Increasing human activity is putting our world at risk. Ever-expanding industrialisation and urbanisation have led to increased greenhouse gas emissions resulting in global warming, more frequent weather extremes, rising sea levels, and other environmental, economic and human costs. These factors combine to create environments where certain pest populations are thriving, increasing risks to public health and business operations.
As the world’s leading commercial pest control company, we have a responsibility to take action across our business and help our customers deliver on their own sustainability goals with confidence and drive change in our industry.
We align our activities with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and are committed to driving positive change across every aspect of our supply chain and operations to achieve net zero emissions by 2040. Our manifesto for achieving net zero covers five key pledges.
We are finding better ways to prevent, detect and target infestations, wherever possible, using non-toxic treatments.
We are committed to reducing the use of harmful chemicals in pest control. With an expanding range of non-toxic options, new proofing products and digitally connected solutions.
Our Flexi Armour Rodent Proofing range is a highly effective proofing solution, providing impenetrable barriers to entry. It reduces the potential risks of rodent infestations within premises, which in turn reduces the need to use rodenticides to control rodents.
We offer a range of heat treatments that avoid the use of traditional chemicals, such as Entotherm, which uses the targeted application of heat to eliminate all life stages of insects in one treatment.
PestConnect provides a real-time warning system for rodent monitoring and control. It offers 24x7 effective monitoring and fast control of rodent pests, saving customers time and money dealing with costly infestations. With this solution, we’ve reduced rodenticide usage by up to 40%.
We deliver our services and design every new innovation we bring to market with sustainability firmly in mind.
We’re constantly innovating to bring to market new products, such as the energy-saving Lumnia range of LED fly control units, that enable more effective pest control with less environmental impact. We’re applying our expertise to outsmart pests with more energy-efficient and recyclable solutions that use fewer resources and are less reliant on chemicals.
Our global centre for science and innovation is at the forefront of behavioural science and observational research uncovering new, more effective ways to identify and target pests without harming the environment. 100% of the pipeline solutions we are bringing to market will have a positive impact on our environmental performance.
Lumnia is the world’s first range of insect traps to use LEDs to attract and control flying insects hygienically. It has 62% lower carbon emissions than traditional fluorescent bulbs and has delivered electricity savings for our customers equivalent to over 38,700 tonnes* CO2.
Rodent Tracking Gel is a monitoring solution that aids the detection of rodent infestations by tracking their movement using UV light. This enables more targeted treatments with less risk of waste and more efficient use of pesticides.
We’re analysing all aspects of our operations, workplaces and supply chain, to build a culture of sustainability throughout the company to ensure we’re proactively taking measures to reduce our environmental impact.
Sustainability is at the heart of everything we do. Whether it’s transitioning to electric vehicles across our fleet, switching to green energy tariffs across our properties or choosing to source from sustainable suppliers, we’re taking proactive steps to deliver on our net zero commitments.
The company is a member of EV100 – a global initiative bringing together companies committed to accelerating the transition to electric vehicles. Our goal is to have the majority of our UK and European fleet made up of ultra-low-emission vehicles (ULEVs) by 2030, and to achieve 100% globally by 2040.
We’re making the switch to cleaner energy. By 2030, 90% of our sites across the UK and Europe will be powered by renewable energy - and we’re already on our way, with a 58% improvement in energy efficiency over the last five years.
Our aim is to measure and reduce the waste we generate as a business to zero landfill and incineration while increasing the use of recycled materials in our products and across our operations.
The Eradico rodent bait box is made entirely from recycled polymer, which will replace about 377 tonnes of virgin plastic in our supply chain per year.
We are taking action to increase battery recycling. In the Pacific region, 40 tonnes have been diverted from landfills, and in Europe, 50% of batteries are being recycled.
We build long-term partnerships that support greater biodiversity and benefit the environment for future generations.
As a leader in global pest control, we recognise the importance of acting responsibly and using our resources, scale, and influence to proactively protect the environment. That’s why we’ve established relationships with environmental charities and communities across the world to support their work in preventing deforestation, promoting biodiversity, and fighting the climate crisis.
Through our partnership with environmental charity Cool Earth, we’re supporting communities in Papua New Guinea, Mozambique and Cameroon, to protect 42,000 hectares of rainforest, equivalent to 8 million tonnes of stored carbon.
In Cameroon, community outreach sessions have helped to reduce the number of small-scale illegal timber exploiters from 28 to only eight and significantly reduced the loss of valuable tree species such as obeche, mahogany and sapele.
Our partnership with Australia’s Rainforest Rescue is helping protect and restore Daintree Rainforest, the world’s most ancient and diverse rainforest. We’ve contributed to planting over 19,000 trees in the Buy Back and Protect Forever Project.
We seek accreditation and certification by independent organisations covering a wide range of our business operations so we can verify our efforts at sustainability. These include:
Accreditation and membership of the Dow Jones Sustainability Europe Index and World Index and scored 75% for climate strategy (86 percentile) and 72% for operational eco-efficiency (82 percentile)
Rentokil Initial is a member of the FTSE4Good Index
Rentokil Initial placed 10th out of 568 companies for ESG, covering a broad analysis focused on areas such as workplace, social responsibility, finance, diversity, governance and environment
Rentokil Initial placed 3rd out of 103 companies in our sector and 66th in the overall assessment of 4963 companies
The Company was ESG rated as ‘AA’ by MSCI, as Prime by ISS ESG and as ‘low risk’ for ESG by Sustainalytics
In 2020, the Lumnia range of fly control units received the PlanetMark certification for reducing carbon emissions and removing mercury from the waste stream