Unilever Will Eliminate All Fossil Fuels In Cleaning Products To Reduce Carbon Footprint
Unilever is investing over RM4.9 billion to change both packaging and product formulations worldwide.
By Laila Zain — 08 Sep 2020, 11:52 AM
Unilever will replace 100% of the carbon derived from fossil fuels in its cleaning and laundry products with renewable or recycled carbon within 10 years
Known for many household brands such as Persil, Sunlight, and Cif to name but a few, Unilever's move is set to transform the industry.
Championing sustainability, Unilever's 'Clean Future' includes groundbreaking innovation that will change the way the world's most well-known cleaning and laundry products are created, manufactured, and packaged.
The plan will replace 100% of all carbon derived from fossil fuels in its cleaning and laundry products with captured, natural, and recycled carbon by 2030.
Unilever is investing €1 billion (over RM4.9 billion) to eliminate fossil fuels in the manufacturing of its products
The Clean Future campaign seeks to change both packaging and product formulations at the scale of global brands to reduce their carbon footprint worldwide.
The investment will finance biotechnology research, greenhouse gas and waste utilisation, and low carbon chemistry. All of which will move the company away from fossil fuel derived chemicals.
Additionally, funding will also be channeled into the research and development of biodegradable and water-efficient product formulations. This will halve the use of virgin plastic by 2025.
The aim is to reduce the company’s global carbon footprint and achieve net-zero emissions from its products by 2039.
Most cleaning and laundry products available today contain chemicals made from fossil fuel feedstocks, a non-renewable source of carbon
The chemicals used in Unilever’s cleaning and laundry products make up the greatest proportion of their carbon footprint (46%) across their life cycle.
This initiative alone is expected to reduce the carbon footprint of the product formulations by up to 20%.
"As an industry, we must break our dependence on fossil fuels, including as a raw material for our products," said Peter ter Kulve, Unilever’s President of Home Care
“We’ve seen unprecedented demand for our cleaning products in recent months and we are incredibly proud to play our part, helping to keep people safe in the fight against COVID-19," ter Kulve continued.
"But that should not be a reason for complacency. We cannot let ourselves become distracted from the environmental crises that our world – our home – is facing. Pollution. Destruction of natural habitats. The climate emergency. This is the home we share, and we have a responsibility to protect it.”
Central to Clean Future is Unilever's 'Carbon Rainbow', a novel approach to diversify the carbon used in its product formulations
Non-renewable, fossil sources of carbon (identified in the Carbon Rainbow
as black carbon) will be replaced by the following:
- Captured CO2 (purple carbon),
- Plants and biological sources (green carbon),
- Marine sources such as algae (blue carbon),
- And carbon recovered from waste materials (grey carbon).
The sourcing of carbon under the Carbon Rainbow will be governed and informed by environmental impact assessments, ensuring there is no unintended pressures on land-use.
Visit the Clean Future website to find out more about Unilever’s Carbon Rainbow approach, Clean Future, and the projects that it is funding
