon.
You can read more about progress toward this goal in our nature pillar.
Tide in Space
NASA needs a low-resource laundry solution to help enable deep space exploration. P&G’s Tide brand is eager to learn how to clean effectively with less water to help protect our home planet. In 2020, Tide formally signed the multi-year Space Act Agreement with NASA. The first prototype, Tide Infinity, was sent to the International Space Station (ISS) for testing in December 2021 in collaboration with NASA and the ISS National Laboratory. Tide to Go Pens and Wipes have also completed testing aboard the ISS to understand the cleaning power of the brand’s ingredients in microgravity. We can’t wait to continue exploring how to apply the results of these tests for laundry solutions on Earth and beyond.
WASTE
Plastic waste in our environment is a serious problem, especially when it ends up in our rivers and oceans. It’s a complex global challenge that requires a comprehensive, collaborative approach across the entire plastics lifecycle. Addressing this challenge and driving greater circularity for plastics will require collaboration across multiple stakeholders, including industry, governments, civil society and academics. While plastic can provide packaging material reductions, product protection, and lower greenhouse gas emissions from transportation, we must use and reuse it responsibly.
At P&G, we are working to design all our consumer packaging to be recyclable or reusable by 2030. We are inventing and scaling new recycling solutions, using alternative materials, and partnering externally to help catalyze waste management infrastructure to improve access to collection — keeping plastic in use and out of nature.
Waste Goals and Progress
Our brands, suppliers and partners continue to collaborate on a range of sustainable solutions and on driving circularity so that plastic is collected, recycled and reused. To track progress toward our goals, P&G considers packaging to be recyclable if there is at-scale collection, sorting, processing, and end markets for the material and format in at least one geography. We do not consider waste to energy and conversion to fuels as suitable end markets.
| GOALS | PROGRESS through June 30,2022 |
|---|---|
| 100% of our consumer packaging will be designed to be recyclable or reusable by 2030 | ~79% of our consumer packaging is designed to be recyclable or reusable |
| Reduce our use of virgin petroleum plastic in our consumer packaging by 50% by 2030 vs. 2017 baseline | ~8% reduction of virgin petroleum plastic in packaging |
| Zero manufacturing waste to landfill | Achieved and maintained since 2020 |
Progress to 100% Recyclable or Reusable Packaging
Types of Resin Used in Packaging
PE (48.3%)
PET (23.3%)
PP (22.4%)
Other (6.2%)
In 2021/2022, we diverted nearly 675,000 metric tons of manufacturing waste from the landfill which is heavier than
66 EIFFEL TOWERS
~2X
We nearly doubled our use of recycled plastic over the past two years
| Data and Metrics: Plastics Packaging | |
|---|---|
| Tons of plastic packaging | 776,220 metric tons |
| Tons of recycled plastic resin | 96,469 metric tons |
| Percent of total resin used that was recycled | 12.4% recycled resin |
Reducing Plastic Packaging
Gillette and Venus undertook a sustainable packaging upgrade to transition premium refillable razor packs to a plastic-free, recyclable cardboard box made with at least 50% recycled materials and Forest Stewardship Council™ (FSC) certified paper. This more sustainable box is now available in every P&G region globally. It delights consumers with its ease of opening, appearance at shelf and full recyclability. We estimate this exterior packaging change saves the plastic equivalent of more than 85 million water bottles per year (based on 2020 sales volumes for North America and select Europe markets).
Breakthrough Innovation and Partnership Toward Circular Plastic
P&G aims to incorporate more recycled plastic in our packaging to reduce our reliance on virgin plastic and ensure that existing materials are better utilized. However, the quality of post-recycled resin does not always meet our high material standards for quality and product protection. Our corporate R&D teams developed a process to drastically improve the quality of recycled polypropylene (PP) plastic. This plastic resin accounts for roughly 20% of the plastic used in our packaging and has the potential to significantly increase our use of recycled content. This P&G process, VersoVita™, takes nearly all the imperfections out of the resin and returns it to near-virgin quality. Rather than keeping this capability internally, P&G is making VersoVita™ Circular Polymer Purification available for license to plastic manufacturers globally so they can produce high quality recycled resin to better meet industry demand and reduce plastic waste.
