Unilever announces a biotech alternative to palm oil and fossil fuels

Unilever is partnering with San Diego-based biotechnology specialists Geno to jointly invest $120 million (€114 million) in a new venture to commercialise plant-based alternatives to feedstocks like palm oil and fossil fuels that are used to make cleansers for home care, beauty and personal care products.

The venture has huge potential to help power our growth and strengthen supply chains by creating cost-competitive alternatives and reducing our dependence on a small number of feedstocks that can have high levels of volatility. Geno is already starting to scale up the process for its advanced technology to produce the exclusive ingredient.

Using cutting-edge biotechnology, Geno has established a fermentation process that uses sugar to convert microorganisms into an ingredient needed to make key cleaning agents called surfactants. These are integral to all cleansing products – across the home, personal care and beauty industries – to help them foam, lather, and lift dirt.

While offering incredibly effective cleansing properties, these ingredients are predominately made using fossil fuels and palm oil with few viable substitutes that can be manufactured at scale.

That’s why this initiative could be a game-changer for the combined $625 billion (€594 billion) home, beauty and personal care markets. Better yet, initial estimates have shown it could reduce the carbon footprint of palm-derived ingredients by up to 50%.

Richard Slater, Unilever Chief Research & Development Officer explains, “Biotechnology has the potential to revolutionise the sourcing of our cleansing ingredients and ensure Unilever is a future-fit business – for consumers, shareholders and the planet we all share”.

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