The owners of Parcel, Domests and CIF will invest 1 1 billion by 2030 to remove fossil fuel-based components from its cleaning products.

Unilever’s “Clean Future” initiative has developed renewable or recyclable alternatives to chemicals obtained from the oil industry as part of the company’s commitment to eliminate carbon emissions from its products by 2039.

Investment in research and development for eco-products tops b 1bn Unilever has already committed to environmental projects over the next decade that will improve “planetary health”.

The company, which owns more than 400 brands including Marmite, Dove, Comfort and Sure, has pledged to reduce the mountain of plastic waste produced by its products.

With nearly half the carbon footprint of consumer giant cleaning products from oil-based ingredients, reform with environmentally-friendly alternatives is expected to reduce their environmental impact by a fifth.

Apart from established palm oil-based chemicals for those derived from algae, plastic waste and carbon from energy production, a full “rainbow” of alternatives is being investigated.

Peter Ter Culve, president of Unilever’s Home Care, said it was important to explore various options to “grow within the limits of our planet.”

He said that Unilever hoped to share the details of its “carbon rainbow” – outlining various possible alternatives to fossil fuel-based ingredients – Unilever “called for an economy-wide transformation”.

“A new bio-economy is emerging from the ashes of fossil fuels,” he said.

“We have heard time and time again that people want more affordable sustainable products that are just like conventional products. The rapid development of science and technology is allowing us to do this with the promise of exciting new benefits for people who use our products, from ultra-light cleaning materials to self-cleaning fabrics and surfaces. ”

This week, one of the first innovations will hit the shelves in the UK: a sugarcane washing liquid that removes stains from sugarcane. The parcel bottle will now be made of 50% recyclable plastic and has been redesigned to use less plastic, reducing total virgin plastic each year.

CIF Cleaning Liquid for sale in the UK also needs to be modified through a cleaning agent obtained from recyclable plastic bottles.

Already in South India, Unilever is supplying soda ash – an ingredient in laundry powders – made using a leading technology that contains carbon from energy production.

Madhu Rao, head of home cleaning products at Unilever, said the company wanted to transform existing well-established brands around the world into more sustainable, bringing low-carbon alternatives into the mainstream.

“We’re on a big ride and that’s the first point,” he said.

Rao said the Unilever epidemic seems to continue the “unprecedented demand” for health and health products around the world as families spend more time cleaning and disinfecting their homes as they try to resist the virus.

However, he said: “Higher awareness of cleanliness – the crisis that everyone feels today – does not remove the climate crisis. The battle of our lifetime is climate change and consumers are focusing on it. Two-thirds of consumers want to buy more durable and more durable products and packaging. “