Philips smashes sustainability targets

Electronics giant Philips today announced it generated almost a third of its revenue from "green products" last year, reaching its target for sales of energy efficient and environmentally friendly technologies three years ahead of schedule.

The company reported it had generated 31 per cent of revenue from "green products" in 2009, and was set to achieve its target of investing €1bn (£878m) in the development of green technologies before the end of this year.

It also said that it was well positioned to meet its target of improving operational energy efficiency by 25 per cent.

The company classifies products as green using an internal scoring system that analyses their energy efficiency, packaging, hazardous substances, weight, recycling and disposal, lifetime reliability. For a product to be regarded as " green" it has to boast a better score, by at least 10 per cent, in one or more of the metric areas when compared with a competitor equivalent or predecessor product.

Rudy Provoost, chairman of Philips' Sustainability Board and chief executive of the company's lighting division, said the fact targets set out in 2007 had been reached in around half the time scheduled "shows that sustainability truly is a driving factor in Philips' business strategy".

The announcement came as Philips debuted its latest EcoVision5 strategy, featuring a range of new environmental targets for 2015 including an eye-catching commitment to improve the energy efficiency of its overall product portfolio by 50 per cent.

The target is expected to be achieved in large part through the rollout of energy efficient LED lighting technologies across the company's flagship lighting portfolio.

Philips also upgraded its target for green product sales to account for half of all sales by 2015, and said that it would aim to double the collection and recycling of its end-of-life products, as well as the amount of recycled materials used in Philips products by 2015.

"Given the need for ambitious approaches in this area, we will continue to set such targets and to deliver upon them," said Provoost.