We aim to inspire employees at all levels to engage proactively in environmental initiatives in the workplace and beyond. We foster ongoing, transparent communication with our key internal and external stakeholders. Through our Responsible Sourcing program, we work with suppliers and partners to advance sustainability efforts in a coordinated manner.
Throughout the value chain, we track and reduce our direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions, water use and waste. Across our portfolio, we started to implement assessment of environmental impact in formulation, packaging design and distribution, with our key global brands such as Restylane and Cetaphil at the forefront.
We currently focus our efforts on three main areas where we have already delivered concrete results:
CARING FOR WATER
Water is our most precious resource and we continue to invest in measures to preserve water supply everywhere we operate. We currently run programs to reduce consumption, recycle and reuse water in our factories and research facilities. Between 2010 and 2020, these efforts enabled us to reduce water consumption in our factories by 33% per ton of product, ahead of our initial plan.
ACTING ON CLIMATE CHANGE
Between 2010 and 2020, we reduced direct greenhouse gas emissions from production by 61%, ahead of our initial plan. This is primarily based on our conversion to renewable energy, which now accounts for 95% of the electricity we use. We are now taking steps to be totally carbon neutral in our factories.
Three of our four factory sites already use 100% renewable electricity from a combination of solar, wind, hydropower, geothermal, biofuel and biomass. Our fourth factory is on track to also be using 100% renewable electricity by 2024. All our factories are certified ISO 14001 (International Environmental Management System).
SAFEGUARDING THE ENVIRONMENT
Our four factories all achieved zero waste to landfill at the beginning of 2019 – ahead of our initial plan. We are using the results of our life-cycle analysis to optimize the environmental impact of our products by prioritizing our initiatives in eco-design, manufacturing and transportation. Through our Responsible Sourcing program, we evaluate and select our suppliers and outsourced producers based on their environmental performance.