Our planet plans

Collaborating for climate

Unilever is taking action to limit our planet’s temperature rise to 1.5°C by working to achieve net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across our value chain by 2039¹. This means we'll go beyond our own operations to radically reduce our GHG impact across our value chain, including from the raw materials ingredients and packaging we buy.

One of the ways we will do this is by forming purpose-led partnerships with suppliers who share our ambition to make sustainable living commonplace. We are asking our existing suppliers to adopt targets to reduce their emissions in line with climate science and are prioritising partnerships with new suppliers who already have such targets in place.

We will also roll out integrated GHG reduction roadmaps for all key materials and ingredients. These roadmaps will form part of our ongoing relationship and performance management with partners. We anticipate this effort to reduce third-party emissions will require significant capability and capacity building and, as such, will take time.

We see many more opportunities to reduce emissions throughout our value chain and have identified the areas where we believe we can have most impact. For more information take a look at our Climate Transition Action Plan (PDF | 11MB).

Coming together with other businesses

As part of the 1.5°C Supply Chain Leaders group, led by the Exponential Roadmap Initiative, we’re collaborating with other climate leaders including BT, IKEA and Ericsson, to drive climate action. We’re also exploring innovative ideas for climate action with other multinational companies, including Maersk, Microsoft and Nike, as part of the Transform to Net Zero initiative.

Through the Partnership for Carbon Transparency, hosted by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, we’re facilitating standardised data exchange with suppliers to improve transparency over emissions in our supply chain.

We welcome partners who share our sustainability ambitions. Visit our Climate action page for more on how we’re addressing the climate crisis and get in touch if you’d like to join our journey.

Unilever’s Climate Promise

Through our Climate Promise, Unilever is asking suppliers to demonstrate their shared values and commitment to ambitious climate action as we work to achieve net zero emissions across our value chain by 2039. We want to find ways to work with our partners to measure, report and reduce emissions in their own value chains and look for ways to incentivise and support their success.

This Promise, whilst optional, presents as an opportunity for our suppliers to demonstrate that tackling the climate crisis is of paramount importance.

By signing up to Unilever’s Climate Promise, our suppliers commit to:

• Set a Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) aligned target²
• Publicly report progress towards meeting this target
• Share product level GHG emissions footprint data with Unilever

Leading companies have signed the Climate Promise and are working to deliver:

Sign the Climate Promise

If you’re interested in knowing more about signing the Climate Promise, please email compass.goals@unilever.com

Watch: Introduction to the Unilever Climate Promise

Unilever Climate Programme

Through the Unilever Climate Programme, we are working closely with a subset of priority suppliers whose materials we've assessed as having the most significant impact on climate.

Within this group of suppliers, we have detected a wide range of climate capabilities. Through our Programme, we are offering hands-on guidance and access to tools and resources to support suppliers to deliver on the asks of the Unilever Climate Promise by measuring, reporting, and reducing their GHG emissions.

In 2021, we worked with a small group of diverse suppliers who helped us shape the Programme, before moving to a pilot in 2022 where we asked a mix of suppliers to test out tools and resources designed to accelerate their climate action. This approach proved valuable, allowing suppliers to learn from each other and informing our approach to scaling-up the Programme in 2023. We will continue to onboard new suppliers to the Programme until 300 priority suppliers benefit by the end of 2024.

Partnering for a deforestation-free supply chain

About 23% of human-led global greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture, forestry and other land uses³. When forests are cleared, burned or degraded, they emit carbon dioxide and also leave soils exposed, increasing erosion and the risk of landslides. It is now widely accepted that to address climate change and biodiversity loss, we must end deforestation.

Our People & Nature Policy (PDF 2.03 MB), launched in December 2020, combines our previously separate Palm Oil and Paper and Board policies and outlines the existing and new expectations we have of every supplier of conversion-risk crops (palm oil, soy, paper and board, tea and cocoa).

Our partners also play a critical role in our commitment to achieve a deforestation-free supply chain by 2023 by helping us to get closer to and support the people who grow our crops and the landscapes on which they are grown.

Visit our Protect and regenerate nature section for more on how we’re working to help nature flourish.

Our people plans

Together with our partners we're supporting inclusive economic growth and promoting equality through our commitments to suppluer diversity and the living wage.