P&G is also a proud supporter of The Recycling Partnership’s Polypropylene Recycling Coalition. This industry collaboration recently led to the upgrading of polypropylene rigid containers as “Widely Recyclable” by the How2Recycle program (effective July 2022).4 This designation is the result of enrolling the full plastics recycling value chain to work together and increase the rate of recycling on this resin which is widely used in packaging and finished goods.
Our efforts to advance the state of recycling through innovation paired with external collaborations via licensing and supporting industry-wide efforts are truly advancing the circularity and reuse of plastic resins.
WATER
At P&G, we want to help build a water positive future that can sustain people and nature, now and for generations to come. Our comprehensive strategy includes reducing water in our operations, restoring water in water-stressed areas, and responding to water challenges through innovation and partnerships.
In 2022, we set goals for 2030 to restore more water than is consumed5 at P&G manufacturing sites in 18 water-stressed areas around the world; and to restore more water than is consumed6 when using P&G products in high water-stressed metropolitan areas of Los Angeles and Mexico City, recognized as a first-of-its-kind commitment. We will achieve these goals through partnerships and restoration projects that improve, manage and protect water resources. Learn more.
5 Water that evaporates during the manufacturing of our products or is incorporated into the finished product manufactured at these sites.
6 Water from household leaks and evaporation during the use of our products.
Water Goals and Progress
Our new goals and projects focus on addressing the water that does not go back to local systems from our operations and, for the first time in our industry, from consumer use of products.
| GOALS | PROGRESS through June 30, 2022 |
|---|---|
| Reduce water in our operations by 2030 | |
| Increase water efficiency at facilities by 35% per unit of production (vs. a 2010 baseline) | 27% increase per unit of production |
| Recycle and reuse 5 billion liters of water in P&G facilities annually | 3.3 billion liters reused annually |
| Restore water for people and nature in water-stressed areas | |
| Restore more water than is consumed7 at P&G manufacturing sites in 18 water-stressed areas around the world | New Goal — progress to be reported end of 2023 |
| Restore more water than is consumed8 when using P&G products in the high water-stressed metropolitan areas of Los Angeles and Mexico City | New Goal — progress to be reported end of 2023 |
| Respond to water challenges through innovation and partnerships | |
| Provide clean drinking water to children and families in need around the world by providing 25 billion liters of clean water by 2025 through CSDW program | 20 billion liters of clean water provided through CSDW program |
| Accelerate water innovation at scale with the 50 Liter Home coalition | 50 Liter Home city pilots being planned for multiple countries around the world |
| Enable our consumers to reduce their water footprint | P&G brands continue efforts to develop innovations to help consumers use less water at home |
7 Water that evaporates during the manufacturing of our products or is incorporated into the finished product manufactured at these sites.
8 Water from household leaks and evaporation during the use of our products.
INCREASING ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN
OUR OPERATIONS
3.3 billion liters of water recycled and reused in 2021/2022 is the equivalent of 1,320 Olympic swimming pools
A Water Positive Future requires widespread solutions — from manufacturing, to rethinking how people use water and P&G products in homes, communities and cities, to restoring water for people, wildlife and nature.
Using WRI Aqueduct’s Baseline Water Stress indicator, we identified 18 priority basins experiencing chronic water stress. Each area contains a P&G facility and is located within a top P&G market where more than 20% of the population is living in a high water-stress basin.
RESTORING WATER: IMPROVING, MANAGING OR PROTECTING WATER
To address unique water challenges in the prioritized 18 water-stressed areas, we are working with on-the-ground partners who have a deep knowledge of local challenges, solutions, communities and landscapes to support long-term projects. To us, restoring water means improving, managing or protecting water.
