Unilever Cuts CO2 Emissions, Saves €244m

19 May 2015 --- Global food manufacturer Unilever has announced that it has saved one million tonnes of carbon dioxide across its manufacturing network since 2008.

Energy consumption has been reduced by 20% - the same energy used to run 40 factories or the equivalent in carbon of over 800,000 acres of forest in one year. This has also resulted in significant cost savings of €244m.

Savings in CO2 have been delivered by a global strategy, including circular economy approaches, for example:

• In South Africa, a bi-product of the seed oil from Flora, Stork, Rama and Rondo is used as a fuel in the boilers to deliver energy back into the factory.

• In the UK Marmite factory, 18,000 tonnes of solid Marmite waste is converted into methane via an anaerobic digester which is used to provide 30% of the factory’s thermal energy.

The announcement was made ahead of Climate Week Paris (18-22 May). Unilever has been assessing its greenhouse gas emissions since 1995. Reducing energy use not only benefits the environment, but has a clear business purpose as it helps to drive down costs and means Unilever is less exposed to changes in the energy price market, improving business resilience.

Unilever will continue to reduce its energy consumption, and will switch to renewable energy where cost effective. This has been a big move in Europe and North America where all of the electricity purchased by Unilever factories is from renewable sources. Across the globe, 28% of the energy used by Unilever factories comes from renewable sources, with 39% of electrical energy produced from this source.

Unilever has a target to reach 40% renewable energy by 2020 and will work towards 100% of renewable energy in the future. Unilever has also joined RE100 campaign to accelerate the scale-up of renewable power to create a healthier and more sustainable environment. The goal is for at least 100 of the world’s most influential businesses to join RE100 and commit to going 100% renewable for electricity.

Commenting, Unilever Chief Supply Chain Officer, Pier Luigi Sigismondi said: “We’re delighted to have hit this milestone in our CO2 reduction.

“Reducing our energy consumption not only cuts our greenhouse gas emissions – the equivalent in carbon of 800,000 acres of forest each year – but also cuts our costs. Since 2008, we’ve saved over €244m by reducing our CO2 emissions.

“Across our supply chain we are increasingly turning to energy provided by wind, solar and biomass, converting heat from our manufacturing processes into power for our factories. We are on track to reach our target of 40% renewable energy by 2020.