Unilever: Renewable is doable: we now source 100% renewable electricity across five continents

Unilever: Renewable is doable: we now source 100% renewable electricity across five continents

Unilever advances on its RE100 goal: now sourcing 100% renewable electricity across five continents

(PRESS RELEASE) LONDON/ROTTERDAM, 16-Sep-2019 — /EuropaWire/ — Unilever announced that it is making further progress on its RE100 goal as it works to become a ‘carbon neutral’ company by 2030. As of today, Unilever is already relying on 100% renewable electricity across five continents. The company’s factories, offices, R&D facilities, data centres, warehouses and distribution centres across the world are now powered by 100% renewable grid electricity.

Some 38% of Unilever’s grid electricity is supplied through corporate Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) and green electricity tariffs. The company’s transition to renewable electricity has, as far as possible, been delivered through supporting the development of local renewable energy markets.

The rest of the electricity the company has sourced through the purchase of Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) – openly-traded certificates linked to renewable electricity generation.

Commenting on the milestone, Sam Kimmins, Head of RE100 at The Climate Group, 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.”

Unilever makes today’s announcement ahead of Unilever taking to the stage at the opening ceremony of Climate Week NYC and participating in the United Nations Secretary General’s Climate Action Summit. The company joins leaders from government and business in advocating for the importance of limiting global average temperature rise to 1.5°C – in line with the Paris Agreement.

Sourcing 100% of its electricity from renewable sources represents a major step towards its target to become a carbon neutral company before 2030. Unilever has been working with partners around the world to generate renewable electricity at its own sites and ,as of today, the company already relies on solar power at its own facilities in 18 countries.

Commenting on securing renewable energy, 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 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 Degrees Celsius. Renewable is doable.”

Today’s major milestone is a result of Unilever’s investment in energy efficiency programmes. Thanks to those investments the company was able to reduce the total energy consumption by 28%, and to halve the carbon emissions per tonne of production since 2008, as well as to introduce on-site solar electricity generation.

Furthermore, the company has incurred no net on-costs to achieve the 100% renewable electricity target. The additional costs have been counterbalanced by the savings Unilever was able to generate through mechanisms such as Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs).

Media contacts:

Unilever PLC
Unilever House
100 Victoria Embankment
London EC4Y 0DY
United Kingdom
Press-Office.London@Unilever.com

Unilever NV
Weena 455
3013AL Rotterdam
www.unilever.nl
+31 (0) 10 217 4000
mediarelations.rotterdam@Unilever.com

SOURCE: Unilever