Progress in 2007
Climate change is now widely recognised as the most critical issue facing our planet. Different weather patterns are affecting agriculture, availability of clean water and sea temperatures. This will have direct effects on our business.
In 2007 the Unilever Executive agreed a new greenhouse gas strategy. This has a three-pronged approach.
The first element is a commitment to reduce CO2 from energy in our manufacturing operations per tonne of production by 25% by 2012 (against a baseline of 2004). This builds on our performance to date, having achieved emission reductions in manufacturing of more than a third between 1995 and 2006. Reaching the 2012 target will mean a total reduction of 43% since 1995.
Secondly, we have developed a 'greenhouse gas profiling tool' to enable our R&D teams to assess whether product innovations will improve their greenhouse gas footprint. Designed in partnership with Forum for the Future, it looks at a product's footprint across its lifecycle, from sourcing to use and disposal. The index can be used across all product categories and during 2008 the tool will become available to all our product development teams.
Finally, we are exploring ways of working in partnership, in particular with our suppliers and customers. We are already involved in projects with Tesco in the UK, Wal-Mart in the US and the Carbon Disclosure Supply Chain Project and look to build further on this work in 2008.
Our carbon footprint
We estimate Unilever's total emissions of greenhouse gases from our own factories, offices, laboratories and business travel to be of the order of 4 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent a year. 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.
Energy use in manufacturing
We aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in our manufacturing processes. We do this by promoting eco-efficiency and increasing our use of renewable fuels.
During 2007 we continued to improve our energy efficiency and we also increased the proportion of energy coming from renewable sources. The proportion of energy coming from renewable sources now accounts for 15.2% of our energy use, up from 14.8% in 2006. Of this over half (8.6%) we generate ourselves on site, mainly from fuel crops and solid waste biomass. 6.6% was from national electricity grids.
In 2007, we strengthened our internal reporting on CO2 emissions and focused our reduction initiatives on the 20 sites in each region with the highest levels of emissions.
Despite this, on a like-for-like basis, the total CO2 emissions from manufacturing rose slightly, by 1% per tonne manufactured. This is largely because of changes in the energy mix used to generate the electricity we have to purchase from national grids in countries such as China, India and the USA.
We continue to work towards meeting our 25% CO2 reduction goal by 2012, by adopting more efficient power and steam generation technology and through the development of more efficient manufacturing processes. For example, in Europe we plan to install at least five combined heat and power plants to help us achieve our goal.
Site-level initiatives
At our Lipton tea gardens in Kericho, Kenya, over 95% of the energy used by the estate is from renewable sources. This comes mainly from our own hydro-electric power stations and the eucalyptus trees we grow to fuel the boilers that dry tea.
Unilever Germany's Stavenhagen factory produces potato products for more than 25 countries. In 2006, the factory sold its natural gas power facility to a specialist company which has built a more efficient combined heat and power plant using high calorific waste as fuel. Unilever has entered into a long-term fixed price contract to buy steam and electricity from the new generator. The plant was completed in August 2007 and is expected to use around 95 000 tonnes of waste a year. Moving from gas to waste will reduce annual CO2 emissions by 25 000 tonnes and contribute significantly to local and EU targets for waste disposal and greenhouse gas emissions.
Unilever Canada's Rexdale factory is the 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.
Our wider carbon footprint
Beyond our direct impacts through manufacturing, our wider carbon footprint shows energy consumption at every stage of the value chain – including the sourcing, distribution, consumption and disposal of our products.
In the supply chain
We estimate energy use in the supply of raw materials to be around ten times our own manufacturing emissions. Energy is one of the 11 indicators used to assess the sustainability of sourcing raw materials under our Sustainable Agriculture Programme. Here we seek to minimise this by using more sustainable land practices and reducing the use of nitrogen fertilisers and chemicals.
In distribution
Our products get to market via a complex transport network of road, rail and sea, although in most markets we do not own or operate any distribution vehicles ourselves. Our studies show that the impact of transport and distribution is around 4 million tonnes of CO2 a year.
Trends in manufacturing are moving towards fewer, more efficient production centres. Resulting efficiencies can lead to significant reductions in overall environmental impact. However this trend can lead to an increase in transport impacts. If the environmental benefits of centralised manufacturing are to be retained, the challenge is to make gains in the efficiency of transport systems through better use of logistics planning.
We have started working with customers to minimise emissions by reducing the number of vehicle movements.
We are continuing our global roll-out of climate-friendly ice cream cabinets and by the end of 2007 had around 200 000 hydrocarbon refrigerant cabinets in use.
Energy savings from concentrated detergents
Concentrated variants of our liquid detergents have met with great success. Sold in smaller bottles, that require around half the packaging, they enable energy savings in manufacturing and transportation. Launched in the US in 2006 as all Small & Mighty, similar products have now been introduced in Europe under the Persil, Surf and Omo brand names.
In consumer use
Our wider carbon footprint shows that across the whole value chain by far the most CO2 emissions occur during consumer use. This is most marked with our home and personal care brands which need energy to heat water for showering and for use in washing machines and dishwashers.
When it comes to consumer use, we can help reduce these environmental impacts through product design and formulation. Our greenhouse gas profiling tool will play an important role in this, supported by our expertise in life-cycle assessment.
We can also make a difference through our communications with consumers. We have long been involved in industry initiatives such as the International Association for Soaps, Detergents and Maintenance Products (AISE) 'Washright' initiative, which encourages consumers to wash clothes at lower temperatures. Many of our laundry detergent brands such as Omo, Surf and Persil can now be used at temperatures as low as 30 degrees centigrade.
Carbon Disclosure Project
Unilever was again ranked first in the food products sector in the Carbon Disclosure Project's Climate Disclosure Leadership Index 2007, with a score of 90%. This initiative seeks information on behalf of 315 institutional investors with a combined US$41 trillion of assets under management, on risks and opportunities presented by climate change. The index singles out companies that showed best practice in their reporting of greenhouse gas emissions and climate change strategies. We have participated in the CDP questionnaire since its launch in 2002.
If it's melted, it's ruined
Ben & Jerry's new Baked Alaska flavour is part of its European campaign to stop global warming. 15 euro cents from the sale of each tub go towards Ben & Jerry's Climate Change College. The brand plans to invest €2.4 million over 2007-2012 in reducing its impacts on climate change through initiatives covering every stage of its European production process and offsetting the remaining impact by investing in Gold Standard clean energy projects.
