Reckitt - Corporate Social Responsibility - Carbon 20

Carbon 20

Reckitt Benckiser implemented an environmental initiative called Carbon 20. The initiative, which was announced in November 2007, aimed to cut the total carbon footprint of its products—from creation to disposal by 20% by 2020. As part of the initiative the company has reduced by 70% the amount of plastic in the packaging of its Vanish cleaner.

In January 2010, Reckitt Benckiser announced that they had already reached the halfway mark on their carbon reduction target in the third year of the Carbon20 initiative. RB stated "Over 3 million tonnes of CO₂ was avoided last year by a 11% reduction per unit dose in the carbon impact across our products’ life cycle – the same impact as taking nearly 1,000,000 cars off the road". RB cited new programmes to redesign products using fewer materials and less energy, packaging, and waste, along with moving a number of factories and plants to combined heat and power energy systems as the main contributors to achieving the target so far.

The Independent characterised the Carbon 20 initiative as "a typically savvy bit of marketing" on the part of Bart Becht, the company's former CEO. It observed that Reckitt Benckiser's initiative seemed to go further than similar green initiatives by other companies, and that it would lead to increased profits.

In New York in February 2009, Earthjustice filed a lawsuit against Reckitt Benckiser and others. The petitionseeks to compel the companies to identify all of the ingredients used in their products. Earthjustice contacted several companies in September 2008 requesting that they comply with a 1971 law requiring them to disclose the ingredients in their products and make available any associated health or safety studies. Reckitt Benckiser and the other defendants ignored or refused the request.

In May 2012, RB announced that they had exceeded the target eight years early, with a 21% reduction in carbon emissions per Dose (rising to 26% once emissions from acquisition SSL are included.)