Unilever has unveiled ambitious plans to become carbon positive by 2030.
The food and household goods giant said that key to achieving the target would be eliminating the use of coal from its operations and sourcing energy from renewable sources. It also aims to produce more energy than it needs from renewable sources, putting it back into the grid for the benefit of local communities.
Chief executive Paul Polman explained: '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.”
Polman, who was speaking ahead of UN climate change talks in Paris, added: '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.”
Unilever's commitment was welcomed by environmental group WWF, whose UK chief executive David Nussbaum said: 'This is welcome news from one of the world’s biggest companies. On the eve of the UN Climate Summit in Paris it shows strong leadership from a company that can clearly see the link between sustainability and business growth.”
