Unilever Saves $276M, 1 Million Metric Tons CO2

Unilever says it has saved 1 million metric tons of CO2 since 2008 in its manufacturing network.

Energy consumption has been reduced by 20 percent. This has also saved the company €244 million ($275.76 million).

CO2 savings have been delivered by a global strategy, including circular economy approaches, for example:

• In South Africa, a bi-product of the seed oil from Flora, Stork, Rama and Rondo is used as a fuel in the boilers to deliver energy back into the factory.
• In the UK Marmite factory, 18,000 metric tons of solid Marmite waste is converted into methane via an anaerobic digester, which is used to provide 30 percent of the factory’s thermal energy.

Unilever is also helping other industries to reduce their carbon emissions. In Indonesia, sludge waste goes into another company’s cement as a material — this then contributes to CO2 reduction as the cement industry is the sixth biggest contributor to GHG emissions in the world.

In March, Unilever North America said it achieved 100 percent zero-waste-to-landfill (ZLF) at all dedicated distribution centers in North America.

Unilever reached its target of ZLF at all global factories in January.