Reducing our footprint one step at a time
More and more, the world is depending on companies to make sustainable choices. As one of the largest consumer goods companies in the world, we feel an environmental responsibility to do the right thing. At P&G, sustainability is crucial, and we’re committed to doing our part.
P&G sustainability goals for 2030
During Earth Week in 2018, we released new sustainability goals called Ambition 2030. These wide-reaching goals have one purpose in mind: to enable and inspire a positive impact on our environment and society while creating value for us as a company and you as a consumer.
In an effort to address two of the world’s most pressing environmental challenges — finite resources and growing consumption — we’ve focused our ambitious goals in these specific areas.
Click to jump to each section.
2030 Ambition: Brands making a positive impact
In a world where sustainable lifestyles have become more important than ever, we need brands to meet performance expectations while also helping to solve some of the most complex challenges facing our world. That’s why we’re working to make social and environmental responsibility an integral component of every brand in our portfolio. Here’s how.
Goal: 100% of our leading brands will enable and inspire responsible consumption
We want all our leading brands to constantly grow and create value while also having a measurable positive impact on society and our environment.
The Ariel ambition is to re-invent a better clean that consumes 50% fewer resources in key impact areas such as energy and water.
Herbal Essences commits to enabling everyone to experience the positive power of nature, while supporting biodiversity for the benefit of people and the planet.
Goal: 100% of our packaging will be recyclable or reusable
We plan to make this happen for the majority of our packaging through a combination of material choice, package design, and working with partners to create innovative solutions for more sustainable products.
But the unique challenge lies in the remaining fraction of our packaging, because these use materials and formats in much smaller amounts. By 2030, we’ll come up with solutions through both technical and commercial innovation.
2030 goal: Ensure 90% of product packaging is recyclable
As of 2018, 86% of P&G packages are considered recyclable
In partnership with TerraCycle and SUEZ, we produced the world’s first recyclable shampoo bottle made with up to 25% recycled beach plastic.
Our Fabric Care brands such as Ariel and Lenor aim to be 100% recyclable by 2022 and reduce 45% of plastics packaging by 2025 in the UK. From 2020, Ariel will be using up to 50% PCR and Lenor will be using up to 100% PCR. This will save the amount of virgin plastic required to produce one line of detergent bottles to go around the earth per year!
Goal: Build even greater trust through transparency
We know consumers want to know as much as they can about our products & the ingredients that go in them. That’s why we’re continuing to be transparent about our ingredient innovation and safety science.
2017 Momentum for Change Lighthouse Award for world’s first recyclable shampoo bottle made from beach plastic
-United Nations Climate Change Secretariat
2030 Ambition: Reducing our supply chain footprint
Our goal is to keep the promise of "quality you can trust." That's why behind each P&G product is a supply chain committed to environmental responsibility — from sourcing our ingredients to getting the final product on the shelf.
Goal: Reduce our footprint and aim for circular solutions based on regeneration and restoration
AMBITION #1 100% renewable electricity and cut GHG emissions by half at P&G sites
AMBITION #2 Our sites will deliver a 35% increase in water efficiency and source at least five billion litres of water from circular sources
AMBITION #3 Press forward with at least 10 significant supply chain partnerships to drive circularity on climate, water, or waste
2020 GOAL: Reduce absolute GHG emissions by 30%
As of 2018, we’ve reduced emissions by 20%
2030 GOAL: Reduce water consumption in manufacturing facilities by 20% per unit of production
24% water reduction per unit of production used in P&G manufacturing facilities
Goal: Protect and enhance the forests we depend upon
We use wood pulp in some of our products, and we have rigorous policies in place to make sure we’re sourcing responsibly from forests certified to the highest standards. But as we look to the future, we want to do more; not only to protect the forests, but to enhance them.
AMBITION #1 Collaborate with numerous organisations to increase the global area of certified forests, while strengthening certification systems.
AMBITION #2 Lead the charge in efforts to develop products with a Forest Positive approach. Inspired by the World Wildlife Fund, this practice will deliver health benefits that will sustain the forests we depend on.
Goal: Improve livelihoods of small palm farmers
As members of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, we’re committed to sourcing our palm and palm derivatives responsibly. In countries like Malaysia and Indonesia — where we have our largest supply chain and which have a high density of small farmers — we’re implementing local programmes to build responsible agricultural practices. This will help small farmers increase their yield while maintaining P&G sustainability standards.
2030 Ambition: A society working together
We’ve put more environmental sustainability goals in place to protect our water and find ways to re-purpose waste. But we also know we can’t do it alone. Solving the biggest challenges we face will require collaboration, which is why we are focused on creating partnerships that will enable people, the planet, and our business to thrive.
