Words by Smiley Team
After the UN warned we have only a decade left to avoid the worst of climate catastrophe, companies are waking up to the pressing need to decarbonise their activities. Joining them, multinational consumer goods company Unilever announced this week it will seek its shareholders’ support for a climate transition action plan.
This initial move towards net-zero emissions will involve a non-binding vote on the company’s targets and their plans to achieve them.
Unilever’s goals include reaching zero emissions from company operations and a 50 per cent reduction in the carbon footprint of its production processes by 2030. By 2039 it also hopes to achieve net-zero emissions across its entire operations, as announced in June this year.
To meet these targets it will decarbonise its raw materials, completely divest of fossil fuels, help accelerate the transition to a green global energy grid, avoid all deforestation, and make further efforts to reduce emissions from its production processes.
Unilever CEO Alan Jope said: “Climate change is the most pressing issue of our time and we are determined to play a leadership role in accelerating the transition to a zero-carbon economy.”
The company will share its climate transition action plan in the first quarter of 2021, ahead of its annual general meeting on 5th May 2021. Its first progress report on how well they are following their plan will come in 2022.
Unilever is just one of the many companies pledging to achieve net-zero emissions. Among those joining the efforts to decarbonise the economy, PepsiCo announced last week that it aims to become carbon neutral by 2040, while Walt Disney topped that with promises to do so by 2030.
With so much hinging on the market’s environmental impact, the corporate world has a responsibility to act as soon as possible to prevent unprecedented ecological and social collapse. CEOs everywhere should follow the example of the companies already making this decision.
