Unilever has taken a further step on its quest to become carbon positive by 2030. The Anglo-Dutch FMCG giant has signed a deal with renewable energy company GENeco to power five of its sites across UK & Ireland with biomethane.

Unilever’s offices in Surrey and London and its facilities in Norwich, Trafford Park and Cork will be heated with 10,000 MWh of biomethane, significantly reducing carbon emissions from the five sites. The chosen locations are already powered with electricity from certified renewable sources, so this latest step will see all five hubs become carbon neutral.

“In 2015, just as world leaders came together for COP 21, our business committed to making our operations carbon positive by 2030. The ambitious target encouraged us to look carefully at our sites through a fresh, sustainability lens which helped to inspire our landmark agreement with GENeco,” said Charlotte Carroll, Sustainable Business Director, Unilever UK & Ireland.

“With biomethane or ‘green gas’ still in its relative infancy compared to other forms of renewable energy, this agreement marks a significant step forward in helping us source 100 percent renewable energy for five of our UK and Ireland sites. Recognising that this is only the start of our journey, we hope to build on this great foundation and eventually convert waste form our own operations into energy to truly support a circular economy.”