The Digital Literature program is expected to save the printing of over 1 billion pages of literature annually from 2021 on, which equates to more than 110,000 trees saved.
In Brazil, our operations are located in three important biomes: Atlantic Forest, Cerrado and the Amazon. Our sites are surrounded by a green area of more than 370,000 square meters, which includes four rivers and two water springs and is the habitat of more than 1,370 animal species, including mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians.
In 2021, our Joinville site welcomed a group of 24 students from four different countries represented by AIESEC that visited the green area in the site and learned about biodiversity preservation and the company’s initiatives for helping to protect the environment.
The Ramos site in Mexico conducted a reforestation campaign with employees in 2021, in partnership with the nonprofit organization Apoya tu Bosque Local. Employees were invited to adopt trees, which were planted around the cities of Saltillo and Arteaga in areas that have suffered severe forest fires. In total, 713 trees were planted.
Our Cassinetta site in Italy borders the protected area of Brabbia Marsh, which is owned by Provincia di Varese and managed by LIPU (Italian League for Protection of Birds). It is qualified as a Zone with Special Protection and hosts nine species of trees, 15 species of fishes and 41 species of birds. As part of the WCM strategy, Whirlpool Corporation is connecting with public authorities and the local university to start a conservation project, aiming at helping to protect the local biodiversity.
For nearly two decades, we have steadily set and achieved Scope 1 and 2 CO2e reduction commitments. In 2021, we committed to achieve Net Zero by 2030.
We achieved a GHGs emissions reduction of 27% in Scopes 1 & 2 from 2016 to 2021 in our operations, and we plan to achieve greater reductions in emissions by continuing our strong focus on environmental and energy management, and continued focus on WCM methodologies.
Reduce Scope 3 emissions by 20% by 2030
4 Key Levels
Implementing manufacturing process improvements
Investing in renewable electricity and fuels
Promoting energy efficiency and retrofits
Defining an offset strategy for unavoidable emission
Over the past five years, 34% reduction on water consumption has been achieved globally.
Our water stewardship plan is part of the environmental management system and focuses on continuous improvement of water efficiency in our sites and supporting projects that improve water reuse and recycling.
For the past two years, the Latin America region (LAR) has been piloting a new water recirculation measure to go beyond reducing water consumption each year. In 2021, the LAR sites recirculated 98% of their water intake and captured rainwater to reduce their water intake requirements. At the Joinville site, rainwater accounts for 8% of the total water intake.
The water-saving initiatives at Whirlpool Corporation sites in Brazil were recognized with the 2021 National Water Agency (ANA) award in the category of “medium and large companies.”
Today’s average clothes washer uses 78% less energy than it did in 1992 but has 57% more capacity.
In 2021, the project team in the North America Region (NAR) identified over 380 improvement ideas and is converting these into high-value projects. One of them is an LED lighting retrofit project that, when implemented at our Cleveland, Tennessee, manufacturing site, will result in a reduction of over 2,000 metric tons of CO2eq emissions per year.
The site has also implemented a pilot program to switch to the use of hydrogen fuel cells to power 100% of its tuggers and will expand to forklifts as well.
Hydrogen fuel cell technology offers a safe, low-carbon alternative to fossil fuel and reduces the downtime and maintenance costs associated with battery-powered vehicles.
Additional building conditioning systems across plants and offices with upgraded efficient data centers resulted in annual savings of over 4,000 metric tons of CO2eq emissions and over $800,000 in utility costs.
We established a new milestone in our use of renewable energy as our first virtual power purchase agreement (VPPA) became operational in 2021. The VPPA is expected to cover approximately 50% of our electricity consumption at U.S. plants and help reduce our overall global carbon footprint in operations by nearly 16%.
In 2021, we contracted a second VPPA covering the remaining 50% of our electricity consumption, which will become operational in December of 2022.
In the U.K., all of our facilities are now 100% powered by renewable electricity generated by wind and hydro assets. We are focusing our efforts on expanding VPPAs, on-site renewables, green energy procurement and leveraging a price of carbon to assess and prioritize the projects in line with our climate impact analysis that gives us confidence we are implementing the best return on investment, while meeting our goals.
We set one of the highest circularity targets in our industry within Europe and made a pledge in our EMEA region to use an average 18% recycled plastic content by 2025.
We currently use 8% recycled plastics in our dishwashers, and we are developing solutions for our laundry products.
Sustainable Packaging
We aim to replace all expanded polystyrene (EPS) across our packaging and other disposable materials with more sustainable options.
In EMEA, we are an industry leader with EPS-free packaging solutions for our cooking products and dishwashers sold at IKEA.
Reduction of EPS packaging weight by 25% for the KitchenAid ice cream bowl.
Proposal which is currently under development for a 100% paper-based packaging design solution for our frontload washing machine products.
Internally, we have developed a scoring mechanism to holistically evaluate the various parameters of sustainable packaging, including circularity, extended producer responsibility (EPR) programs and regulatory roadmaps.
Designing durable products
We design for durability and received the Longtime® certification in France, which is the first label that identifies and enhances the value of products designed to last.
Reusing products
We aim to avoid final disposal of products through operating return centers and donations of refurbished products to charities. Additionally, we offer a water purifier subscription and refurbishment business model in Brazil.
Disposal
Over 90% of our sites have achieved Zero Waste to Landfill
We are taking steps to end the use of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in all new products
Track the use of Substances of Very High Concern (SVHCs) to identify methods for reducing our dependence on SVHCs, in particular those above 0.1% which are subject to Substances of Concern in Products (SCIP) reporting.
The global Critical Materials Management (CMM) team coordinates and monitors the Restricted Material List. Suppliers are required to adhere to our Restricted Material List and report on banned, restricted and monitored substances of concern. The Restricted Material List is woven into all in-scope supplier contracts and parts approval processes, and is updated annually to reflect new regulations and customer requirements.
In 2021, by forming close partnerships across our supply chain, we fully deployed our Product Stewardship tool globally, achieving our previously reported goal to request full material disclosure from 100% of our suppliers.
Improvements in wastewater treatment
At the Marion, Ohio site the project team identified that the on-site wastewater treatment plant was consuming a large amount of lime to treat the incoming process fluid in order to meet standards set by the municipality, which resulted in large amounts of sludge being generated.
After testing with multiple vendors and checking different technologies, the project team decided to replace lime with caustic for pH control. The new solution reduced the amount of sludge generated by 20% and completely eliminated the use of lime.
Reached commercial operation of our first Virtual Power Purchase Agreement (VPPA) that will cover approximately 50% of our electricity consumption at U.S. plants and help reduce our overall global carbon footprint in operations by nearly 16%. Additionally, contracted a second VPPA covering the remaining 50% of our electricity consumption, which will become operational in December 2022.
Converted our U.K. facilities to be 100% powered by renewable electricity generated by wind and hydro assets
Launched a Sustainable Product Playbook in 2021, including chapters on recycled plastic content in products, sustainable packaging and substances of concern in products
Launched Digital Literature pilot, saving more than 110,000 trees
Launched dishwashers and cooktops with expanded polystyrene (EPS) free packaging
Drive impact through our U.S. Racial Equality Pledge commitments to our community
Through the launch of our House+Home CSR strategy, continue our support of local community organizations and key partnerships through volunteerism and giving
Expand our work with Habitat for Humanity® to double the number of people served from the last 20 years by 2025
