Today Royal Philips Electronics (NYSE:PHG, AEX:PHIA) reported Green Product sales of EUR 11.3 billion in 2012, marking 45% of total sales and moving the company significantly closer to its EcoVision sustainability performance targets of 2015. Healthcare drove the highest Green Product nominal sales growth with 36% and expanded its Green Product portfolio with 16 new introductions to improve patient outcomes and expand access to care, while reducing environmental impact.
This achievement underscores Philips’ continued focus on driving sustainability throughout the organization and aim to improve the health and well-being of people through innovation. “We are proud to report that today Philips improves the lives[1] of every 4th person on earth and our ambition is to grow this target to 3 billion a year by 2025 as part of our company’s vision”, said Jim Andrew, Chairman of the Sustainability Board and Philips’ Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer. “We have also made huge progress in the environmental impact of our operations and have reached our five-year carbon reduction target of 25% this year. This was primarily accomplished through energy saving programs in our major operational sites, green logistics, reduced travel and increased use of renewable energy, which we will continue to implement globally.”
In 2012 Philips invested EUR 569 million in Green Innovation, on track to reach our target of EUR 2 billion by 2015. Lighting led the way by investing over EUR 325 million in innovation towards furthering the LED revolution which aims to substantially reduce carbon dioxide emissions by switching to energy-efficient lighting.
In Consumer Lifestyle we implemented our voluntary commitment to phase out polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and brominated flame retardants (BFR) from our products, and for the first time all our espresso coffee machines launched during the year are free of these substances.
Investments in Healthcare support the increasing interest that we see in societies across the globe for green hospitals and reduced environmental impact of healthcare. This commitment was recognized by COCIR[2] in choosing Philips Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) as the front runner in the industry for energy-efficient MRI with 22% lower average energy consumption.
The Philips 2012 sustainability update is an integrated part of the Philips 2012 Annual Report, available at: www.annualreport2012.philips.com
[1] To calculate how many lives we are improving, market intelligence and statistical data on the number of people touched by the products contributing to the social or ecological dimension over the lifetime of a product are multiplied by the number of those products delivered in a year. After elimination of double counts, the number of lives improved by our innovative solutions is calculated. In 2012 we established our baseline at 1.7 billion a year.
[2] According to COCIR (European Coordination Committee of the Radiological, Electromedical and Healthcare IT Industry), the Philips MRI fleet average energy consumption in ‘off’ and ‘ready-to-scan’ mode is deemed 22% lower than the average consumption of the market fleet for 2011.
-KPA-