When I came to the UK in 2007, climate change and sustainability dominated discussions. A year later, we were all gripped by the grim news about the economy. Sustainability fell away from the limelight, but it didn't go away.
Consumers today are more savvy and discerning than ever before. They want quality products and great value first and foremost.
When asked if they would do their bit for the environment, two-thirds of the UK population say yes. But in our categories, indeed our business, they won't pay more for this or make do with less performance. They won't accept trade-offs.
If we sacrifice quality or value, make the choice in-store confusing or complicated, or make a product that is impractical, we lose our consumers. To bring them with us, we need to provide products that allow them to do their bit to limit climate change with no compromises. And we need to connect with them to show how we can help them make a difference. The onus is on us to shape the future of sustainable consumption.
Small changes can make a huge difference when we put the force of innovation behind them and create a movement of consumers.
Take laundry. The energy needed to heat water is more than 70% of the end-to-end environmental footprint of a laundry product. The potential energy savings of everyone washing their clothes in cold water are staggering enough to power a country the size of Ireland but people want brilliantly clean clothes that feel soft and smell great.
We had to produce a product that could deliver this performance at low temperatures, and then convince consumers that it worked. In 2008, we launched our breakthrough gel format. Ariel Excel Gel is a highly compacted detergent designed to clean brilliantly at 15ºc. As well as packaging, transport and waste improvements associated with the new format, consumers are saving money and energy, as well as getting a better performing product.
Our cold washing campaign dates back to 2006 when we launched Ariel Turn to 30. More than a quarter of UK households now wash regularly at 30°c or less up from 2% when we started. This equates to more than 58,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions prevented. But there's a lot of work ahead to convince the rest of the population to turn down the dial.
Consumers embrace innovations like this. I've worked in six countries and nowhere is this truer than the UK. If we make decisions easy and educate and inform them we can bring them with us.
This is our vision and last month we made a very public statement of our commitment: to power plants with 100% renewable energy; to use 100% renewable or recycled materials for all products and packaging; to have zero waste go to landfill; and to continue to design products that delight consumers while maximising resource conservation.
Our goal is to be a carbon neutral company. It's a vision that will take years to achieve and we can't do it alone. We've set new 10-year goals and we've formed a three-year partnership with the WWF to help us deliver.
Together with leading organisations in the UK like EST, Waterwise & Waste Watch, we'll address the issues of sustainable production and consumption in consumer products.
Irwin Lee is vice president & general manager, P&G UK & Ireland.
Consumers today are more savvy and discerning than ever before. They want quality products and great value first and foremost.
When asked if they would do their bit for the environment, two-thirds of the UK population say yes. But in our categories, indeed our business, they won't pay more for this or make do with less performance. They won't accept trade-offs.
If we sacrifice quality or value, make the choice in-store confusing or complicated, or make a product that is impractical, we lose our consumers. To bring them with us, we need to provide products that allow them to do their bit to limit climate change with no compromises. And we need to connect with them to show how we can help them make a difference. The onus is on us to shape the future of sustainable consumption.
Small changes can make a huge difference when we put the force of innovation behind them and create a movement of consumers.
Take laundry. The energy needed to heat water is more than 70% of the end-to-end environmental footprint of a laundry product. The potential energy savings of everyone washing their clothes in cold water are staggering enough to power a country the size of Ireland but people want brilliantly clean clothes that feel soft and smell great.
We had to produce a product that could deliver this performance at low temperatures, and then convince consumers that it worked. In 2008, we launched our breakthrough gel format. Ariel Excel Gel is a highly compacted detergent designed to clean brilliantly at 15ºc. As well as packaging, transport and waste improvements associated with the new format, consumers are saving money and energy, as well as getting a better performing product.
Our cold washing campaign dates back to 2006 when we launched Ariel Turn to 30. More than a quarter of UK households now wash regularly at 30°c or less up from 2% when we started. This equates to more than 58,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions prevented. But there's a lot of work ahead to convince the rest of the population to turn down the dial.
Consumers embrace innovations like this. I've worked in six countries and nowhere is this truer than the UK. If we make decisions easy and educate and inform them we can bring them with us.
This is our vision and last month we made a very public statement of our commitment: to power plants with 100% renewable energy; to use 100% renewable or recycled materials for all products and packaging; to have zero waste go to landfill; and to continue to design products that delight consumers while maximising resource conservation.
Our goal is to be a carbon neutral company. It's a vision that will take years to achieve and we can't do it alone. We've set new 10-year goals and we've formed a three-year partnership with the WWF to help us deliver.
Together with leading organisations in the UK like EST, Waterwise & Waste Watch, we'll address the issues of sustainable production and consumption in consumer products.
Irwin Lee is vice president & general manager, P&G UK & Ireland.
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