ROTTERDAM: Unilever is to partner with leading mass movements Global Citizen and 'Live Earth: Road to Paris' to help create impact at scale across the interlinked issues of sustainable development and climate change.

Paul Polman, CEO, Unilever said: "2015 is a critical moment in time, an opportunity to agree on a universal agenda that tackles poverty and inequality and to all take action to protect the one planet we have. As a business we can deploy our resources, expertise and scale to help our consumers to take action. Today, we are adding our support for the growing movement of citizens and businesses demanding change."

In April, UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon acknowledged corporate pledges of US$200 billion in addressing climate change: "Now they have to turn commitments into actions that can blaze a trail for the trillions in low-carbon infrastructure that can help meet the world's needs for cities, energy and agriculture," he declared.

'Live Earth: Road to Paris' is a campaign launched by former U.S. vice-president Al Gore to promote awareness leading up to the UN Climate Change conference in Paris this November.

Global events will be broadcast across all major media platforms in partnership with Unilever with the aim to secure a billion voices urging world leaders to adopt a universal emissions reduction agreement.

Kevin Wall, executive producer and co-founder of Live Earth said: "Unilever has integrated a forward-looking sustainability strategy into its core business in order to truly impact our global climate challenge. We could not be more excited to be on the 'Road to Paris' with partners like Unilever that literally pave the way."

Unilever says its long-term business success requires an investment in the planet and people by addressing environmental and social challenges which include moving to sustainable sourcing, using scale to improve health and wellbeing, moving to zero waste across its factories, and ensuring that human rights are embedded across the supply chain.

Global Citizen is a movement to end extreme poverty by 2030. Hugh Evans, CEO of The Global Poverty Project commented: "[Unilever's] commitment to encouraging people to take action to change the systems and policies that keep people poor is remarkable. Unilever is a true example of a global citizen, and we are honored to be on this journey together."