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Rangarajan: Without RECs, Procter & Gamble's emissions drop was only 12%

Sinduja Rangarajan · A reality check on corporate sustainability · Nov 16, 2022 · at 6:26

Bloomberg investigative data journalist Sinduja Rangarajan discusses reporting on corporate carbon accounting discrepancies.

0:00 / 0:25exact quote · 25.9s

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“So, you know, we looked at so many companies, and, you know, for example, Procter & Gamble, you know, decided to claim that, you know, it slashed 50% of its emissions and then when you really look at, you know, how they got to that 50% reduction, then a lot of it is using renewable energy credits. But if you calculate it without the credits, then that's, like, a difference of 12%.”

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The claim, plainly

Procter & Gamble claimed a 50% emissions reduction largely through renewable energy credits, but calculating emissions without those credits shows a 12% difference.

a quote alone can be ambiguous, so this restates it with the references and context of the conversation around it resolved. AI-written; the tape below the player is the source.

Assessment

The claim accurately describes findings from corporate disclosures and the Bloomberg Green investigation published on October 31, 2022, by Ben Elgin and then-reporter Sinduja Rangarajan. Procter & Gamble publicly claimed a 52% reduction in Scope 1 and Scope 2 operational emissions between 2010 and 2020, achieving this largely via market-based accounting through the purchase of renewable energy certificates (RECs) and guarantees of origin. Analysis of P&G's CDP disclosures using location-based accounting (which measures physical grid emissions without unbundled contractual credits) demonstrated an actual reduction of approximately 12% over the same period.

P&G's Climate Transition Action Plan and 2021 Citizenship Report showed a claimed 52% reduction in Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions between 2010 and 2020 under market-based accounting, alongside purchasing 97% renewable electricity globally.
Bloomberg Green's October 31, 2022 investigation demonstrated that under location-based accounting (excluding unbundled renewable energy credits), P&G's physical grid emissions reduction over the decade was approximately 12%.

Checked against

[1] ghginstitute.org [2] pg.com [3] ghginstitute.org [4] pg.com [5] packagingeurope.com [6] devera.ai [7] dazzle-platform.com [8] cnerg.net

Procter Gamble CDP emissions reduction renewable energy certificates RECs market based location based "Sinduja Rangarajan" "renewable energy" "Sinduja Rangarajan" "Procter" Procter Gamble emissions 50 percent renewable energy credits 12 percent reveal

assessed as of 2026-09-02

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Mentioned

Procter & Gamble Renewable Energy Certificates

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Assertion Supported

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Rangarajan: Without RECs, Procter & Gamble's emissions drop was only 12%

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