Climate change is now a climate crisis. With the planet warming at an unprecedented pace, there’s no time to waste. As a leader in sustainable business, we strive towards a greener future powered by purpose, innovation, and integrity.
We are taking action across our business and value chain.
- 98% reduction in scope 1 & 2 emissions (Kg/tonne of production)
- 45% Reduction in total energy consumption in operations (GJ/tonne of production)
- 47% reduction in total water consumption (Cubic metre/tonne of production)
(Against 2008 baseline)
Rainwater harvesting pond in HUL's Doom Dooma factory, Assam.
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AWS platinum certification
Our factory in Chhindwara earned the esteemed Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) Platinum Certification in 2024. This accolade is testimony to our commitment to exceptional water stewardship, which benefits our operations and surrounding communities.
Indian Green Building Council certified
In September 2024, our Sumerpur factory achieved IGBC’s (Indian Green Building Council) Platinum Certification for its outstanding green campus. The Sumerpur site is carbon neutral. No water is wasted through effective harvesting, recycling, and reuse. It is entirely powered by solar energy and incorporates several eco-friendly innovations. Initiatives such as natural ventilation, use of energy-saving equipment, and extensive tree plantation, with thousands of trees planted, further emphasise our persistent commitment to sustainability.
So far, 13 HUL factories operate on 100% renewable energy.
Decarbonising our business
We continue to take climate action across our operations with a focus on eliminating fossil fuels and switching to renewable energy.
We are switching to renewable energy sources, such as wind, biomass, and solar energy. Implementing energy-efficient capital projects and infrastructural improvements have enabled us to reduce our energy consumption and eliminate the use of coal at all our manufacturing sites.
100% of our electricity is from renewable sources with a combination of solar, wind and IREC green certification.
Transportation and logistics
With structural changes in manufacturing and distribution networks, our ‘Load more, travel less’ strategy has enhanced fuel-efficiency and reduced emissions in our transportation and logistics.
We are exploring the use of natural gas (LNG /CNG) for our logistics and actively engaging with EV suppliers for our last-mile operations.
Eco-friendly refrigeration
Our sustainable freezer cabinets use hydrocarbon refrigerants in place of Hydroflurocarbon refrigerants.
1,67,370 + Hydrocarbon technology-enabled freezers in our fleet.
Driving widescale change
Unilever’s updated Climate Transition Action Plan (CTAP) focuses on ten action areas where we can best drive positive impact by 2030. Some of these are:
- Growing our Supplier Climate Programme to help key suppliers become climate leaders
- Investing in deforestation-free supply chains
- Reformulating products to use lower-emissions ingredients without compromising performance
Alongside actions like these, we’re pushing hard for system-level change. Change that will address barriers to faster emissions reduction, in each of our ten action areas and overall. The climate challenge is huge. And we’re facing it head-on.
Partnerships for a clean future
We are committed to reducing the use of virgin fossil carbon in our products by using renewable and recycled carbon sources.
To do this, we have partnered with Tuticorin Alkali Chemicals and Fertilisers Limited and Carbon Clean Solutions 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 (Sodium Carbonate).
The soda ash from this partnership is an important ingredient in our detergent products like Rin, Wheel and Surf excel and will help us in our journey to reduce the carbon footprint of our detergent business.
Partnership with Brookfield
We have entered a strategic partnership with Brookfield to set up a solar energy park in Rajasthan.
Our partnership with Brookfield is a journey towards commoditising renewable energy to achieve our green ambitions. It will also help generate fuel for growth by reducing energy costs in our manufacturing ecosystem in a phased manner.
Clean Future Summit 2023
HUL hosted the Clean Future Summit in 2023 to foster industry-wide commitments on sustainable practices around emissions across the value chain. The event brought together high ranked government officials, top industry players, sustainability think tanks, global management consultancies and many others. Eighteen of our key partners signed the climate pledge.
During the event, we also announced the successful scaleup of low greenhouse gas emitting soda ash, a key ingredient for our laundry powders.
Securing the future of water: Hindustan Unilever Foundation
It is estimated that by 2030, India will have half the water it needs. To support and help secure water for the future, we are committed to creating water for public good through the Hindustan Unilever Foundation.
So far, along with its partners, the foundation has created a cumulative water potential of over 3.2 trillion litres, a quantity enough to meet the drinking needs of India’s population for over two years.
The foundation works towards identifying scalable solutions to address India’s water challenges – specifically for rural communities that intersect with agriculture.
- 15,000+ villages covered
- 3.2+ trillion litres of water potential created
- 2+ million tonnes of additional agricultural biomass produced
- 114+ million person days of employment created
Centre for Sustainability Leadership
HUL has partnered with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) to launch the Centre for Sustainability Leadership.
Through this, we aim to accelerate the Indian corporate sector’s climate action by institutionalising sustainability leadership across FICCI members, small and medium enterprises and micro small and medium enterprises.
ESG policies
Our ESG policies are aligned with Unilever Global and fully integrated into our business.