Progress to Date

GHG

Goal

The Clorox Company made a public pledge to reduce our Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions by 10 percent per case of product sold from 2007 to 2013.

In fact, Clorox joined the EPA’s Climate Leaders Program in 2008 as part of its commitment to reduce its GHG footprint. Climate Leaders personnel have and will continually review Clorox’s GHG emissions inventory data, as well as our progress towards reaching our GHG emissions goal. We also provide our GHG information to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) with our full submission available here.

Progress to date

From 2005–2009, Clorox has reduced its GHG emission on a per case basis sold
GHG Reduction Progress

Our 2005 through 2009 GHG emissions data were collected by a third party environmental services firm (Liberty Environmental) with detailed knowledge of the operations and air emissions characteristics of the major Clorox manufacturing facilities. Liberty Environmental utilized source data (electricity, natural gas, fuels, and chemicals) to calculate associated emissions, and followed the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) standard protocols in their calculation of Clorox’s GHG emissions.

 

Scope 1, 2 & 3 GHG Emission Trends
GHG Emission Trends
Reportable Emissions

Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions are defined as follows:

  • Scope 1 emissions are defined as GHG emissions as a direct result of Clorox operations and equal approximately 12 percent of Clorox’s total manufacturing and distribution GHG impact. We estimate that 53 percent of Scope 1 emissions are from carbon dioxide (CO2) and the remainder is from methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), and hydrofluorocarbons HFCs. The primary source of CH4 and N2O is wood pyrolysis at charcoal plants in the United States. HFC emissions have averaged 155 Metric Tons Carbon Equivalent (MTCE) per year for the period 2005 — 2007, based on a release of 0.119 tonnes of refrigerant. The primary species of HFC released is R-134a.
  • Scope 2 emissions are defined as Clorox’s indirect emissions from purchased electricity, heat and steam. A little over 50 percent of our combined manufacturing and distribution GHG footprint is from our indirect electricity use at our manufacturing plants, distribution centers and corporate office buildings. Our GHG calculations include both the amount of electricity drawn as well as the source of that electricity (e.g., coal vs. gas vs. other types of power plant fuels). Regional electric power emission factors (eGRID data) were used to compute indirect emissions. This is in conformance with the U.S. EPA Protocol.
  • Scope 3 emissions, associated with the distribution of our finished products by non-affiliated carriers to regional distribution centers and to retailers, account for about a third of Clorox’s combined manufacturing and distribution GHG impact. These estimates include all modes of transport (air, water, truck, and rail). When truck carrier specific fuel efficiency data was not available, we used an efficiency of 5.5 miles/gallon of diesel fuel as a default value for long haul trucking. Scope 3 distribution emissions were estimated by using both truck miles traveled and actual fuel used: 1) between our production facilities; 2) from production facilities to our distribution centers; 3) from production facilities to customer distribution centers and 4) from our distribution centers to customer distribution centers.

 

Reportable GHG emissions by gas (2009 data)
Reportable GHG emissions by gas (2009 data)

All six recognized GHGs have been inventoried. There has been no reported use of sulfur hexafluoride and perfluorocarbons. The global warming potentials from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 1996 Second Assessment Report were used for conformance with the U.S. EPA Climate Leaders Protocol.

 

GHG Emissions by Geography
GHG Emissions by Geography
CO2 Equivalent GHG

More than 60 percent of our greenhouse gas emissions are actually from biogenic sources associated with the use of wood scrap as an energy source in our Kingsford® charcoal manufacturing operations. (CO2 produced in our Kingsford operations via wood pyrolysis and off-gas combustion is considered biogenic, while the CH4 and N2O emissions produced via pyrolysis and off-gas combustion are considered anthropogenic and are therefore included in Clorox’s Scope 1 reportable emissions.)

We chose to show this data even though biogenic greenhouse gas emissions (that is, from wood and other biofuels) are considered part of the natural carbon cycle, and are therefore excluded from reportable carbon-footprint calculations.

 

GHG Emissions by Business Unit
GHG Emissions by Business Unit

List of major accomplishments

  • Energy reduction: We are currently focused on reducing electricity use by retrofitting all our North American manufacturing and distribution facilities with energy efficient T5/T8 lighting, and by installation of motion sensors where appropriate. We have also begun to conduct extensive energy audits at our manufacturing plants in order to identify other operating equipment and HVAC systems efficiencies that can further reduce our electricity use.
  • Distribution efficiency: We have recently increased the eco-efficiency of our finished product distribution markedly by moving from truck to more efficient rail. Today, Clorox has 30 percent of its finished goods distribution miles on rail. Distribution network reconfiguration and use of EPA Smart Way carriers are also part of our plan to reduce our distribution footprint.
  • Material efficiency: The Clorox Company is committed to redesigning our products and packaging in order to improve their environmental footprint by either reducing or improving the materials used. During the past five years, Clorox has made sustainability improvements to 32 percent* of its product portfolio (volume sold basis) and we have plans in place to make sustainability improvements to 25 percent of our portfolio by 2013. And we are proud that 90 percent of our product cartons use 100 percent recycled material, and that more than 85 percent of the packages that house our products are recyclable.
    (* Per internal Clorox sustainability improvement measurement system)
  • Workplace Initiatives: We are also committed to doing all that we can to reduce our workplace energy use and commensurate GHG emissions. Recently, Clorox has reduced its paper use by 30 percent across all of its North American facilities, with all remaining paper converted to 100 percent recycled content. We have also recently reduced business travel by 20 percent, and converted company cars to Toyota Prius hybrids which reduced fuel use by almost half and reduced annual GHG emissions by about 700 metric tons. Current efforts are focused on making our General Office building more eco-efficient as we work towards LEED certification for this key facility.

Renewable sources

Kingsford operations

Kingsford® retort furnaces convert renewable wood scrap to make char. Much of the heat generated from this process is, in turn, used to dry waste wood raw material as well as finished charcoal briquettes, and to power steam boilers that are used for other Kingsford manufacturing operations, thereby reducing use of fossil-fueled electricity these plants need to pull from the grid.

Renewable Energy Credits and Carbon Offsets

Burt’s Bees Natural Personal Care Products, a Clorox division, essentially offsets their Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions from electrical usage today by the purchase of Carbon Offsets and Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) in the form of wind energy. These purchases of Carbon Offsets and RECs are equivalent to Burt’s Bees’ entire Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG footprint as they seek to be a carbon neutral operation.

For the 2010–2012 periods, Burt’s Bees’ Scope 1 GHG emission footprint will be offset by the purchase of carbon offsets through "Renewable Choice Energy" (http://www.renewablechoice.com). Similarly, Burt’s Bees’ Scope 2 GHG emission footprint will be offset by the purchase of REC through "NC GreenPower" (http://ncgreenpower.org), an independent non-profit organization, established to improve North Carolina’s environment, where Burt’s Bees is headquartered. GHG emissions from Burt’s Bees are approximately 0.5 percent of Clorox’s total annual GHG emissions.

Also, as part of our effort to pursue Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) certification for our corporate offices in Oakland, California, we have purchased RECs to offset all our electricity usage for this building. These RECs have been purchased through "Renewable Choice Energy" (http://www.renewablechoice.com). The electricity offsets purchased for our Oakland corporate offices are approximately 1.4 percent of Clorox’s total annual electricity consumption.