16 September 2019: In advance of Climate Week NYC 2019 and the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Action Summit, Unilever announced that it has achieved 100% renewable energy in its factories, warehouses, distribution centers, offices, data facilities and research and development facilities across five continents. This achievement is a “significant step” towards Unilever’s target of becoming a carbon-neutral company before 2030.

Unilever has achieved 100% renewable energy through supporting the development of local renewable energy markets. Thirty-eight percent of the company’s grid electricity is supplied through corporate Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) and green electricity targets. Unilever has worked with partners around the world to generate renewable energy at its own sites, and uses solar power at Unilever facilities in 18 countries. When it has not been feasible to use this approach, Unilever purchased Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), which are openly-traded certificates linked to the generation of renewable energy.

In addition, Unilever invested in energy efficiency programmes, which has reduced their total energy consumption by 28%. The company emphasized that it has had no net on-costs to achieve renewable energy.

Unilever Chief Supply Chain Officer, Marc Engel, said the “climate emergency is one of the most urgent challenges we’re all facing.” He said Unilever has worked hard accelerate the delivery of its 100% renewable energy targets by securing “renewable energy contracts for our sites across five continents.” Engel expressed hope that Unilever’s announcement “will inspire further action elsewhere and help to prove that it is possible to combat the climate crisis.”

Unilever took part in the Climate Action Summit, where it advocated for the importance of limiting the global average temperature rise to 1.5°C above preindustrial levels, in line with the Paris Agreement on climate change. [Unilever Press Release]