The latest business news from Unilever, Lego, Tesco and SAP.
Unilever has reported that 15 of its sites in the UK are now using electricity from renewable sources as part of its plans to become carbon positive by 2030. Since April, the company has purchased 165GWh (87% of output) from a 23-turbine wind farm in Lochluichart in the Scottish Highlands. Unilever said that across its entire business, 63% of its grid energy was generated from renewable sources.
LEGO Group has achieved its ambition to balance 100% of its energy use from renewable sources, three years ahead of schedule. Since 2012, the Danish firm has invested in more than 160MW of renewable energy capacity, most recently taking at a 25% stake in the Burbo Bank Extension wind farm off the coast of Liverpool. It takes the total output from investments by LEGO in renewables to more than the energy consumed by its factories, stores and offices. In 2016, more than 360GW hours of energy were used by LEGO to produce the more than 75 billion plastic bricks sold during the year.
Tesco has announced its intention to use only renewable electricity in its operations by 2030. The message was accompanied by updated climate change targets for its stores and distribution centres. The new targets, based on 2015 levels, are to achieve absolute carbon reductions of 35% by 2020, 60% by 2025 and 100% by 2050. The company has set an interim milestone to source 65% renewable electricity by 2020 and said its UK and Ireland operations will all move to using renewable electricity this year.
Software business SAP has announced that it is planning to become carbon neutral by 2025. Achieving the target involves a three-step strategy: avoid – wherever possible, SAP will aim first to steer clear of creating of emissions, such as by using virtual telecommunications; reduce – where emissions cannot be avoided, it will seek to cut emissions, for example, through building efficiency, datacentre operations, carpooling and car sharing; and compensate – SAP will extend existing compensation models, such as embedded internal carbon pricing model for CO2-free train and air travel.
