UNILEVER SPENDS €1B ON ‘CLEAN FUTURE’
Group aims to shift away from fossil fuelderived chemicals in product formulations
UNILEVER has allocated €1 billion for the “Clean Future” programme to finance biotechnology research, carbon and waste utilisation and low carbon chemistry.
The goal is to drive the transition away from fossil fuel-derived chemicals, said the cleaning and laundry products manufacturer.
Unilever said it will replace 100 per cent of the carbon derived from fossil fuels in its cleaning and laundry product formulations with renewable or recycled carbon.
This move will transform the sustainability of global cleaning and laundry brands, including OMO (Persil), Sunlight, Cif and Domestos.
The programme was designed by Unilever’s home care division to change the way cleaning and laundry products were created, manufactured and packaged.
The initiative is expected to reduce the carbon footprint of the product formulations by up to 20 per cent.
Unilever said Clean Future is unique in its intent to embed the circular economy principles into both packaging and product formulations at the scale of global brands to reduce their carbon footprint.
The company said the investment will also be used to create biodegradable and water-efficient product formulations and halve the use of virgin plastic by 2025, while supporting the development of brand communications that make these technologies appealing to consumers.
The Clean Future investment is an addition to Unilever’s €1 billion “Climate and Nature” fund, which is focused on creating affordable cleaning and laundry products with a significantly lower environmental impact.
Clean Future will also be a critical step towards Unilever ’s pledge of net zero emission from its products by 2039.
The chemicals used i n Unilever’s cleaning and laundry
products make up the greatest proportion of their carbon footprint (46 per cent) across their life cycle.
Therefore, by transitioning away from fossil fuel-derived chemicals in product formulations, the company will unlock novel ways of reducing the carbon footprint of some of the world’s biggest cleaning and laundry brands.
Unilever’s home care division president Peter ter Kulve said in a statement Clean Future is the company’s vision to radically overhaul its business to break its dependence on fossil fuels.
“We have 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.”
Unilever home care Southeast Asia vice-president and global head of fabric sensations category Deepak Subramanian said Covid-19 has brought to the forefront the importance of hygiene as a first line of defence against infections and illnesses.
“We are proud to play our role to keep people safe, but we are also focused on ensuring we protect the environment too.”