Unilever is the latest big brand to announce that it is investing privately in renewable energy, with a new windfarm developed by Eneco UK.

The company announced that fifteen of its British manufacturing and operational sites are now using green energy that has been derived from wind sources.

Unilever is one of the biggest consumer goods producers in the world and is now the sole commercial recipient of the Eneco wind park's output under an exclusive power production purchase contract.

Already, it has secured 165GW hours of clean energy from the farm, which is located in Scotland's Lochluichart. This represents 87pc of the development's output in total. The remaining power will be sold through a retail tariff to local communities.

A spokesperson for Unilever, Yvette Edwards, the Sustainable Business Director, said that the move was the company's latest step towards meeting their ambition of becoming carbon-positive by 2030.

She added that the project would also mean that surplus energy supply from the wind farm would be sold to local communities as part of Unilever's vision of facilitating everyday sustainable living.

The company has ambitious plans for sustainable development. It is working to source its entire operational energy needs from renewables by 2030 and plans to remove coal entirely from the energy mix by 2020. 

An agreement with Eneco in the Netherlands has seen its factories and offices powered by a North Sea wind farm.

Many global brands are taking a stand to push forward the green agenda, even in countries where the government is less inclined to do so. These firms are demonstrating the power of consumer spending and private business to force through change and create more sustainable economies where damaging fossil fuels are slowly removed from the mix.