Unilever's Green Initiatives: Decarbonization and Sustainability in India
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This post is a part of DIL Intelligence series from Energy Alternatives India (EAI), India’s leading climate-tech consulting firm.

DIL stands for Decarbonization for India’s Leaders and provides comprehensive market intelligence and updates to Indian corporate leaders on prominent decarbonization efforts across the Indian industrial ecosystem. DIL is provided by EAI’s strategy consulting team. More about our consulting from here.


Unilever has been sourcing soda ash, an ingredient in laundry powders, from Tuticorin in Southern India using CO2 capture technology. Unilever has reduced their operational Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 68% since 2015 and is working to eliminate fossil fuels and switch to renewable energy. They have solar installations at six of their factories across four different states in India, which are estimated to generate savings in the region of €4.9 million over 15 years.

In terms of wind energy, Unilever supports renewable energy generation in the areas in which they operate and so where they can, they source renewable electricity from local markets. This takes the form of contracts called power purchase agreements (PPAs) and green electricity tariffs.

Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL), a subsidiary of Unilever, has eliminated coal usage across its operations in India, replacing it with renewable alternatives such as biomass and biodiesel. Unilever is committed to reducing its operational Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 100% by 2030 against a 2015 baseline.

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Unilever has committed to maintaining zero non-hazardous waste sent to landfill in 2022. Their factories continue to operate as zero non-hazardous waste to landfill sites

Indian Partners in Decarbonization

Partnered with Tuticorin Alkali Chemicals and Fertilisers Ltd (TFL) and Carbon Clean Solutions (CCSL) who have developed cutting-edge technologies, to capture the CO2 from the use of energy in their production processes and turn it into soda ash.

Unilever has also announced a strategic partnership with Brookfield to set up a solar energy park with a 45 MW capacity in Rajasthan.

Unilever has partnered with Diversey, a global hygiene and cleaning company, to create a more sustainable supply chain for cleaning and sanitation products in India.

Global Partners in Decarbonization

Unilever has launched an “Inclusive Circular Economy” project in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). This project aims to promote end-to-end plastic waste management and support the social inclusion of 20,000 waste-pickers across the country.

Unilever and Geno, Launched a $120 million joint venture in November 2022 to scale alternative ingredients, specifically focusing on bio-based and renewably sourced materials. This collaboration aims to reduce reliance on traditional, potentially carbon-intensive materials.


This post is a part of DIL Intelligence series from Energy Alternatives India (EAI), India’s leading climate-tech consulting firm.

DIL stands for Decarbonization for India’s Leaders and provides comprehensive market intelligence and updates to Indian corporate leaders on prominent decarbonization efforts across the Indian industrial ecosystem. DIL is provided by EAI’s strategy consulting team. More about our consulting from here.




About Narasimhan Santhanam (Narsi)

Narsi, a Director at EAI, Co-founded one of India's first climate tech consulting firm in 2008.

Since then, he has assisted over 250 Indian and International firms, across many climate tech domain Solar, Bio-energy, Green hydrogen, E-Mobility, Green Chemicals.

Narsi works closely with senior and top management corporates and helps then devise strategy and go-to-market plans to benefit from the fast growing Indian Climate tech market.

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