Chief executive Paul Polman urged fellow business leaders to help create a ‘political license’ for politicians to promote clean energy.
He told BBC News: “It’s clear that, increasingly, the business community is aware of the costs of climate change. Momentum is swinging towards people realizing that we need to take urgent action to stay below two degrees [increase in global average temperature.”
Polman said Unilever, the consumer goods giant behind the Knorr and Flora brands, faced business costs of €300m-to-€400m (£216-to-£316m) higher than normal due to extreme weather.
Polman, along with Virgin’s Richard Branson and vehicle industrialist Ratan Tata, is in The B Team, urging governments around the world to bring greenhouse gas emissions to zero by the middle of the century.
The team will join the business climate summit, expected to attract more than 1,000 people, in Paris this week.