Colgate-Palmolive highlights sustainability progress and targets

Colgate-Palmolive has published a new online sustainability report highlighting its progress in achieving corporate social responsibility goals.

The dental supplier has outlined a number of key targets that it wishes to achieve by 2015, including reducing employee health risks by 15 percent and cutting water and energy consumption in manufacturing by 40 percent and 20 percent respectively.

Recent performance highlights detailed in the report include the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 21 percent between 2002 and 2010, while the company has also slashed water use by 44 percent and wastewater loading by 31 percent.

The firm has also achieved a 95 percent improvement in total recordable accident rate from 1990 to 2010 and reached more than 650 million children through its Bright Smiles, Bright Futures scheme.

Ian Cook, the company's president and chief executive officer, said: "At Colgate, sustainability is not just a project or initiative – it's built into and about business decisions every day."

This comes after Colgate published its financial results for 2011 last month, reporting a 7.5 percent annual increase in net sales.