Our Commitment
Halve the greenhouse gas impact of our products across the lifecycle by 2030.1
OUR PERFORMANCE
In 2015, our greenhouse gas impact per consumer use increased by around 6%† since 2010.
OUR PERSPECTIVE
Our manufacturing greenhouse gas (GHG) impacts continue to reduce. In 2015 our factory sites reduced CO2 from energy by 39%† per tonne of production in 2015 compared to 2008.
The GHG impact of our products has nevertheless still risen by 6%† since 2010. Underlying sales growth over the same period was 26%, so it is encouraging to see that we are indeed decoupling our value chain GHG impacts from our business growth.
By the end of 2015 we had reduced our global use of phosphates across our laundry powders by 90%. This has lowered GHG emissions by up to 50% per consumer use.
The increase in GHG emissions per consumer use however is mainly driven by our Personal Care business which has expanded in hair and shower products via acquisitions. Over 60% of our value chain GHG footprint comes from consumer use, primarily from heated water for showering, which is more difficult to influence. So we have realised that we will not achieve our ambition by 2020.
However, we remain committed to a full value chain approach and to decoupling our greenhouse impacts from our growth because a full value chain approach most meaningfully reflects the true impact of our business.
Since we launched our Plan in 2010, we have learnt a lot about the areas we can influence and those we cannot, and which areas need wider action from other players, in particular the need for consumers to shift to renewable energy.
As a result of this learning, in 2015 we sharpened our strategy and refined our targets. We have decided to extend our GHG halving commitment to 2030. Three of our underpinning targets2 repeat the actions we are taking as part of this halving goal so we have therefore decided to report progress on these as part of our halving goal rather than separately.
We have also set new targets to become ‘carbon positive’ in our operations by 2030. This includes sourcing 100% of our total energy from renewable sources by 2030 and extends to making surplus renewable energy available to the markets and communities where we operate.
We are also seeking to create transformational change. In the run up to the UN Climate Change conference in Paris (COP21) in 2015, Unilever was part of the B Team’s call for net zero GHG emissions globally by 2050.
