KUALA LUMPUR: Unilever has allocated €1 billion for "Clean Future" programme to finance biotechnology research, carbon and waste utilisation and low carbon chemistry.
The goal was to drive the transition away from fossil fuel-derived chemicals, the cleaning and laundry products manufacturer said.
Unilever said it would replace 100 per cent of the carbon derived from fossil fuels in its cleaning and laundry product formulations with renewable or recycled carbon.
This move will transform the sustainability of global cleaning and laundry brands including OMO (Persil), Sunlight, Cif, and Domestos.
The programme was designed by Unilever's home care division to fundamentally change the way that some of the world's most well-known cleaning and laundry products were created, manufactured and packaged.
The initiative is expected to reduce the carbon footprint of the product formulations by up to 20 per cent.
Unilever said Clean Future was unique in its intent to embed the circular economy principles into both packaging and product formulations at the scale of global brands to reduce their carbon footprint.
The company said the investment would also be used to create biodegradable and water-efficient product formulations, to halve the use of virgin plastic by 2025, while supporting the development of brand communications that make these technologies appealing to consumers.
The Clean Future investment was an additional to Unilever's new €1 billion "Climate and Nature fund", which was focused on creating affordable cleaning and laundry products that deliver superior cleaning results with a significantly lower environmental impact.
Clean Future would also be a critical step towards Unilever's pledge of net zero emissions from its products by 2039.
The chemicals used in Unilever's cleaning and laundry products make up the greatest proportion of their carbon footprint (46 per cent) across their life cycle.
Therefore, by transitioning away from fossil fuel derived chemicals in product formulations, the company will unlock novel ways of reducing the carbon footprint of some of the world's biggest cleaning and laundry brands.
Unilever's home care division president Peter ter Kulve said the Clean Future was the company's vision to radically overhaul its business to break its dependence on fossil fuels including as a raw material for its products.
"We must stop pumping carbon from under the ground when there is ample carbon on and above the ground if we can learn to utilise it at scale.
"We have seen unprecedented demand for our cleaning products in recent months and we are incredibly proud to play our part, helping to keep people safe in the fight against Covid-19," he said in a statement.
Unilever's homecare Southeast Asia vice president and global head fabric sensations category Deepak Subramanian said Covid-19 had brought to the forefront the importance of hygiene as a first line of defence against infections and illnesses.
"We are proud to play our role to keep people safe, but we are also focused on ensuring we protect the environment too. Climate change is a global issue and in Southeast Asia.
"Our Clean Future strategy aims to reduce the carbon footprint of household cleaning and laundry products at scale, keeping all of our products effective, sustainable and affordable for our consumers," he said.