Goal: Create solutions so no packaging finds its way to the sea
We’re saddened by what’s happening to the world’s oceans. That’s why we’ve included a plastics pledge in our 2030 goals. Internally, we’re figuring out holistic solutions so that no P&G packaging finds its way to the ocean. We’re also partnering with organizations that have the same goal in mind, and are already finding ways to stem the flow of plastic to the world’s ocean. P&G is a founding member of the Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW), currently made up of nearly thirty member companies, which has committed over $1.0 billion with the goal of investing $1.5 billion over the next five years to help end plastic waste in the environment.
Fairy Ocean plastic bottles are made from 10% ocean plastic and 90% post-consumer recycled plastic. The 100% recyclable bottles were launched to show what can be done to prevent plastic waste from reaching the sea.
The UK Plastics Pact: the UK Plastics Pact aims to: A Partnership to Drive Responsible Consumption
When it comes to protecting the environmental future of our planet, we know we don’t have all the answers. It will take partnerships and collaboration to make meaningful progress. We are committed, through the five billion people we serve through our products, to make a positive difference on the environment, but we cannot do it alone. P&G Are Proud To Be A Founding Signatory Of The UK Plastics Pact (lead by WRAP) which is a bold and unique initiative that aims to transform the UK’s plastic system by 2025. By bringing together the entire plastics value chain behind a common set of ambitious, collective targets, it will move the UK towards a system which keeps plastic in the economy and out of the environment. It will encompass innovation, research and new business models to rethink and redesign what packaging we, as an industry, put on the market in the first place, and how we can all encourage greater re-use of packaging. Since its 2018 inception, the Pact now has over 100 organisations from across the entire plastics value chain signed up as members and supporters. To learn more visit: http://www.wrap.org.uk/content/the-uk-plastics-pact
Goal: Protect water for people and nature
Being responsible with the water we depend upon is critical to the future of our planet. There's a diverse mix of landscapes, cultures, economies, and climates that make water issues complex and require solutions unique to each river basin.
By 2030, we aim to have clearly defined our priority basins, the partners we'll work with, and the actions needed to address the water challenges specific to each basin. Once that's done, we'll look to develop the solutions to increase their resilience.
2030 GOAL: Ensure 70% of washing machine loads are low-energy cycles
As of 2018, 69% of loads are low-energy
2030 GOAL: Provide 1 billion people with access to water-efficient products
As of 2018, we’ve provided access to 700 million people
Dry shampoos mean consumers can go longer between washes, saving them time in the shower. 50 million people have access to this product in countries like China, Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom.
2018 Friend of the Forest Award
-The Arbor Day Foundation
Goal: Facilitate recycling solutions for absorbent hygiene products
Who would’ve thought you could recycle used nappies? Invented by our joint venture Fater in Italy, we found out a way. The breakthrough technology recycles used absorbent hygiene products to create new products and materials of added value. Partnering with cities, waste operators, and other partners, we plan to have this recycling practice operational in 10 cities across the globe by 2030.
Pampers used this technology to recycle used nappies into bottle caps and viscose, a semi-synthetic fiber.
2030 Ambition: Integrate sustainability in our workplace
Our manufacturing organisation has made tremendous progress in climate, water, and waste — and that’s driven largely by the passion and ingenuity of our employees. If we want any chance of reaching our 2030 goals, we know how important it is to keep them engaged and equipped.
We have developed a detailed environmental responsibility plan for employees across all levels and organisations to make sure they not only know our goals, but have ways to incorporate them into the work they do every day.
Integrate social and environmental sustainability as a key strategy in our business plans
Educate employees across all levels
Reward progress and integrate recognition in employee performance appraisals
2018 Sustainability Leadership Award and Sustainability Initiative of the Year Award
-Business Intelligence Group
See our latest environmental and sustainability endeavours
9 January 2018
German sustainability partner to launch first Head & Shoulders shampoo bottle with 20% beach plastic
Our Head & Shoulders brand kicked off 2018 with a new collaboration with an industry partner.
27 January 2017
Message in a Bottle
Last year at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation challenged the world to achieve greater levels of plastic recovery and reuse. In her remarks, she revealed a striking statistic: At the current rate, there could be more plastics than fish in the oceans by 2050. P&G's Lisa Jennings, Global Hair Care Sustainability Leader and Head & Shoulders Brand Franchise Leader, couldn't believe what she had heard.
Our work doesn't stop here
To get a deeper look at the details of our P&G sustainability efforts, download our 2018 Global Citizenship report
and our 2019 Northern Europe Citizenship Report. For more information on our 2030 goals, download our Ambition 2030 plan. This is just the start of our journey to advance progress against our environmental sustainability goals. And as we work, we’ll continue identifying partners and actions we plan to take, and share our progress with you each year.
History of P&G sustainability
To see the full history of our endeavours on environmental sustainability, take a look at our timeline.
All goal statistics are representative of progress since 2010.
