Unilever has entered a partnership with Nufarm to develop sustainable oils for personal care & cleaning products.

Derived from plant material, including the leaves and stems, the biomass oil would be a source of fatty acids, a core base ingredient for Unilever’s personal care products and laundry detergents.

The Australian agricultural chemicals firm Nufarm had previously developed and commercialised a variety of sugar cane called energy cane, a sustainable crop which generates significantly more plant matter and sugar than traditional sugar cane.

As part of the partnership, biotechnology would be used to develop a new, commercially viable variety of energy cane that could also produce biomass oil.

“This partnership enables us to identify alternative ingredients for our household, beauty and personal care brands which will further support our ambition to reach net zero emissions across our value chain by 2039,”  said Unilever head of biotechnology Neil Parry.

The first phase of the project will focus on the research and development of the plant biotechnology. In addition to biomass oil, the crop would also continue to produce sugar, which could be used in other biotechnology processes to generate speciality ingredients such as fragrances, enzymes and cleaning ingredients used across Unilever’s portfolio, the company said.

Unilever said it would also explore if the leftover plant fibre could be used to produce paper and board for packaging.

Green materials are regularly featured at the Sustainable Cosmetics Summit. In 2025, the executive summit will be hosted in New York (5-6 June), Paris (27-28 October), and in Hong Kong (10-11 November). More details are on the website