Genomatica (Geno) and Unilever have launched a venture to scale and commercialize alternatives to palm oil and fossil fuel-derived cleansing ingredients. These are integral to the formulations of thousands of everyday cleaning and personal care products. With growing demand for sustainably-sourced palm oil, this venture aims to deliver additional responsibly sourced palm oil alternatives to the market.

With $120 million jointly invested in the newly-formed initiative, and with other strategic investors expected to join, the venture will develop an alternative, plant-based ingredient using biotechnology. The innovation is particularly relevant to cleaning and personal care products that require ingredients to lather and lift dirt. But at present, there are few viable alternatives to palm and fossil sources that can be produced at scale in order to make those ingredients.

As such, the venture offers the opportunity to tap into the combined $625b home and personal care markets. For Unilever, one of the world's biggest soap and detergent manufacturers, this is the investment in biotechnology alternatives to palm oil to date. Companies like Unilever, whose products are used globally by 3.4 billion people each day, are increasingly partnering with biotechnology innovators like Geno to explore, develop, and manufacture new versions of traditionally-sourced ingredients.

While palm oil will remain an important feedstock to Unilever, these alternative ingredients can play a growing role in diversifying supply chains to drive optionality, sustainability, cost efficiencies and transparency. Geno will deploy its proven biotechnology platform and is already starting to scale the process for its advanced technology to produce the ingredients. Initial estimates have shown that companies could reduce the carbon footprint of palm-derived ingredients by up to 50% with this technology-driven, plant based alternative.