In its just-released 2013 Sustainability Report, Procter & Gamble hints at big changes ahead in respect of its commitment to replacing 25% of its petrol-derived raw materials with renewable alternatives by 2020 and achieving a 100% switch in the longer term.

The company reports that its has now conducted a detailed analysis of its petroleum-derived raw materials and has identified the material classes that will best help it reach its 2020 goal. It is not known at this stage whether these goals will include a nonwovens element, or other components of absorbent disposables.

“For most of these materials, we’ve established a clear development pipeline, and we are now moving towards pilot scale production of several key materials,” the report states. “We have already successfully incorporated plant-based plastic in select shampoo bottles, but we anticipate the bulk of our new renewable material replacements will be commercialised between 2015 and 2020. This is consistent with our original expectations and reflects the time it takes to develop and evaluate new materials, test them at pilot scale, and ensure they represent technically, environmentally and economically viable solutions.”

Solid gains are reported by P&G in other areas of sustainability. Packaging has been redused by 4.5% per consumer since 2010 as a result of a number of projects across many different categories, involving product compactions, packaging light-weighting, the use of new materials and more efficient transport packaging.

P&G notes, however, that as it gets nearer its 20% reduction target for 2020, the gains will become increasingly difficult, since product protection has to be the priority.

Total energy use across P&G’s operations has been reduced by 8% since 2010 and CO2 emissions by 11% – on track to hit the 20% goal by 2020.

Truck transportation kilometres are down by12% across P&G’s operations from 2010  and it has continued to optimise its distribution networks, resulting in significant efficiency gains and cost savings.

Over the next two years P&G will begin working with its transportation carriers to convert up to 20% of its North America truck loads to natural gas vehicles.

P&G engineers are working with suppliers around the globe to investigate breakthrough water recycling technologies.

The company is also cooperating on the European chemical industry E4Water project to develop new technologies for plant effluent water treatment ensuring more water can be recycled and re-used.

P&G’s Oxnard, California site has reduced water use by nearly 25%, which will result in a annual cost savings of more than $900,000.

In its bid to obtain 30% of its energy from renewable resources P&G is currently at 7.5%. Its global energy team is building strong partnerships with leading companies and university experts in an effort to prioritise technologies and projects that are both economically and environmentally sustainable. While the recent drop in natural gas prices has impacted the economic feasibility of some US projects, a diverse mix of renewable energy sources, both on-site and off-site, across all aspects of operations is anticipated.

Two notable recent projects in this area are Huangpu Solar and Taicang Wind.

The Huangpu plant in China partnered with a local utility supplier to install solar panels on the plant’s rooftop – the first P&G manufacturing plant in Asia to do so. Electricity from the installation will eliminate 600 metric tons of CO2 emissions annually from the local community.

And in December 2012, P&G inaugurated its most sustainable plant to date globally in Taicang, in Jiangsu province, China.

This is the first site within P&G to use 100% renewable electricity from wind. The site uses 6 million kWh or the equivalent of 5,400 households in urban China. This helps eliminate over 5,000 metric tons of CO2 per year.

It is also the first P&G plant in the world to achieve both LEED Gold certifications for administration buildings and Silver for manufacturing buildings and the first to meet the company’s zero manufacturing waste to landfill definition in China.