by Brianna Crandall — January 17, 2011—Reckitt Benckiser (RB), a global provider of household, health and personal care products and parent of Clearasil, Lysol, Woolite and other iconic brands, announced January 12 that the expulsion of over 3 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) was avoided in 2010 by an 11 percent reduction per unit dose in the carbon impact across its products’ lifecycle–reportedly the same impact as taking nearly 1 million cars off the road.
This cut in carbon emissions per unit dose of 11 percent means the company has already achieved half of its “Carbon20” goal in only its second year. The Carbon20 program aims to reduce RB’s products’ impact on climate change by 20 percent by 2020.
Launched in 2007, Carbon20 goes beyond targeting the “easy” wins of energy reduction in factories and travel. It targets reductions of the much larger carbon emissions embedded in raw and packaging materials from suppliers, and in consumers’ use and disposal of the company’s products. Carbon20 also targets the climate change impact of the overall lifecycle of RB products.
RB follows such eco-friendly strategies as: cooperating with suppliers and trade customers to reengineer the making, packaging, distributing and selling of products to reduce or avoid energy use; moving a number of factories and plants to combined heat and power (CHP) energy systems; and installing solar-powered lighting and water heating in its facilities. RB does not include its carbon offsetting projects towards the Carbon20 target.
RB, reportedly one of the first champions of a total carbon footprint approach, globally manufactures and sells approximately 6 billion consumer products a year. Headquartered in the U.K., the company employs about 25,000 people worldwide, with operations in over 60 countries and sales in almost 200 countries.
