Unilever has announced that it has switched to 100% renewable electricity across five different continents.
The company's factories, offices, R&D facilities, data centres, warehouses and distribution centres in these continents are now powered by 100% renewable grid electricity, it said.
'Significant Step'
The move is a 'significant step' for the consumer goods giant, which aims to become carbon-neutral before 2030.
The company said that it has supported the development of local renewable energy markets to achieve this goal.
Presently, it sources 38% of its grid electricity from corporate Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) and green electricity tariffs.
'Urgent Challenges'
Marc Engel, Chief Supply Chain Officer at Unilever, said, "The climate emergency is one of the most urgent challenges we’re all facing. Our team has 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 Degrees Celsius. Renewable is doable."
In circumstances where a PPA was not feasible, the company purchased Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) – openly-traded certificates linked to renewable electricity generation.
Energy Efficiency Programmes
Unilever has also invested in energy-efficiency programmes, which have reduced its energy consumption by 28%.
It has also halved its carbon emissions per tonne of production since 2008.
Sam Kimmins, Head of RE100 at The Climate Group, said, "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."
© 2019 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Dayeeta Das. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
