Personal care giant Unilever has taken a step forward in its attempts to boost its environmental credentials. The conglomerate, whose beauty brands include Dove, Tresemmé and Simple, has announced that all of its factories, offices, R&D facilities, data centers, warehouses and distribution centres globally are now powered by 100% renewable grid electricity.
"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," said Marc Engel, Chief Supply Chain Officer at Unilever, in a statement. "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."
The move is part of Unilever’s wider aim to become a carbon neutral company by the year 2030. The group has achieved this latest step by collaborating with partners to generate renewable electricity at its own sites, using solar power at its facilities in 18 countries. The company has invested heavily in energy efficiency programs, leading to a reduction in total energy consumption of 28%, and halving its carbon emissions per tonne of production since 2008.
Unilever is not alone in aiming to become more environmentally-friendly - in January, the personal care conglomerate Procter & Gamble joined forces with several major companies to launch the ‘Alliance to End Plastic Waste’ (AEPW), which tackles plastic waste levels in the ocean, while REN Clean Skincare - which belongs to the Unilever Prestige business unit - has pledged to become completely "zero waste" by the year 2021.
Actually, sustainability has emerged as a major issue in the cosmetics industry and most ingredients and packaging suppliers, and brands, are working on solutions to reduce their environmental impact.
