ESG: Colgate introduces 2025 Sustainability and Social Impact Strategy

Report focuses on driving social impact, helping millions of homes and preserving the environment

MUMBAI (India CSR): Colgate-Palmolive (India) Ltd. (Colgate India), released its first annual Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) report. Colgate India introduced their 2025 Sustainability and Social Impact Strategy that guides their approach on ESG through three focused and well-defined pillars of S-MIL-E: Driving Social Impact, Helping Millions of Homes and Preserving our Environment.

These key ambitions are supported by actionable targets, which are designed to manage both risks and opportunities for business and to bring brand purpose to life.

Mukul Deoras, Chairman, Colgate India said, “Colgate India’s ESG report provides us with an opportunity to share the progress we have achieved in this continued journey and communicate our ambitions and actions to our key stakeholders. It is inspiring to see people making conscious and responsible choices for the environment and the society at large. We are proud that our Colgate brand is in more homes than any other, which is why we believe it’s our responsibility to help the people who buy and use our products to live healthier, more sustainable lives.”

Advancing Sustainability

Colgate mapped out measurable steps towards its 2025 Sustainability & Social Impact Strategy, comprising 10 focused actions and accordingly multiple measurable targets for building a more sustainable future.

Key milestones include:

Help Children, Young people and Communities Thrive

Colgate empowered 10,000 women from underserved communities in India with Digital & Financial Literacy in FY 2021-22. Also 44,600 people, mainly women, – benefited from the water programs for communities, i.e., water accessibility, replenishment, augmentation, rainwater harvesting and Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in water stressed regions.

Design Sustainable Products

Colgate pioneered recyclable toothpaste tubes in Asia with an open-to-share technology for a circular economy. They also launched the first-ever recycled toothbrush named RecyClean and recently introduced the Colgate Keep toothbrush which has a metal handle and uses 80% less plastic. They also use 90% recyclable cartons for toothpastes and toothbrushes.

Eliminate Plastic Waste

Colgate India continues to achieve 100% of plastic waste collection under Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) every year. 26.55% of Colgate India’s plastic packaging consists of recyclable material, while 16.9% consists of recycled content. The packaging material comprises paper, out of which 99% is recycled and/or certified materials.

Driving Social Impact

Colgate is committed to inspire its people to make a difference. This is ensured by enabling holistic employee well-being and making continuous learning & development a habit.

By cultivating a work environment that embraces diversity, fosters equity and drives inclusion, Colgate encourages everyone to be their authentic selves at work.

Helping Millions of Homes

Apart from building sustainable products, Colgate holds ‘Cultivating sustainable habits for life’ close to heart. Hence, enabled cause-based campaigns in India such as Every Drop Counts, Save Water cause, Save Water Mission and Every Cup Counts, successfully reached over 100 million people.

Preserving Our Environment

With focused environment targets at the heart of our business operations, Colgate works towards accelerating action on Climate change with renewable energy such as solar and wind power, not just at their own sites but also at vendor partner sites.

Under sustainable packaging Colgate has been working on recyclable plastic and cartons across the manufacturing process. Similarly, under sustainable sourcing, 100% of new direct material suppliers are screened for environmental and social criteria.

Colgate was honored as the first company in India to have received TRUE® Zero Waste Platinum certification in 2019, for all its four manufacturing (100%) sites, from GBCI. The Sanand & Sri City manufacturing sites are LEED® Gold certified as well.

Colgate has continued to lead the oral care category in India for decades, thereby, taking care of healthy smiles all along. As part of its commitment to advance communities’ health and well-being, the Colgate Bright Smiles, Bright Futures’ oral health education initiative has reached more than 170 Mn Children and their families since its inception.