We're facing a biodiversity crisis

We want to be a regenerative business that adds value to society and the environment. We’re combatting climate change with ambitious plans to reduce our own carbon footprint. This means being more resource efficient with energy and water, using more renewable energy, and designing for a lower carbon economy – for our sites, our products and our suppliers.

We know that our health and our planet’s health are connected - you can read more about this in our Sustainability Ambitions. Protecting and restoring our biodiversity is crucial for the future of both people and the planet.

Did you know? We’re facing the loss of one million animal and plant species.

If we’re going to address this crisis, we need to agree on global targets. And the time to act is now.

What are we doing about it?

The world is now waking up to the scale of the problem. We’ve formed partnerships with leading industry bodies, to help guide our response in creating a cleaner, healthier world. And together, we’re achieving great things.

• We rely on healthy ecosystems in order to produce sustainable rubber used in our Durex products, palm oil used in Dettol and selected fragrances for lots of our products – from Air Wick to Harpic. That’s why we’ve partnered with Nature Based Insetting at Oxford University in order to assess our ecosystem impacts, set meaningful targets and build a roadmap to deliver them.
• Our partnership with Oxford University means we are at the forefront of developing an industry leading, evidence-based approach to mapping biodiversity targets - not only to protect ecosystems but to strengthen them by developing nature-based solutions and creating opportunities for carbon insetting. Want to know more about our work with Oxford University? Watch this space!
• But we can’t wait to have all the answers and we all need to play our part. That’s why we’re already working in partnership with WWF to protect and regenerate biodiversity. Through our global partnership with WWF we’re restoring freshwater ecosystems and wildflower habitats through our brand partnerships with Air Wick and Finish.

How can dolphins tell us about the health of our rivers?

Our partnership with WWF has a focus on protecting freshwater sources, restoring 2,100km of habitat in the Amazon and Ganges rivers in Brazil and India.

One of the ways we’re doing this is through the support of river dolphins - which are a key indicator of river health. If the dolphin population is thriving, then the overall state of the freshwater system is also likely flourishing. But, if the population is on the decline, then it’s considered a red flag for the ecosystem as a whole.

An expedition recently took place along the Tapajos River in Brazil, carrying out a survey of the river’s dolphin population. This is an extremely important project to establish the population trend and better understand what we can do to support this species.

And this expedition was particularly special as it was attended by three Reckitt Brazil colleagues.

‘Age of Change’: coming up...

A BBC Global documentary will go live on 5th July exploring the inspirational activity WWF and Air Wick have been delivering to restore the migration path of Monarch butterflies in Mexico. In just one year, together with local communities, 18 million trees have been planted. By doing this, we’re protecting pollinators in Mexico which are crucial to ensuring biodiversity as well as a resilient supply chain for our fragrances.

Don’t miss it!

You can find out more about our Sustainability Ambitions here.