Philips Lighting Invests EUR 291 million in Green Innovation
Royal Philips Electronics have announced that solid progress has been made in its EcoVision program1 which sets sustainability performance targets for the end of 2015. Philips reported that its Green Product sales2in 2011 now total 39% and are well on track to reach the target of 50% in 2015. The Healthcare sector achieved the highest Green Product nominal sales growth with 25%, while Philips Lighting introduced over 4,000 new Green Products in 2011.
Jim Andrew, the recently appointed Chairman of the Sustainability Board and Philips’ Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer said: “Despite the challenging economic environment, sustainability continues to be an integral part of Philips’ strategy. In 2011 we invested EUR 479 million in Green Innovation3 dedicated to addressing global challenges related to care, materials and energy efficiency.”
In 2011, Philips Lighting accounted for over 60% of the total spend on Green Innovation with the investment of a record amount of EUR 291 million. Drawing on more than 100 years of experience in lighting, Philips introduced CityTouch: an online outdoor lighting management system that enables dynamic control on a city-wide scale and provides light precisely at places and at times when needed. When combined with LED lighting, CityTouch can achieve up to 70% savings in energy and up to 70% in maintenance costs compared to conventional lighting.
In other news, Philips Lighting has announced that it is the first corporate member to join the Clean Revolution Campaign. The partnership aims to speed up the global switch to LED lighting and reduce lighting energy consumption by 40% worldwide.
By 2015 Philips aims to invest EUR 2 billion in Green Innovation to accelerate sustainable business across the company’s three sectors. Philips’ EcoVision program comprises three sustainability leadership key performance indicators on ‘care’, ‘energy efficiency’ and ‘materials’ including targets for 2015:
Bringing care to people
- Target: 500 million lives touched by 2015
Improving the energy efficiency of Philips products
- Target: 50% improvement by 2015 (for the average total product portfolio) compared to 2009
Closing the materials loop
- Target: Double global collection and recycling and the amount of recycled materials in products by 2015 compared to 2009
The Philips 2011 sustainability update is an integrated part of the Philips 2011 Annual Report available at: www.philips.com/annualreport2011
Footnotes:
1- From 2012 onwards, EcoVision4 and EcoVision5 are merged into a single program labeled as EcoVision.
2- Green Products are defined as those having a better score (10%) in at least one Green Focal Area, compared to a competitor or predecessor product in the particular product family. The Green Focal Areas are: Energy efficiency, Packaging, Hazardous substances, Weight, Recycling and disposal and Lifetime reliability.
Green Product sales figures of 2011 exclude discontinued operations (e.g. TV business)
3- Green Innovation comprise all R&D activities directly contributing to the development of Green Products or Green Technologies.