Whirlpool's greenhouse gas emission target focuses not only on reducing the emissions from operations, but also on the emissions created by an appliance during its in-home use, which is generally 15 to 20 times higher than during its production, distribution or disposal life cycle phases. Some of the company's most successful and highly sought after products also are the most environmentally friendly. In large part because. Reducing energy, water and fuel usage in the operational side of the business has a positive impact on the environment, as well as on business costs.

In addition to Whirlpool Corporation's GHG reduction target, the company also has taken the following actions (which were not part of the original target when it was set):

North American Supply Chain Efforts

Whirlpool Corporation's North American supply chain group is currently in the midst of a multi-year effort to reduce fuel usage and greenhouse gas emissions associated with the shipment of products. In 2007, Whirlpool joined the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's SmartWay Transport Program partnership, an EPA and freight industry collaboration to increase energy efficiency while reducing carbon dioxide by 2012. Eighty percent of carriers are now SmartWay certified.

Whirlpool are also working with company carriers to help them significantly decrease the amount of fuel used to transport Whirlpool's products. To do so, Whirlpool have worked to increase the number of appliances that can be transported per shipment. The company also have increased the use of intermodal transportation, which uses shipping containers that transfer smoothly from railcar to truck, to transport our products and railcars, which are more roughly three times more efficient than trucks on a ton-mile basis. All together, these efforts have enabled us to save more than 6 million gallons of diesel fuel and reduced CO2 emissions by more than 60,000 metric tons. Four of Whirlpool North America's distribution warehouses were awarded LEED Certification in early 2010. LEED is an internationally recognized green building certification system that offers four certification levels for new construction: Certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum.  The warehouse outside Atlanta, Ga., is the largest LEED Gold industrial building in the United States and the second largest globally. The design and construction of these warehouses will generate an energy savings of more than 20 percent and water efficiency of more than 40 percent.

Save Energy Now

In early 2010, Whirlpool Corporation joined the U.S. EPA's Save Energy Now LEADER initiative to reduce energy intensity in its U.S. manufacturing facilities by 25 percent or more by 2015 from a base year of 2005. Brazil GHG Protocol Program Whirlpool Latin America is a founding member of the Brazil GHG Protocol Program, which seeks to promote voluntary greenhouse gas (GHG) management by building technical and institutional capacity for GHG accounting and reporting at the organizational level. It is a partnership of Brazil's Ministry of Environment, the Brazilian Business Council for Sustainable Development, the Funda.