Cadbury Schweppes : A real carbon reduction plan

For those consumers unable to tell one green promise from another in the world of big brands, it seems one company may have come up with something new - a genuine climate change plan. Cadbury plans to halve its total carbon footprint by 2020, regardless of the company’s growth.

The move comes at a time when many other well-known brands, such as Tesco and Walmart, are only pledging relative emissions reductions, per square meter of their business.

Consumer brands in particular are increasingly concerned about climate change. They see the opportunity for both cost savings and improving their often-battered reputations with consumers.

Stripping to the minimum

The chocolate and drinks manufacturer, Cadbury Schweppes, aims to reduce its direct carbon emissions, those created by its own factories and distribution fleet, via a combination of energy saving and switching to renewable energy sources. It has left a get out clause in the promise, however, allowing offsetting emissions as a “last resort” if reduction targets are not met.

Aside from emissions reduction, Cadbury Schweppes is also targeting its use of packaging and water. Sweet wrappers are difficult to recycle, whilst Easter eggs are notoriously over packaged, and the water used in Schweppes’ drinks operations is in increasingly short supply.

The company is trialling a new form of biodegradable wrapper called Plantic in Australia, with the eventual aim of using biodegradable wrapping on 60% of its products.

Steve Driver, head of Cadbury Schweppes’ global supply chain, is confident that the wrappers will not biodegrade before leaving the shop.

“Leaving chocolate bars to sit for months in stores is not our ideal situation anyway, and one that can be managed”, he told ClimateChangeCorp.com in an exclusive interview.

In Australia, droughts have led to Schweppes cutting water usage with the aim to become water neutral, using only the amount of water they use in their beverages in the manufacturing process. Driver claims competitors in the Australian drinks business are way behind, using a ratio of five to one, water used compared to water sold.

Driver, however, admits that the American beverage division of Cadbury –Schweppes, one of the few divisions of the company that grew in 2006, is not as efficient with its water use.

Green projects

Cadbury Schweppes’ sustainable investments in developing countries include biomass projects in India, where the company also helps with irrigation by collecting rainwater. Another initiative is to collect rainwater in parts of drought ridden Australia, where Cadbury Schweppes even claims to be pumping water back into the local water table.

Low carbon projects run by the company will be used to offset some of Cadbury’s own emissions in other countries. These could also be used to generate carbon credits to be traded on the carbon market, says the company.

Pleasing investors

Cadbury was named top of its class by the Carbon Disclosure Project in September 2006 for its reporting on climate change. The early effort seems to have paid off. A recent audit by non-profit consultants Forum for the Future reported that Cadbury would break even on their carbon neutral investments over the next few years. Forum says the company will eventually save money from the investments, as they pay off in the long term.

Cadbury says it has not received any negative feedback from its investors concerning the absolute carbon cuts commitment. Driver points out “they see it makes economic sense to cut resource use and to be aware of the environmental risks to the business.”

The company sees itself growing by 4-6% annually over the next few years, double the growth they’ve experienced over the past few years. No doubt, absolute emissions reduction targets would be much more difficult for a larger, faster growing company. Cadbury’s Steve Driver notes that if the company grew at a faster pace than predicted, the company “may have to review emissions targets.”

Re-building the image

In 2006, Cadbury chocolate was linked to a salmonella outbreak, later paying a hefty fine over a leaking factory pipe that contaminated its products. After a fall in profits, and having suffered a £30 million loss from the resulting product recall, Cadbury is undoubtedly looking to re-jig its image and make some smart decisions to save money on resources. Green promises may not allay consumers’ fears of contaminated products, however.

But Cadbury has not just jumped on the green band wagon, favoured by some of its competitors. It has steered away from promises of relative emissions reductions as well as ambitious promises of full scale carbon labelling, something at least one other company, Tesco, says it's keen on. Right now though, only two carbon labels exist, on Walkers Crisps and one type of Boots shampoo.

What remains to be seen is how big an impression Cadbury’s new green image can make on consumers, and in the event of an unexpected company growth spurt, whether Cadbury’s absolute emissions targets will still apply. For now, though, the company seems to have raised the bar in its industry considerably.


Facts: Cadbury Schweppes absolute targets

• 50% reduction of net absolute carbon emissions by 2020 - with a minimum of 30% from in-company actions.

• 10% reduction in packaging used per tonne of product and 25% in the more highly packaged seasonal and gifting items.

• Use more environmentally sustainable forms of packaging - aim for 60% biodegradable, with 100% of secondary packaging being recyclable.?

• All 'water scarce' sites to have water reduction programmes in place.