In Denmark we have the saying that our major environmental problems arise from bøf, bil and bolig (beef, cars and homes).  This also rings true in the household care industry, where we are well aware that a huge portion of our environmental footprint is made by consumers in the home – and that much of our environmental improvement potential is in the hands of consumers. For environmentalists this is bad news, as consumer behavior can be much more difficult to change than manufacturing processes that give us more direct control.

We can find inspiration in the fact that this challenge does not belong to the household care industry alone and that household cleaning rituals can be changed at the consumer level. I like the idea that in our industry we can focus on the low-hanging fruit like changes we can easily make to help consumers – and leave the big, structural changes in society to other actors. And I believe that a sustainability agenda in the household care industry is extremely important.

As an industry, we’ve been focused on energy and CO₂ emissions, as this has proven to build our bottom lines and support cer ...