Climate change could have serious repercussions for people and the planet. Read more about the impacts of climate change
We believe the business community has a responsibility to play a role in tackling climate change. Our Five Principles commit us to being part of the solution, and we have set targets to reduce our emissions in absolute terms, regardless of business growth.
Our operations contribute around 13 percent of the total greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) associated with our business. Most of these operational emissions come in the form of carbon dioxide (CO2) from energy used by our 134 manufacturing facilities and in our offices. Our use of refrigerants accounts for a very small portion of our GHG emissions.
Through our Sustainable in a Generation (SiG) program, we aim to eliminate GHG emissions from our operations by 2040. Our immediate focus is to reduce our use of fossil-fuel-based energy sources and GHG emissions. We specify both energy and GHG targets for several reasons:
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We can directly control energy use at our operations, so it makes sense to aim to reduce it
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GHG emissions are the most significant environmental impact of fossil-fuel energy use
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While energy use and GHG emissions are related, reducing one does not always reduce the other by the same proportion.
Our strategy is to eliminate the source of our GHG emissions; we do not currently plan to use any form of carbon offset. See Understanding our Impacts for more about the GHG emissions associated with other aspects of our business, such as sourcing our raw materials.
In addition to efforts in our factories and offices, we are also reducing GHG emissions from product deliveries to retail customers. Business travel, sales vehicles and commuting also create emissions, but at levels too small to consider strategic priorities. These emissions are not included in our targets, but they are a focus for some sales offices, where they account for a larger share. Read more on our emissions beyond our operations here
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