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Unilever urges other companies to adopt a new “carbon rainbow” approach to moving towards renewable and recycled carbon sources from plants, air, marine sources and waste

Unilever, a manufacturer of cleaning and laundry products, has announced that it will replace 100% of the fossil fuel carbon in its cleaning and laundry detergent formulations with renewable or recycled carbon. This step will change the sustainability of global cleaning and laundry brands such as OMO (Persil), Sunlight, Cif and Domestos.

This new goal is a core component of Unilever's 'Clean Future', a groundbreaking innovation program developed by the company's Home Care division to explore the way some of the world's best-known cleaning and laundry products are made and are made to fundamentally change. and packed.

Clean Future is unique in its intent to embed circular economy principles in both packaging and product formulations on a global brand scale to reduce their carbon footprint.

Most cleaning and laundry products available today contain chemicals derived from fossil fuels, a non-renewable carbon source. Unilever's move to renewable or recycled carbon sources for these chemicals is a conscious move away from fossil fuel economics. The first initiative of this magnitude, Clean Future, is a crucial step towards Unilever's promise not to generate any net emissions from its products by 2039.

The chemicals used in Unilever's cleaning and laundry products account for the majority of their carbon footprint (46%) over their entire life cycle. Therefore, by moving fossil fuel chemicals into product formulations, the company will open up new opportunities to reduce the carbon footprint of some of the world's largest cleaning and laundry brands. Unilever expects this initiative alone to reduce the carbon footprint of product formulations by up to 20%.

“Clean Future is our vision to radically overhaul our business. As an industry, we have to learn from brands like the seventh generation and end our dependence on fossil fuels, including as raw material for our products. We need to stop pumping carbon underground when there is plenty of carbon on and above the ground, when we can learn to use it on a large scale, ”stated Peter Ter Kulve, Unilever's President for Home Care.

"We have seen unprecedented demand for our cleaning products over the past few months and we are incredibly proud to be doing our part to keep people safe in the fight against COVID-19." But that shouldn't be a reason for complacency. We cannot allow ourselves to be distracted by the environmental crises our world – our home – is facing. Pollution. Destruction of natural habitats. The climate emergency. This is the house we share and we have a responsibility to protect it. "

Unilever is donating € 1 billion to Clean Future to fund biotechnology research, CO2 and waste recycling, and low-carbon chemistry – which will drive the transition of chemicals from fossil fuels. This investment will also be used to develop biodegradable and water efficient product formulations, cut the use of fresh plastic in half by 2025 and support the development of branding communications that make these technologies attractive to consumers.

The investment in Clean Future, in addition to Unilever's new € 1 billion Climate and Nature Fund, focuses on creating affordable cleaning and laundry products that deliver excellent cleaning results with a significantly lower environmental impact.

Clean Future is already supporting industry-leading projects around the world to transform the way chemicals are used in Unilever's cleaning and laundry products. In Slovakia, for example, Unilever works with the leading biotechnologist Evonik Industries Development of the production of rhamnolipids, a renewable and biodegradable surfactant that is already used in the Sunlight rinsing liquid in Chile and Vietnam.

In Tuticorin in southern India, Unilever sources soda – an ingredient in washing powders – which is produced using pioneering CO2 capture technology. The soda is made with the CO2 emissions from the energy used in the production process. Both technologies are to be scaled significantly as part of the program.

At the heart of Clean Future is Unilever's “Carbon Rainbow”, a novel approach to diversifying the carbon used in its product formulations. Non-renewable fossil carbon sources (identified as black carbon in the carbon rainbow) are replaced by bound CO2 (purple carbon), plants and biological sources (green carbon), marine sources such as algae (blue carbon), and carbon obtained from waste materials (gray carbon).

Carbon Rainbow sourcing is governed and informed through environmental impact assessments and works with Unilever's industry-leading sustainable sourcing programs to prevent inadvertent pressures on land use.

Tanya Steele, Managing Director of WWF UK, said: “The world must move away from fossil fuels to renewable resources that reduce pressure on our fragile ecosystems and help restore nature. These significant Unilever commitments, coupled with strong sustainable procurement, have real potential to make an important contribution to the transition to an economy that works with nature, not against it. "

“We're incredibly proud of Unilever's drive to end its reliance on fossil fuels in the development of household cleaning products in Clean Future. We have learned from each other since we were acquired by Unilever in 2016, ”said Joey Bergstein, CEO of Seventh Generation.

“The seventh generation has long pioneered harnessing the power of plants to create effective products while raising the bar for sustainable packaging in the US. It is inspiring to see the positive impact that Unilever's courageous international commitment has on the entire home care portfolio in these dimensions. "

Peter Ter Kulve, President of Unilever for Home Care, sums up: “A new bioeconomy is emerging from the ashes of fossil fuels.

“We've heard time and time again that people want more affordable sustainable products that are just as good as traditional ones. Rapid advances in science and technology enable us to do this, with the promise of exciting new benefits for the people who use our products, from ultra-mild cleaning ingredients to self-cleaning clothes and surfaces.

“Diversification of carbon sources is important in order to grow within the confines of our planet. Our suppliers and innovation partners play a crucial role in this transition. By sharing our Carbon Rainbow model, we are calling for a macroeconomic change in the way we all use carbon. "