The role of transnational corporations in the formation of a European Biofuel Policy : The Case of Unilever

This paper deals with the role that the big transnational company Unilever had in the formation of the European Union biofuels policy. This takes in consideration the cooperation that this actor had with philanthropic foundations (like the European Climate Foundation), parliamentarians (the GLOBE EU network) and some of the most influential Environmental-NGO: s working at the European level (Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth Europe). The paper aims to show how the transnational player has acted to advance a legislation (the definition of “Sustainable Biofuels”) that has been profoundly beneficiary for them in the end. By the ability to influence important key actors the transnational company has gained the success over the outcome. Unilever is for example one of the biggest importers of Palm Oil in the world and the legislation deeply affects them. This also follows the pattern from the Policy Life Cycle (PLC) model for environmental issues that was developed by Pieter Winsemius (also an adviser to Unilever) from the influential consultancy firm McKinsey and Company in the late 80’s and used by some of the key players involved. The paper has its main focus on the period from 2006 to 2010, which is when the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) was prepared, enacted and implemented. The research has been conducted through document analysis.