Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability (CRS )

CRS is a pillar of our overall business strategy and an integral part of ensuring our success. This year, we have stepped up our commitment, developing a set of goals and targets to achieve by the year 2020 – what we are calling "Commitment 2020."

In 2007, we set our five strategic CRS focus areas and confirmed these with our CRS Board of Directors Committee and our key stakeholders. They agreed that these are the areas in which we can make the greatest environmental and social contributions.

These areas are energy conservation/climate change, water stewardship, sustainable packaging/recycling, product portfolio/well-being, and diverse and inclusive culture. They are linked to our three business priorities that are part of our Global Operating Framework.

We have made considerable progress toward achieving our targets and embedding CRS into our business. In 2008, we made an investment of US$34.8 million on capital projects in our three environmental focus areas. However, water scarcity, climate change, and the rapid depletion of natural resources are becoming increasingly serious global issues and have the potential to affect our ability to operate. To meet some of the challenges ahead, we know we must step up our efforts.

We believe it is now time to set more demanding goals and targets as well as a timeframe in which to achieve them. In early 2009, we held a CRS Environmental Summit, bringing together the top 250 senior leaders of our company, our CRS Board of Directors Committee, and external sustainability experts to help us redefine our goals and establish a clear roadmap to achieving them by the year 2020 — what we are calling “Commitment 2020.” We are now establishing a cost-benefit analysis process to prioritize our CRS investments, looking at the quantitative environmental impacts, costs, and reputational or qualitative issues. This will help us allocate funding effectively within and among our five strategic focus areas to ensure we meet our targets.