P&G has announced its aim to have its global operations be carbon neutral for the decade through a series of interventions that will protect, improve, and restore nature. Based on the brand’s current estimates, it will need to balance around 30 million metric tons of carbon from 2020 to 2030. It also continues to work to reduce greenhouse emissions. Its current goal is to reduce them by 50 percent and to purchase 100 percent renewable electricity by 2030.
“Our role as leaders is to make a lower emission economy and lifestyle possible, affordable and desirable for everyone,” said Virginie Helias, P&G’s Chief Sustainability Officer, in a P&G news release. “It is our responsibility to protect critical carbon reserves and invest in solutions that regenerate our planet. Consumers also want to do more to address climate change. As a company, we touch five billion people with our brands; we are striving to make a difference every day by encouraging responsible consumption with products that are effective and intuitive to enable adoption of new lower emission habits.”
P&G has partnered with Conservation International and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to identify and fund projects designed to help the environment. Some of the projects that have already been identified include:
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Philippines Palawan Protection Project with Conservation International – Meant to protect and restore Palawan’s mangroves and critical ecosystems. According to the press release, Palawan is the world’s fourth most “irreplaceable” for unique and threatened wildlife.
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Atlantic Forest Restoration Planning with WWF – Will lay the groundwork in the Atlantic Forest on Brazil’s East Coast for forest landscape restoration with impacts on biodiversity, water, food security, and more.
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Evergreen Alliance with Arbor Day Foundation – Brings corporations, communities, and citizens together to preserve the needs in life affected by climate change, such as planting trees to restore wooded areas destroyed by wildfires in Northern California and enhance forests in Germany.
“We’ve worked with P&G to drive climate progress and safeguard forests for over a decade because the scope of their business means they can deliver results at a scale that matters,” said Carter Roberts, U.S. President and CEO of WWF. “Importantly, that progress hasn’t been limited to their own corporate footprint. P&G was an early partner in the Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance, which has helped expand corporate renewable energy procurements across the United States. Today’s announcement marks further progress by putting a greater focus on the role that preserving nature can play – not just in absorbing carbon emissions, but in providing the services and resources that sustain life on earth. We look forward to working with P&G to achieve these new commitments over the next decade.”