--- description: Find out why Unilever was selected for the inaugural list title: TIME100 Most Influential Companies 2021: Unilever image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt10a638f8474e8828/698a18e509208f8fde417dfd/unilever-time100-companies.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Apr 26, 2021 # Unilever Parting with plastics by [Anna Russell](/author/anna-russell/) ## Anna Russell Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  Fabrice Picard—Agence VU/Redux If you’ve ever stress-eaten ice cream or washed your hands countless times during a pandemic, you’ve probably used a Unilever product. The consumer-goods giant estimates that 2.5 billion people use its brands—from Dove to [Ben & Jerry’s](https://time.com/5252406/ben-jerry-ice-cream-40/ "undefined")—every day. Now Unilever, which admits to having a plastic packaging footprint of 700,000 tons a year, is aiming to undergo what chief supply-chain officer Marc Engel calls “the greatest transformation” in company history: in May, it will bring its climate-transition plan—which includes a goal of net-zero carbon emissions from all Unilever products by 2039—to a vote before shareholders, making it the first FTSE 100 company to do so. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-companies/5950052/unilever/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-companies/5950052/unilever/"},"headline":"Unilever","datePublished":"2021-04-26T14:40:04.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T23:48:44.990Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/time100-companies/5950052/unilever/","keywords":["Lists","franchise","TIME100 Companies"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt10a638f8474e8828/698a18e509208f8fde417dfd/unilever-time100-companies.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Anna Russell","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/anna-russell/"}],"creator":"Anna Russell","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt10a638f8474e8828/698a18e509208f8fde417dfd/unilever-time100-companies.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-companies/5950052/unilever/","name":"Unilever"}}]}] ```