Our Compass strategy - Unilever

Why are we doing it?
The Plan is the right thing to do for
people and the environment. But it’s also
right for Unilever: the business case for
integrating sustainability into our brands
is clear and persuasive.
• A growing number of consumers want
reassurance that the products they buy
are sustainably sourced and protect the
earth’s natural resources.
• Many retailers have sustainability goals
of their own and need the support
of suppliers like Unilever if they are
to achieve them. This collaboration
is broadening and deepening the
relationships we have with our customers.
• Sustainability is a fertile area for product
and packaging innovation. It is allowing
us to deliver new products with new
consumer benefits.
• Over half of Unilever’s sales are in
developing countries, the very places
which face the greatest sustainability
challenges – deforestation, water
scarcity and poor sanitation. These
countries represent major growth
markets for Unilever, so if we can
develop products today that help people
adapt to the changing environment
of tomorrow, it will help us grow faster
in future.
• Managing our business sustainably not
only generates cost savings, it can also
save consumers money.
Improving health and well-being
Health and well-being are the starting point
of the Plan because these are the benefits
which our brands provide. By delivering
good nutrition and improved hygiene our
products have a positive impact on two
of the world’s biggest health issues –
cardiovascular disease and diarrhoea.
Nutrition
We continually work to improve the taste
and nutritional quality of our products.
By 2020 we will double the proportion
of our portfolio that meets the highest
nutritional standards, based on globally
recognised dietary guidelines. This will
help hundreds of millions of people
achieve a healthier diet.
Hygiene
From our earliest days we have sought to
meet people’s need for good health and
hygiene. By 2020 we will help more than
a billion people improve their hygiene
habits and bring safe drinking water
to 500 million people.
Reducing our environmental impact
Our aim is to halve the environmental
footprint associated with the making and
use of our products by 2020. This
commitment covers our entire ‘value
chain’, from how we source our raw
materials to how consumers use and
dispose of our products. The vast majority
of the impacts of our products come
from these two ends of the value chain.
In analysing our environmental
impact, we focus on the biggest
contributors: greenhouse gases (GHG),
water, waste and sustainable agricultural
sourcing. Our targets for 2020 are:
• Greenhouse gases: to halve the
GHG impact per consumer use of
our products.
• Water: to halve the water associated
with the consumer use of our products,
focusing on countries that are
water-scarce.
• Waste: to halve the waste (per
consumer use) associated with the
disposal of our products.
• Sustainable agricultural sourcing:
to source 100% of our agricultural
raw materials sustainably.
Enhancing livelihoods
We work with many thousands
of smallholder farmers, small-scale
distributors and micro-entrepreneurs,
particularly in the developing world,
helping them improve their skills and
increase productivity. By 2020
we will link more than 500,000
smallholder farmers and small-scale
distributors into our supply chain.
Report of the Directors About Unilever
Sourcing tomatoes, sustainably
We are one of the world’s largest
buyers of tomatoes for processing,
taking an estimated 6% of the
global yield. In California we have
been working with our tomato
growers to test drip irrigation
versus traditional furrow irrigation.
Studies show drip irrigation can
reduce water use by up to 20%,
an important consideration in
a state where water is costly and
often in short supply.
Changing behaviour, saving lives
Lifebuoy soap is one of our fastest growing
personal care brands. Introduced to make
hygiene affordable to the majority of
people in Victorian Britain, it is now making
a difference to people’s lives on a global
scale. A clinical trial has shown that using
Lifebuoy at key hygiene occasions can
reduce diarrhoeal disease by 25% and
acute respiratory infections by 19%. By
2015 Lifebuoy aims to change the hygiene
behaviour of 1 billion consumers across
Asia, Africa and Latin America by promoting
the benefits of handwashing with soap at
key times.
Unilever Annual Report and Accounts 2010 21