2020 Sustainability Commitments Progress
Highlights of the progress we made on our sustainability commitments this year are described below. Colgate was named to both the 2018 Dow Jones Sustainability World and North America Indices, was recognized as a U.S. EPA ENERGY STAR 2018 Partner of the Year for the 8th year in a row, and was named to the CDP Supplier A List in 2018. Read further to learn more about the progress we have made on Colgate’s Sustainability Strategy.
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Helping Colgate People and Their Families Live Better
In 2018, the Global Health Risk Assessment (HRA) tool was available in 50 countries, providing access to 60% of Colgate’s workforce. The HRA tool helps Colgate employees self-evaluate health status and understand health risks and provides confidential feedback to motivate behavioral change.
In each of the past six years, more than 60% of Colgate employees participated in our Global Healthy Activity Challenge. In 2018, employees logged 26 million minutes of healthy activity.
Colgate is working to support employees in their effort to be financially secure at every stage of their lives. Employees in more than 100 countries now have access to a financial wellness toolkit, available in seven languages.
Contributing to the Communities Where We Live and Work
Colgate Bright Smiles, Bright Futures® (BSBF) is our flagship oral health education program, reaching children in more than 80 countries. In 2018 we passed an extraordinary milestone: since the program was established in 1991, we have reached one billion children and their families with free dental screenings and oral health education.
Since 2002, Hill’s Food, Shelter & Love™ program has provided more than $290 million in pet food to more than 1,000 pet shelters and helped more than ten million pets find their forever homes across North America.
Colgate is working with public health officials, academia and local schools and clinics to educate millions of children and their families about the health and hygiene benefits of handwashing with soap. Colgate teaches handwashing as part of our BSBF program. Building the steps for proper handwashing into the oral care component of BSBF, the program creates shared value for both Colgate and society, helping to improve health outcomes while building brand awareness for and the reputation of Colgate’s Protex soap brand.
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Delighting Consumers and Sustaining Our World With Our Brands
96% of the products evaluated with Colgate’s Product Sustainability Scorecard were determined to be “more sustainable,” showing an improvement in at least one of the following areas: responsible sourcing and raw materials, energy and greenhouse gases, water, waste, ingredient profile, packaging and social metrics.(1)
Colgate has made great strides in its commitment to improving the sustainability profile of our products by eliminating the use of microbeads, phthalates, and parabens as ingredients. In 2018, we have proactively eliminated the use of triclocarban, globally, and all chromium- containing pigments from our products. We no longer manufacture products containing triclosan as of the second quarter 2019.
Approximately 43% of our packaging materials by weight globally now come from recycled sources and approximately 82% of our packaging is considered recyclable. We have removed 99% of PVC from our packaging and plan to completely eliminate it in 2019.
At Colgate, we believe in sharing what goes into our products so that consumers can make the best decisions about what is right for them and their families. That’s why we are proud to embrace SmartLabel, a digital platform that goes beyond the label to put the power of information in consumers’ hands. Consumers can simply scan the barcode on Colgate-Palmolive products or visit SmartLabel website to find information on product allergens, sourcing, sustainability, ingredients and more.
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Making Every Drop of Water Count
In 2018, Colgate reduced water use per ton of production by nearly 46% vs. 2002, avoiding enough water use to fill 250 billion glasses of water.(2)
Colgate continues to scale up our Save Water campaign globally to promote water conservation awareness with on-package messaging, in-store communications and social media and through a partnership with the Nature Conservancy in the United States.
Colgate’s contributions to the Water For People’s Everyone Forever program helped the organization reach more than 450,000 people since 2013 with water, sanitation systems and/or health and hygiene education in Guatemala, Peru and India.
Reducing Our Impact on Climate and the Environment
Colgate continues to reduce its absolute greenhouse gas emissions. So far, we have reduced our absolute greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 30% compared to 2002.(2)
Working toward the Company’s goal of “Zero Waste,” Colgate has reduced the amount of waste per ton of production sent to landfills by nearly 41% since 2010.(2)
Colgate continues to make progress on its commitment to mobilize resources to achieve zero net deforestation by 2020 as stated in our policy on No Deforestation.
1 The performance results are based on representative products from the product portfolio evaluated against comparable Colgate products across three impact areas to characterize likely improvement in the sustainability profile, based on review of quantitative and qualitative data.
2 Subject to final verification by a third-party auditor.
