The consumer goods giant Unilever has pledged recently to eliminate all the carbon derived from fossil fuels in its cleaning and laundry products by 2030. It will, rather, use renewable or recycled carbon, replacing petrochemicals with ingredients made from plants, and marine sources such as algae.
Sunlight, Omo, and Cif are some of the cleaning products by Unilever.
This initiative is part of the ‘Clean Future’ campaign by Unilever, which aims to “fundamentally change the way that some of the world’s best known cleaning and laundry products are created, manufactured and packaged.” It also seeks to bring about great cleaning results for consumers with products that have a low environmental impact.
Unilever, headquartered in London, is investing 1 billion euros in this green initiative, which also seeks to fund research to create biodegradable and water-efficient products.
The chemical components used in the cleaning products of Unilever contribute to significant proportion of their carbon footprint across their entire life cycle – about 46 per cent. This innovative plan will decrease the carbon footprint of the product formulations by up to 20 per cent.
Peter ter Kulve, Unilever’s President of Home Care, explained the move, “Clean Future is our vision to radically overhaul our business. As an industry, we must break our dependence on fossil fuels, including as a raw material for our products. We must stop pumping carbon from under the ground when there is ample carbon on and above the ground if we can learn to utilise it at scale.”
This move is a significant step in helping Unilever reach its pledge of net zero emissions from its products by 2039.
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