Consumer goods company Unilever has announced that all its facilities and offices located across five continents are now completely powered by renewable grid electricity.
The company noted that 38% of clean energy was sourced through corporate power purchase agreements (PPAs) and green electricity tariffs.
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By GlobalDataIn scenarios where Unilever could not enter into such agreements it bought Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) linked to renewable electricity generation.
Unilever chief supply chain officer Marc Engel said: “The climate emergency is one of the most urgent challenges we’re all facing. Our team have worked hard to secure renewable energy contracts for our sites across five continents, accelerating the delivery of our 100% renewable energy targets.
“Of course, there is more work to do, but we hope that today’s announcement will inspire further action elsewhere and help to prove that it is possible to combat the climate crisis and hold global warming at 1.5°C.”
The latest development is expected to support Unilever’s objective to become a carbon-neutral company before 2030.
To achieve this target, the company worked along with its partners across the globe to generate renewable electricity at its sites and use the clean energy to power its facilities across 18 countries.
Additionally, the company invested in energy efficiency programmes, which led to a 28% reduction in total energy consumption, while offsetting carbon emissions by 50% per tonne of production since 2008.
The Climate Group RE100 head Sam Kimmins said: “Congratulations to Unilever, achieving 100% renewable electricity across five continents means the company is quickly advancing on its RE100 goal as it works to become a ‘carbon neutral’ company by 2030.
“Through its membership of RE100, global companies like Unilever are sending a strong demand signal to the few markets where renewables remain harder to access. They want to be able to source renewable electricity locally at an affordable price, and they want to do that now.”
