NRG Energy, Unilever join forces on renewable energy

NRG Energy has entered into a strategic partnership to help Unilever United States to move to 100% renewable energy use by 2020.

The agreement supports the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan intended to double the size of Unilever’s business by reducing the Unilever United States’ environmental footprint and improving positive social impact.

Through renewable energy certificates (RECs), Unilever U.S. already acquired 100% of its electricity from renewable sources for all of its sites.

Under the agreement, NRG Energywill provide solutions to Unilever for onsite and offsite renewable generation resulting in 100% clean energy for all energy use at its sites by 2020, marking a step beyond RECs.

Unilever North America president Kees Kruythoff said Unilever North America is making good progress on the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan in the US, needs to do more to drive system change.

"This transformational partnership with NRG to move all of our U.S. operations to 100 percent renewable energy will make our business more resilient, sustainable, and profitable," Kruythoff added.

"It is our hope and expectation that our collaboration with NRG will also inspire a broader acceleration and uptake of renewable energy technologies."

NRG will use various alternative energy technologies, which will be scalable and transferable to other industry sectors, as part of the agreement.