Before
After
IT’S OUR HOME: WATER RESTORATION
Building a Water Positive Future Together with Cascade
Cascade is helping to reduce daily water use in households across the U.S. by encouraging people to skip pre-rinsing dishes and run the dishwasher every night. Contrary to popular belief, the dishwasher uses four gallons of water per cycle, while the sink can use the same amount in just two minutes. With an innovative formula containing enzymes that latch on to and break down food particles, Cascade Platinum provides a superior clean without the pre-wash.9 By skipping the sink and choosing the dishwasher, households can save up to 100 gallons of water per week.10
In addition to its work to help consumers save water at home, Cascade joined the Change the Course initiative to support water restoration projects in the U.S. The brand is currently working on a portfolio of projects that are expected to restore more than 2 billion gallons of freshwater in water-stressed regions for people and nature.
9 50% more cleaning ingredients vs. Cascade Complete ActionPacs™.
10 With Energy Star certified dishwasher vs. washing dishes at a running sink for 11 minutes per day.
Learn about how Cascade’s “Do it every night” campaign is helping advance a water positive future.
NATURE
At P&G, we are committed to the long-term health of natural ecosystems that are essential to people, biodiversity and our business. Our efforts start with ensuring responsible sourcing of key commodities like wood pulp, palm oil and paper packaging that reflects our commitment to responsible sourcing and respecting human, labor and land tenure rights in our supply chains. We also go beyond our direct supply chain to protect, improve and restore ecosystems in more places, where it matters most. We are partnering and investing in nature-based solutions to positively impact more than 1.5 million acres of land, balance any remaining carbon emissions from our manufacturing operations this decade, and enable positive outcomes for people and biodiversity.
Nature Goals and Progress
We are committed to responsible sourcing in our palm, wood pulp and paper packaging supply chains.
| GOALS | PROGRESS through June 30, 2022 |
|---|---|
| Palm | |
| 100% of palm oils11 used in P&G brands is RSPO certified | Continued to maintain 100% RSPO certified Palm Oils in our brands |
| Wood Pulp | |
| 100% of the wood pulp we source is certified by a globally recognized certification system | Continued to maintain 100% third-party certified wood pulp. Out of these efforts Family Care also achieved 75% FSC™ certified wood pulp, our preferred certification |
| Paper Packaging12 | |
| 100% of our paper packaging to be either recycled or third-party certified virgin content | >99% recycled or third-party certified |
| 50% of our virgin paper packaging is FSC™ certified by 2025 | Achieved — 68% FSC™ certified |
11 Palm Oil, Palm Oil Derivatives, Palm Kernel Oil, Palm Kernel Oil Derivatives.
12 Data self-reported by suppliers. Responses received by publication of this report represent ~95% of total supply. We do not expect remaining 5% to materially impact reported results.
P&G is committed to playing a positive role within the communities and environments in which we live, work and source our materials.
“ENABLING SMALLHOLDER TRANSFORMATION: A 5-YEAR SUSTAINABLE PALM PROGRAM”
Smallholder farmers grow close to 40% of all palm fresh fruit bunches globally. P&G is committed to working with these farmers to enable them to transform their livelihoods through more efficient and sustainable farming practices. Through partnerships in Malaysia, we established a training program, the Centre for Sustainable Smallholders, with the aim of enrolling 8,000 smallholder farmers within five years. Learn more.
| GOALS | PROGRESS through June 30, 2022 |
|---|---|
| Protect, Improve and Restore Critical Ecosystems | |
| Support on-the-ground projects and partners to: | |
| Protect, restore or improve greater than 1.5 million acres of land important for people, biodiversity and P&G | New Target — project portfolio development underway |
| Advance Natural Climate Solutions and balance our manufacturing emissions we cannot eliminate this decade | Collaborated with Conservation International and other NGO partners to establish a portfolio of Natural Climate Solution projects that when fully implemented is expected to deliver 77% of our goal, while benefiting people and biodiversity; will continue to build out the portfolio to balance the remaining emissions by 2030 |
NATURE’S ROLE IN CLIMATE
Research has shown that natural climate solutions can deliver up to one-third of the GHG reductions needed this decade to mitigate climate change, while also benefiting people and nature.13 While we continue to reduce our GHG emissions as much as possible, we are also advancing natural climate solutions to balance our Scope 1 and 2 emissions we cannot eliminate this decade. These nature-based projects will help protect and restore forests, and other ecosystems, essential to the people and wildlife that rely on them and call them home.
