Unilever pledges to invest 1 billion Euros in environmental projects over the next decade

Consumer goods giant Unilever Plc. (ULVR.L) stated on Monday that it would invest 1 billion Euros in a new Climate & Nature fund and achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions from all its products by 2039, 11 years ahead of the 2050 Paris Agreement.

The Anglo-Dutch consumer products company said that the fund would be used over the next ten years to take meaningful action with projects likely to include landscape restoration, reforestation, carbon sequestration, wildlife protection, and water preservation.

“We are now going much wider in our commitments, we call it a cradle to shelf commitment…across the value chain,” Unilever’s Chief Supply Chain Officer Marc Engel stated.

Unilever’s Chief Executive Officer Alan Jope said in an interview that while the world was rightly focused on the devastating coronavirus outbreak and severe inequality issues raised by the Black Lives Matter protests, the climate emergency should not be overlooked. He also added that climate change is still a threat to all of the people in the world.

Unilever aims to have no carbon emissions from its operations and to halve the greenhouse gas footprint of its products by 2030. According to the data on its website, Unilever’s total greenhouse gas footprint reached 60 Million tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2019.