Unilever shows other multinationals how to achieve 100% renewable electricity

The news of multinational Company Unilever with operations in Nigeria and other parts of Africa achievement of 100percent renewable electricity is expected to serve as a template to other business conglomerates on how feasible it is to stay off-grid.

The international consumer goods giant met its ambitious goal a few months early as the company recently announced that all of its factories, offices, R&D facilities, data centres, warehouses and distribution centres across five continents are now powered by 100% renewable grid electricity, a development which is expected to serve as a guide to other business enterprises on how feasible it is to stay Offgrid.

Sam Kimmins, Head of RE100 at The Climate Group said Global companies like Unilever is sending a strong demand signal to the few markets where renewables remain harder to access.

“They want to be able to source renewable electricity locally at an affordable price – and they want to do that now,” Kimmins told BloombergNET.

Marc Engel, Chief Supply Chain Officer at Unilever, said climate emergency is one of the most urgent challenges companies face globally which was why the Unilever team worked hard to secure renewable energy contracts for its sites across five continents, accelerating the delivery of 100percent renewable energy targets.

“Of course, there is more work to do, but we hope the announcement will inspire further action elsewhere and help to prove that it is possible to combat the climate crisis and hold global warming at 1.5 Degrees Celsius. Renewable is doable,” Engel said on the company website.

The consumer goods giant noted that there have been no “net on-costs” to get to this point, explaining that the savings the company was able to generate through mechanisms such as Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) which counterbalanced any other additional costs the project will acquire.

In a situation where PPAs are not feasible, Unilever purchased Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) which are openly-traded certificates linked to renewable electricity generation while also signing partnership deals with partners around the world to generate renewable electricity at its own sites, with solar power in use at Unilever facilities in 18 countries.

Unilever also announced that, via its investment in energy efficiency programs, the company has reduced total energy consumption by 28percent and halved carbon emissions per metric ton of production since 2008.

Unilever was one of 27 companies that responded to a call to action from the UN in June to step up their sustainability efforts, committing to reducing emissions further and setting science-based targets aligned with limiting global temperature rises to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

Also, another multinational auto manufacturer Honda Motor Company recently made the largest renewable clean energy purchase by any car maker.

According to Honda, the electricity will be utilized to offset emissions from its United States factories, thus enabling the company to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 60 percent in its North American manufacturing plants.

The news of Unilever and Honda’s success with renewable energy will serve as good news to other multinational companies operating in Nigeria a country faced with population boom that has sent carbon emissions soaring and stretched power supplies to breaking point.

Africa’s most populous country needs more than 10 times its current electricity output to guarantee supply for companies operating in Nigeria and its 198 million people – nearly half of whom have no access at all, Nigeria’s Former Minister of Power Babatunde Fashola said.