How Unilever Aims To Become Fully Powered By Renewables

Global consumer goods company Unilever is targeting total renewables coverage of its power demand by joining the Climate Group’s 24/7 Coalition.

The announcement was made at the Climate Group’s Opportunity Summit taking place during London Climate Action Week.

Rianne Buter, Global Head of Sustainability at Unilever, told delegates that the coalition can provide a platform for sharing ideas and collaboration.

“At Unilever, we are incredibly proud of the progress we've made so far on renewable energy. Last year, we achieved 85% renewable energy across our operations. That, of course, is also a key driver of our Scope 1 and 2 decarbonisation,” says Rianne.

“But we also know that the next phase of the transition requires us to go much further. And many of you in this room will share that joining this coalition represents the next step, or at least part of it.

“It's about building upon our existing strategy to develop a much more granular understanding of when and where carbon-free electricity will be available and aligning our electricity procurement approach and demand more closely to the reality that matters.

“Because in many markets, particularly here in Europe, the challenge is no longer simply about adding more renewable capacity, but rather about making sure that it's available at the right time and at the right place.”

Other companies joining the coalition include: AirTrunk, AstraZeneca, Cathay Financial Holdings, Cathay Life, Google, Princeton Digital Group and Shree Cement. 

Typically, businesses that cover their power usage with renewables using power purchase agreements or renewable energy certificates aggregate the coverage over a set time period, usually a year.

But, at any moment in time, a business may be drawing fossil-fuel-generated electricity to power its operations.

By matching demand to generation on an hourly basis, a business can claim to be fully powered by renewables.

But, as Rianne explains, this is a complex challenge to overcome.

“I think we all know that we cannot do this alone. Companies like Unilever require significant electricity demand across many of our markets,” she says.

“That means renewable generation in the right locations, at the right times and alongside storage and flexibility.

“It requires policymakers, grid operators and market specialists to enable the right market rules, the infrastructure and also the data systems.

“It requires energy suppliers and developers to respond with new offerings and it requires more companies to step forward, to build at scale, to share standards, but also to share our confidence. And that is why we are joining this coalition today."

The firm wants to completely remove absolute operational Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030 from a 2015 baseline and see a 42% absolute reduction in its Scope 3 energy and industrial greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, compared with a 2021 baseline.

“Today our message is very clear," Rianne concludes. "Progress is happening, but it needs to accelerate. And to do that we need many, many more organisations to explore the scaling up of 24/7 carbon-free electricity.

"This coalition is a step in the right direction to achieve this acceleration.”