In March 2020 Ethical Consumer viewed the P&G website for the company's environmental policy or report. The company's 2019 Citizenship Report was downloaded, which contained the following 2020 goals:
- zero manufacturing waste to landfill
- Reduce packaging by 20% per consumer use
- Ensure 90% of product packaging is either recyclable or programs are in place to create the ability to recycle it
-Reduce absolute GHG emissions by 30% by 2020
- Ensure plants are powered by 30% renewable energy
The company had also begun setting goals for 2030, including:
- purchase 100% renewable electricity globally
- reduce scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 50% (baseline 2010)
- Achieve 100% recyclable or reusable packaging by 2030
- Reduce our use of virgin petroleum plastic in packaging by 50% by 2030
Regarding independent verification, the report stated: "Our GHG emissions data has been verified by an external third party, Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance (LRQA)." However, the other environmental data in the report was not independently verified.
The report covered greenhouse gas emissions, packaging, energy use, palm oil, forestry, water, waste, energy conservation, low-energy washing and circulate supply chains. P&G was considered to have a reasonable understanding of its main impacts.
Given that P&G's report contained multiple future, quantified targets, demonstrated a reasonable understanding of its impacts and was dated within two years, but was not independently verified, the company received Ethical Consumer's middle rating for Environmental Reporting and lost half a mark in this category.
Reference:
Citizenship Report 2019 (2019)