Procter & Gamble Co., (P&G) has been working on a goal to reduce its carbon footprint by 40% by the year 2012. Even better news is that it has reportedly already reduced it by 30% with four more years to go on its goal. The world’s largest consumer product goods company has discovered something about green product marketing that has been one of the founding principles of Sattler Clothing. The product must not compromise on performance or quality. According to P&G’s research the “greenness” of the product is a factor for only 5 to 10% of consumers. So products that are green but fall short of current performance standards and product usage are likely to fail in the marketplace. Green innovations must provide added benefit to the shopper and meet P&G sustainability guidelines. Sad but true.
What are P&G’s “green” products
Tide Coldwater
Introduced in 2005. According to P&G, if every US family used cold water the nation’s household energy consumption would be cut by 3% - or 34 million tons of carbon dioxide per year – and consumers would save an average of $63 on utilities.
Pampers
P&G reduced the diaper weight by 40% over the past 20 years and cut back on packaging by 70%.
Len Sauers, VP Global Sustainability at P&G, says the effort has encouraged a more “holistic” approach to product development and that the company is determined to develop $20 billion of “sustainable innovation” products by 2012.
Going to finish with a quote from Paul Fiorelli, director of the Center for Business Ethics & Responsibility at Xavier University, - “I don’t think it’s a trade-off. Creative people can think of ways of doing things that help the company but also help promote sustainability.”
According to the Retail Industry Report 2007 published by Geneva-based research firm Covalence, both retailers are benefiting from their proactive stance on environmental and social responsibility issues. Wal-Mart recently announced that it would only sell concentrated laundry detergent to reduce plastic and water use, promote sales of inexpensive compact fluorescent light bulbs, measure the carbon footprint of seven product category supply chains. Wal-Mart has teamed up with the Carbon Disclosure Project to reduce the impact of seven widely popular product categories - beer, DVD’s, milk, soap, soda, toothpaste, and vacuum cleaners. 20th Century Fox, has already begun its own supply chain analysis. CDP Chief Executive Paul Dickinson hopes that “By engaging its supply chain in the CDP process, Wal-Mart will encourage its suppliers to measure and manage their green house gas emissions, and ultimately reduce the total carbon footprint of Wal-Mart’s indirect emissions. We look forward to other global corporations following Wal-Mart’s lead and partnering with CDP.”
Marks & Spencer recently published its fourth annual Corporate Responsibility Report and is available at this link.
The Report indicates how well the retailer has performed on 22 targets established in their previous report. Marks & Spencer is a member of the 2006 Dow Jones Sustainability Index, the 2007 FTSE4Good Index, the 2007 Global most sustainable corporations and a Platinum Company in the 2007 Business in the Community Corporate Responsibility Index.
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