13 Natural climate solutions: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1710465114
MANTALINGAHAN LANDSCAPE PROTECTION AND RESTORATION PROJECT
IN THE PHILIPPINES
In partnership with Conservation International, we are advancing a natural climate solution project focused on the protection and restoration of the Mantalingahan Landscape (ML), located on the island of Palawan in the Philippines. The ML is comprised of tropical forest and mangrove areas, including the largest terrestrial area protected on the Palawan Island. The ML is a vital habitat for more than 1,000 plant and animal species. Protection and restoration of ML forests and mangroves will ensure these ecosystems can continue to support local communities, biodiversity, and contribute to global carbon emissions reductions and removal goals. This project would not be possible without the full partnership of the Indigenous peoples, local communities, and land tenure holders. Learn more about our nature projects and partnerships.
PROTECTING TIGER LANDSCAPES IN MALAYSIA
On UN World Wildlife Day 2021, we announced the first of our palm conservation and protection projects. P&G sponsorship supports the work of WWF-Malaysia to protect Malayan tigers and landscapes in Central Forest Spine of Peninsular Malaysia. The focus is on four forest linkages — one in Belum-Temengor, one in Sungai Yu, and two around the Cameron Highlands. The project applies an integrative approach to environments, biodiversity, people and communities who rely on agriculture and palm. Learn more.
Protecting Forests for Years to Come
P&G continues to make progress on our commitment to keep forests as forests for generations to come. Here are some highlights of our actions, including work with leading environmental and forestry groups, over the last year.
Holding Suppliers to Higher Standards. We hold our suppliers to high standards. In the sourcing of our paper products, for every tree used, at least two are regrown.
To ensure suppliers adhere to our Policy, we take the following actions:
- Independent and P&G Audits
- Satellite Monitoring
- Public Grievance Process & Reporting
Reaching FSC™ Certification Goal. All P&G wood pulp is third party certified, ensuring the protection of both environmental and social values of forests. We prefer Forestry Stewardship Council™ (FSC) certification, which is seen as the most robust system. Supplies of FSC™ wood fiber are limited, yet our paper businesses set a bold goal to achieve over 75% FSC™ certification by 2025, with a 2030 ambition of 100% FSC™.
P&G’s paper businesses achieved their 75% FSC™ 2025 commitment in 2022, three years ahead of schedule.
And we are going beyond partnering with FSC™ and our suppliers to increase FSC™-certified lands.
P&G is also working alongside suppliers, certification bodies, NGOs, governments and other stakeholders to advocate for permanent protection of Intact Forest Landscapes (IFLs) and caribou habitat. Learn more about P&G’s Forestry progress.
P&G and Solvay Join Forces in Industry-leading Effort to Double the Global Supply of Sustainable Guar Farmed in India
Guar is a natural ingredient with many uses in personal care products like shampoos and lotions. P&G Beauty joined forces with one of our strategic suppliers, Solvay, in the Sustainable Guar Initiative (SGI) that will positively impact the lives of more than 21,000 people and promote sustainable guar production within the Bikaner district of Rajasthan, India — one of the world’s largest resources for guar.
Through this partnership P&G Beauty will:
- Double production of sustainably farmed guar in India, expanding the program’s reach and impact into 24 new villages.
- Train more than 5,200 farmers in the adoption of good agricultural practices.
- Double the scale of support for women, by training and empowering 1,800 additional women farmers, including workers and members of farming households and entrepreneurs.
- Create a new Johad (community-owned rainwater storage pond) to supply water for household and irrigation purposes.
- Support the establishment of a new Farmer Producer Organization to help support the economic stability of the farmers and their families.
One of the critical goals of Responsible Beauty is ensuring the responsible sourcing of priority ingredients of natural origin, including 100% RSPO certified palm oil/kernel oil and derivatives, by 2022.
Learn more
MORE TO EXPLORE
Read more about our latest Environmental Sustainability efforts.
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