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At COP21 Prince Charles lauded Unilever's achievements in deforestation, as he expressed his hope that politicians and businesses were starting to act on the need to protect forests.
And in the run up to the Paris summit, the Dutch conglomerate and maker of Dove, furthered its position as one of the world leaders in sustainability by announcing its intention to become carbon positive by 2030.
To acheive this, it has set a number of new targets, including a commitment to source 100% of its energy across its operations from renewable sources by 2030 and eliminate coal from its energy mix by 2020.
Notably, it has put a deadline on its Unilever Sustainable Living Plan ambition of sourcing 100% renewable energy for the first time.
Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever commented: “The reality is, if we don’t tackle climate change we won’t achieve economic growth. This is an issue for all businesses, not just Unilever. We all have to act. Runaway climate change could wipe out development gains of the last century in little more than a generation. The World Bank now estimates that climate change could push more than 100 million additional people back into poverty by 2030. This is not acceptable for governments, business, civil society and humanity as a whole.”
“A high level of ambition is needed from Paris, which will act as a strong signal to investors. We also need to see businesses doing more to tackle climate change in their own operations and encouraging world leaders to be bold. We must seize the business opportunities presented by the green economy to make sure the Paris commitments are met, or even better, exceeded.”
