Company Profile: Unilever

Unilever is implementing the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan (USLP) to reduce its environmental footprint, with goals to be carbon positive by 2030 and achieve 100% renewable electricity by 2030. While direct and indirect emissions declined 8% between 2017 and 2018, total emissions including the value chain rose by 3%. The company reports that consumer use of its products accounts for over 60% of its total greenhouse gas footprint. Unilever has achieved 100% renewable electricity across five continents and is trialling alternative fuels for transport, including HVO100 in Sweden and CNG in the US, India, and Turkey.

• Unilever has set several climate-related targets under its Sustainable Living Plan (USLP), including a commitment to be carbon positive by 2030 and a science-based target to reduce Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 100% by 2030 from a 2015 base year. It also aims to reduce product life-cycle GHG emissions by 50% per consumer use by 2030 (from a 2010 base year) and switch to 100% renewable electricity by 2030 via RE100.
• In 2018, Unilever's total greenhouse gas footprint was approximately 61 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent. While Scope 1 and 2 emissions fell by 8% between 2017 and 2018, total emissions including Scope 3 (value chain) increased by 3%. The company's analysis indicates that consumer use of products represents over 60% of the total GHG footprint, primarily due to the need for heated water in activities like showering and laundry.
• Unilever has reached its goal of 100% renewable electricity across Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and North America ahead of its 2020 global target. In 2018, 36.7% of the energy used in its manufacturing operations came from renewable resources, and 67% of the grid electricity used in manufacturing was renewable.
• The company is testing various alternative fuels for its transport fleet to reduce emissions. This includes trials of liquefied natural gas (which reduces CO2 by 11% compared to diesel), the use of compressed natural gas (CNG) in Turkey, India, and the US, and a successful trial of hydro-treated vegetable oil (HVO100) in Sweden, which can reduce CO2 emissions by up to 90%.
• Unilever is addressing deforestation and sustainable sourcing, aiming for zero net deforestation by 2020 for palm, soy, beef, and paper/board. As the world's largest buyer of palm oil (3% of global production), it is collaborating with Walmart on initiatives in Sabah, Malaysia, to certify 100% of the state's palm oil production to RSPO standards by 2025, which WWF estimates could reduce 17 million metric tonnes of CO2e by 2030.

APA

Knight, R. (2019). Company Profile: Unilever. We Mean Business Coalition. https://www.wemeanbusinesscoalition.org/blog/company-profile-unilever/

Chicago

Knight, Robin. Company Profile: Unilever. We Mean Business Coalition, 2019. https://www.wemeanbusinesscoalition.org/blog/company-profile-unilever/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Knight |first1=Robin |title=Company Profile: Unilever |publisher=We Mean Business Coalition |date=17 September 2019 |url=https://www.wemeanbusinesscoalition.org/blog/company-profile-unilever/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{knight2019company, author = {Knight, Robin}, title = {{Company Profile: Unilever}}, institution = {We Mean Business Coalition}, year = {2019}, month = sep, url = {https://www.wemeanbusinesscoalition.org/blog/company-profile-unilever/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }