Our approach
2006 was the year when climate change became widely recognised as the most critical challenge facing our planet. Different weather patterns are affecting agriculture, availability of clean water and sea temperatures. This will have direct effects on our business.
We have been monitoring our own energy consumption and since 1995 have achieved real reductions. In 2006, marking the seriousness of the threat, we convened a Greenhouse Gases Working Group of managers from across the business to develop a formal strategy on climate change.
The Group started to map our wider carbon footprint, taking the broadest definition of our impacts, so that our new strategy addresses more than just our own greenhouse gas emissions.
The team estimated Unilever's total emissions of greenhouse gases from our own factories, offices, laboratories and business travel to be in the order of 4 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent a year.
Our impacts
As a manufacturing company we have impacts through our use of energy and the resulting CO2 emissions. Our environmental performance reporting system measures and monitors our energy use and emissions of CO2. A combination of annual target setting and on-site initiatives has reduced CO2 emissions in our own manufacturing operations by more than 30% over the past decade in absolute terms. During 2006, our CO2 emissions from energy per tonne of production decreased by 4.2% (see Eco-efficiency for our 12–year performance figures).
We also source a proportion of our energy from renewable sources − 14.8% of the energy we used in 2006, of which 8.2% we generated ourselves and 6.6% was from national grids. In 2006 we conducted a review with the World Resources Institute to improve our understanding of renewable energy technology options.
Our actions in this area have received external recognition. For example, in 2006, we were ranked first in the food and retail sector in the Carbon Disclosure Project's Climate Leadership Index for best practice in greenhouse gas emissions and climate change strategies.
On business travel, Ben & Jerry's is leading the way with 100% of its travel-related emissions being offset through renewable energy initiatives in India and South Africa.
In 2006 Unilever decided to install leading-edge video-conferencing facilities in five of our main regional offices. We are setting stretching objectives to reduce the total cost of business travel.
Good practice in energy saving
Unilever Canada's Rexdale factory was recently featured in a government-sponsored advertisement as an example of good practice in reducing energy consumption. Rexdale is our leading manufacturing facility for oils and margarines in North America. Since 1999, it has implemented 128 energy-saving initiatives, leading to a reduction of 23 000 tonnes in greenhouse gas emissions, and estimated cost savings of €3.3 million.
One example of our on-site initiatives is Project Electra, which aims to save energy at our factories in Latin America. Since the launch of the project in 2006 a 4.9% reduction in energy per tonne of production in Latin America has already been achieved, primarily through sharing best practice.
At our Lipton tea gardens in Kericho, Kenya, 96% of the energy used by the estate is from renewable sources. This comes mainly from our own hydroelectric power stations and the eucalyptus trees we grow to fuel the boilers that dry tea.
Leadership & advocacy
Unilever UK's National Manager was one of 14 business leaders from the UK's Corporate Leaders Group on Climate Change who met Prime Minister Tony Blair in May 2006 to urge action to tackle climate change. At this meeting business leaders highlighted seven areas where government and business might work together, including strengthening emissions trading schemes, supporting low-carbon technologies, improving energy efficiency in the commercial sector and stimulating consumer action on climate change.
Our wider carbon footprint
Our wider carbon footprint shows that across the whole value chain – including the sourcing, manufacture, distribution, consumption and disposal of our products – most CO2 emissions occur during consumer use. This is most marked in our home and personal care products which need energy to heat water and power washing machines, tumble driers and dishwashers. Our wider footprint can amount to between 30 and 60 times as much as our own emissions, depending on assumptions made about how consumers use our products, for example, the use of hot water in personal and laundry washing.
We can help reduce these environmental impacts through product design and formulation. For example, many of our laundry detergent brands, such as Omo, Surf and Persil, can now be used at temperatures as low as 30 degrees centigrade. We intend to incorporate a 'greenhouse gas index' into our product development process, to assess, and where possible reduce, impacts during product use.
We also take a leadership role in industry bodies that can influence consumer behaviour. Within AISE (International Association for Soaps, Detergents and Maintenance Products), Unilever has been actively involved in sustainability campaigns, such as Washright, launched in 1998 to encourage consumers to wash at lower temperatures and use full washes. In 2006, we participated in the launch of AISE's new Save Energy and Water Campaign to promote sustainable dishwashing.
We have also made estimates of greenhouse gas emissions in our raw material supply chain. We estimate this is around 10 times our own emissions. Energy is one of the 11 indicators used to assess the sustainability of sourcing under our Sustainable Agriculture Programme.
Distribution of our products to retailers takes many forms around the world. In most markets, we do not own or operate any distribution vehicles ourselves. We have started to work with major customers to minimise emissions, primarily by reducing the number of vehicle movements. We continue to work to reduce the impacts of refrigeration required for storing our ice cream.
Unilever's carbon footprint
We have attempted to estimate the greenhouse gas emissions associated with sourcing, manufacture, distribution, consumer use and disposal of Unilever products worldwide. These are represented below.
*Includes third-party manufacturing.
Our wider carbon footprint is more difficult to quantify the further away the emissions occur from Unilever's direct operational control.
Biofuels
We support the use of renewable energy from sustainable sources to help combat climate change. We are concerned, however, that promotion of 'first generation' biofuels from agricultural crops may destabilise world food supply and increase local food shortages. This has an impact on our business.
Working in partnership
We are participating in Refrigerants, Naturally!, a multi-stakeholder initiative which aims to promote HFC (hydrofluorocarbon)-free refrigeration technologies. As part of our commitment, we are replacing our point-of-sale ice cream freezer cabinets with more energy efficient and climate-friendly hydrocarbon (HC) refrigerants. By the end of 2006 we had replaced more than 100 000 cabinets, the majority of which are in Europe. In 2007 we aim to roll this initiative out further in Latin America and Asia where we have trials under way.
Ben & Jerry's Climate Change College, a scheme launched in partnership with the polar explorer Marc Cornelissen and WWF, continues to train 18-to-25-year-olds to campaign on climate change in their schools, workplaces and homes. In 2006 six young people were selected for the programme from the UK, Netherlands, Germany and Ireland.
