In Indonesia, to make its palm oil supply chain more transparent and traceable, and help maintain ‘no deforestation’ for this key commodity, Unilever is working directly with producers and mills, bypassing traditional intermediaries and bringing much of its palm oil refining in-house.
To help ensure that more of the palm-derived ingredients that create lather in many of its global products are made this way, it recently expanded Unilever Oleochemical Indonesia (UOI), its palm oil processing facility in Sei Mangkei, North Sumatra.
The challenge has been that following this expansion, UOI is now the largest greenhouse gas (GHG) emitting site in Unilever’s global operations. To meet its target of reducing our global Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 100% by 2030 (vs 2015), it needs to act decisively to address the impact.
That’s why the company is shifting towards thermal renewable energy. In a market where fossil-based energy is still abundant, renewable energy opportunities are currently minimal – but corporates can help drive the clean energy transition. In the first commercial offtake of biomethane in Indonesia, Unilever has started replacing the natural gas we have been using at UOI with biomethane, created from palm oil effluent from local mills.
Tags: biomethane, Indonesia, Unilever
Category: Fuels
