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Thomas Lingard , Unilever ’ s Global Director for Climate and Environment says “ Science-based targets set the basis and guiding principles for all climate action strategy at Unilever . All our brands are covered by our overall targets , and some have also set themselves individual sciencebased targets that go beyond our overarching goals .”
The firm ’ s focus for this decade and the 2030s is on reducing emissions rather than carbon offsetting and it aims to have halved the carbon footprint of its products in 2010 by 2030 . It has broken its emissions reduction targets into short , medium and long term goals . It plans to reduce operational ( Scope 1 & 2 ) emissions 70 % by 2025 from 2015 ( short term ), by 100 % by 2030 ( medium ) and full net zero by 2039 .
Unilever grabbed headlines in 2020 when it announced that it would put € 1 billion ( US $ 1.13 billion ) in a climate and nature fund . Its Chief Executive Officer Alan Jope said at the time , “ While the world is dealing with the devastating effects of the Covid-19 pandemic , and grappling with serious issues of inequality , we can ’ t let ourselves forget that the climate crisis is still a threat to all of us . Climate change , nature degradation , biodiversity decline , water scarcity – all these issues are interconnected , and we must address them all simultaneously .”
Unilever brands include Ben & Jerry ’ s ( long associated with activism ), Pukka , Axe , Cif , Comfort , Knorr , Rexona , Dove , Lux and Lifebuoy . The latter offers hygiene , cleaning and health products that help prevent disease in far-flung corners of the world .
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