How Unilever is Aligning its Electricity Procurement Efforts

Unilever has joined the Climate Group's 24/7 Coalition to target complete renewables coverage of its power demand on an hourly basis.

The consumer goods company made the announcement at the Climate Group's Opportunity Summit during London Climate Action Week.

Rianne Buter, Global Head of Sustainability at Unilever, told delegates the coalition could provide a platform for sharing ideas and collaboration.

The company achieved 85% renewable energy across its operations last year.

Moving beyond annual aggregation

Rianne explained the coalition represents the next phase of decarbonisation for the company.

"At Unilever, we are incredibly proud of the progress we've made so far on renewable energy. Last year, we achieved 85% renewable energy across our operations. That, of course, is also a key driver of our Scope 1 and 2 decarbonisation," says Rianne.

"But we also know that the next phase of the transition requires us to go much further. And many of you in this room will share that joining this coalition represents the next step, or at least part of it."

She said the approach involves developing a more detailed understanding of when and where carbon-free electricity will be available.

"It is about building upon our existing strategy to develop a much more granular understanding of when and where carbon-free electricity will be available and aligning our electricity procurement approach and demand more closely to the reality that matters," says Rianne.

"Because in many markets, particularly here in Europe, the challenge is no longer simply about adding more renewable capacity, but rather about making sure that it's available at the right time and at the right place."

Hourly matching of demand

Other companies joining the coalition include AirTrunk, AstraZeneca, Cathay Financial Holdings, Cathay Life, Google, Princeton Digital Group and Shree Cement.

Businesses that cover their power usage with renewables using power purchase agreements or renewable energy certificates typically aggregate the coverage over a set time period.

This aggregation usually takes place over a year.

However, at any moment in time a business could be drawing fossil-fuel-generated electricity to power its operations.

By matching demand to generation on an hourly basis, a business can claim to be fully powered by renewables.

Rianne explained this represents a complex challenge to overcome.

Collaboration across multiple stakeholders

The company requires substantial electricity demand across many of its markets.

"I think we all know that we cannot do this alone. Companies like Unilever require significant electricity demand across many of our markets," she says.

"That means renewable generation in the right locations, at the right times and alongside storage and flexibility."

Rianne said the approach requires policymakers, grid operators and market specialists to enable the right market rules, infrastructure and data systems.

"It requires energy suppliers and developers to respond with new offerings and it requires more companies to step forward, to build at scale, to share standards but also to share our confidence. And that is why we are joining this coalition today," says Rianne.

The company wants to completely remove absolute operational Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030 from a 2015 baseline.

It also targets a 42% absolute reduction in its Scope 3 energy and industrial greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, compared with a 2021 baseline.

Accelerating industry adoption

Rianne said the coalition could help accelerate progress across the industry.

"Today our message is very clear," Rianne concludes.

"Progress is happening, but it needs to accelerate. And to do that we need many, many more organisations to explore the scaling up of 24/7 carbon-free electricity."

"This coalition is a step in the right direction to achieve this acceleration."