Unilever pilots “world-first” partnership on near-zero emissions laundry ingredient

15 Nov 2023 --- Working with partners, Unilever’s India business is piloting the production of synthetic soda ash — a key ingredient in laundry powder — with a “near-zero” GHG footprint. If proved at scale, the company anticipates the innovation will help unlock faster emissions reductions along its supply chain.

The pilot will help make enough “near-zero” soda ash for about 6,000 metric tons of laundry powder.

“The pilot addresses GHG emissions at every stage of the product’s (soda ash) manufacture and we believe it is a world first,” says Deepak Subramanian, Home Care general manager, South Asia at Unilever. “Doing this while delighting consumers with great, affordable products is at the heart of our strategy.”

Unilever’s India business, Hindustan Unilever (HUL) is collaborating with chemical companies TFL and Fertiglobe (the strategic partnership between OCI Global and ADNOC), to pilot the production of near-zero emissions synthetic soda ash.

Unilever inked an agreement with chemical supplier TFL to supply it with more GHG soda ash made with renewable energy.Beyond the pilot, Unilever has signed an agreement with TFL to supply it with more low GHG soda ash made with renewable energy and CO2 capture and use, which is expected to reduce emissions by more than 60%.

Almost 60% of Unilever’s GHG  impact comes from the raw materials and ingredients it buys to make its products. In its Home Care business, which relies heavily on chemicals, this is closer to 80%.

Tackling emissions from three angles
Unilever has announced a target to achieve net-zero emissions across its value chain by 2039. 

The conglomerate highlights “three elements” to this pilot. The first is that soda ash is made with some of the first green ammonia produced using green hydrogen from renewable energy.

The second is that the boilers used to make the soda ash have been shifted from coal to renewable energy (cashew kernels). And thirdly, the CO2 produced by the boilers is captured and used in the manufacturing process, replacing CO2 that would otherwise have to be procured.

“The combination of these three elements results in the production of soda ash with a near-zero GHG footprint,” states Unilever.

Addressing the challenge of value chain emissions
HUL claims it is on track to achieve Unilever’s global target of cutting GHG emissions from its operations (known as scope 1 and 2 emissions) by 100% by 2030, against a 2015 baseline. However, Unilever flags that these are only a small proportion of its overall emissions. 

The bigger part —  the so-called scope 3 emissions — are those associated with the production of the raw materials and ingredients purchased from suppliers.

“These emissions are much more difficult to tackle because they require progress of entire, often global, supply chains,” states Unilever. “As such, to reach our net-zero target, we must work with our suppliers to help them take action within their own operations and value chains.”

“In India, where we source many of the ingredients we use locally, we’ve just started accelerating that work. At a recent event, we asked some of our key supply partners to pledge to work with us on emissions reduction by joining our global Supplier Climate Programme.”

These suppliers are at different stages of their climate journey. “Some have given little focus to their carbon footprint, while others have bold plans and are making substantial investments,” highlights Unilever.

Unilever has announced a target to achieve net-zero emissions across its value chain by 2039.The Supplier Climate Programme has been set up to provide upskilling and capacity building to help suppliers develop their emissions reduction plans, and measure and share footprint data for the products Unilever buys.

“The fact that our supplier solutions are industry aligned, rather than Unilever bespoke, means that suppliers can easily share their product footprint data with other customers – we won’t be the only ones asking them to take climate action in future,” states Unilever.

“We will need to work with our partners to achieve our net-zero goal by 2039,” says Willem Uijen, Unilever’s chief procurement officer. “I’m glad to see that our partners are coming together in this event with their pledge to go after net zero emissions. I’m confident this will make a big difference in actions landed over the months to come.”

Innovating with emissions in mind
In a previous collaboration with the University of Oxford, UK, Unilever released a report that further demonstrates how switching to renewable sources for the laundry and dishwashing ingredients can eliminate emissions while maintaining the same performance for consumers.

In other industry advances focused on curbing emissions, LanzaTech Global recently collaborated with Dow to introduce a new biodegradable surfactant to the home care market, EcoSense 2470, which is made using LanzaTech’s CarbonSmart technology and is made with recycled carbon materials.

Earlier this year, Coty’s portfolio brand Gucci launched the “world’s first” globally distributed fragrance manufactured using 100% carbon-captured alcohol.

Last February, a group of UK industry stakeholders, universities and NGOs initiated a two-year program worth £5.4 million (US$6.6 million) to convert industrial waste gasses into environmentally sustainable materials for consumer products.

By Benjamin Ferrer