Xerox reaches carbon-reducing targets 'six years early'

Xerox, the global document management company, has reached its 2012 target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions six years ahead of schedule, the firm has announced.

Since 2002 the US-based business has cut its emissions by 18 per cent, topping the ten per cent target it had previously hoped to achieve by 2012.

In a statement the firm claimed this reduction saw them prevent 87,000 tones of carbon emissions in 2006, an amount equal to taking 18,000 cars off the road.

"Long before it was popular to do so, Xerox ranked sustainability high on its list of priorities and led the industry in innovative ways to reduce waste and conserve energy," said Patricia Calkins, vice president of environment, health and safety at Xerox.

"This deep knowledge, along with our well-defined processes, contributed to our success in exceeding greenhouse gas reduction targets six years ahead of our goal," she added.

In the wake of these results, the company has now set a fresh goal of achieving a 25 per cent reduction in carbon emissions from its business operations by 2012.