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Sustainable Living

Sustainable Living

For over 120 years we’ve been pioneers, innovators and changemakers. From one life-saving soap to many world-changing brands. But the world moves fast, and every day we learn how much more we can – and must – do.

Eight years ago, we created the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan (USLP) to build a business that the world could be proud of.

The Unilever Sustainable Living Plan

The Unilever Sustainable Living Plan sets out to decouple our growth from our environmental footprint, while increasing our positive social impact. Our Plan has three big goals to achieve, underpinned by nine commitments and targets spanning our social, environmental and economic performance across the value chain. We will continue to work with others to focus on those areas where we can drive the biggest change and support the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

We have three big goals

Improving Health
and well-being
for more than

1 billion

By 2020 we will help more than a billion people take action to improve their health and well-being.

Health & hygiene
Improving nutrition

We are taking action on the UN Sustainable Development Goals

By 2020 we will help more than a billion people to improve their health and hygiene. This will help reduce the incidence of life-threatening diseases like diarrhoea.

601 million people reached by end 2017

Reduce diarrhoeal and respiratory disease through handwashing

Provide safe drinking water

Improve access to sanitation

Improve oral hygiene

Improve self-esteem

Help improve skin healing

Find out more about health & hygiene

We will continually work to improve the taste and nutritional quality of all our products. The majority of our products meet, or are better than, benchmarks based on national nutritional recommendations. Our commitment goes further: 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 to achieve a healthier diet.

39%† of our portfolio by volume met highest nutritional standards in 2017

Reduce salt levels

Saturated fat:

Reduce saturated fat
Increase essential fatty acids
Reduce saturated fat in more products

Remove trans fat

Reduce sugar

Reduce calories:

In children's ice cream
In more ice cream products

Provide healthy eating information

Find out more about improving nutrition

Reducing
environmental
impact by

half

By 2030 our goal is to halve the environmental footprint of the making and use of our products as we grow our business.*

Greenhouse gases
Water use
Waste & packaging
Sustainable sourcing

We are taking action on the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Our products' lifecycle:

Our products’ lifecycle: Halve the greenhouse gas (GHG) impact of our products across the lifecycle by 2030.

Our greenhouse gas impact per consumer use has increased by around 9%^† since 2010*

Our manufacturing:

By 2020 CO₂ emissions from energy from our factories will be at or below 2008 levels despite significantly higher volumes.

-47%^† reduction in CO₂ from energy per tonne of production since 2008

Become carbon postive in manufacturing:

Source all energy renewably
Source grid electricity renewably
Eliminate coal from energy mix
Make surplus energy available to communities
New factories

Reduce GHG from washing clothes:

Reformulation

Reduce GHG from transport

Reduce GHG from refrigeration

Reduce energy consumption in our offices

Reduce employee travel

Find out more about greenhouse gases

Our products in use:

Halve the water associated with the consumer use of our products by 2020.+

Our water impact per consumer use has reduced by around 2%^† since 2010*

Our manufacturing:

By 2020 water abstraction by our global factory network will be at or below 2008 levels despite significantly higher volumes.

-39%^† reduction in water abstraction per tonne of production since 2008

Reduce water use in manufacturing process:

New factories

Reduce water use in the laundry process:

Products that use less water

Reduce water use in agriculture

Find out more about water use

Our products:

Halve the waste associated with the disposal of our products by 2020.

Our waste impact per consumer use has reduced by around 29% since 2010*

Our manufacturing:

By 2020 total waste sent for disposal will be at or below 2008 levels despite significantly higher volumes.

-98%^† reduction in total waste per tonne of production since 2008

Reduce waste from manufacturing:

Zero non-hazardous waste to landfill
New factories

Reusable, recyclable or compostable plastic packaging

Reduce packaging

Recycle packaging:

Increase recycling and recovery rates
Increase recycled content

Tackle sachet waste

Eliminate PVC

Reduce office waste:

Recycle, reuse, recover
Reduce paper consumption
Eliminate paper in processes

Find out more about waste & packaging

By 2020 we will source 100% of our agricultural raw materials sustainably.

56% of agricultural raw materials sustainably sourced by end 2017

Sustainable palm oil ^†

Paper and board

Soy beans and soy oil ^†

Tea ^†

Fruit

Vegetables

Cocoa

Sugar

Sunflower oil

Rapeseed oil

Dairy

Fairtrade Ben & Jerry’s

Cage-free eggs

Increase sustainable sourcing of office materials

Find out more about sustainable sourcing

Enhancing
Livelihoods
for

millions

By 2020 we will enhance the livelihoods of millions of people as we grow our business.

Fairness in the workplace
Opportunities for women
Inclusive business

We are taking action on the UN Sustainable Development Goals

By 2020 we will advance human rights across our operations and extended supply chain.

55%^† of procurement spend through suppliers meeting our Responsible Sourcing Policy’s mandatory requirements

We continued to embed human rights,^† focusing on 8 salient issues in our Human Rights Report

Our Total Recordable Frequency Rate for safety improved to 0.89^† per million hours worked

Implement UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights^†

Source 100% of procurement spend in line with our Responsible Sourcing Policy^†

Create framework for fair compensation^†

Improve employee health, nutrition and well-being

Reduce workplace injuries and accidents^†

Find out more about fairness in the workplace

By 2020 we will empower 5 million women.

1,259,000^† women enabled to access initiatives aiming to promote their safety, develop their skills or expand their opportunities^*

Build a gender-balanced organisation with a focus on management^†

Promote safety for women in communities where we operate^†

Enhance access to training and skills^†

Expand opportunities in our retail value chain^†

Find out more about opportunities for women

By 2020 we will have a positive impact on the lives of 5.5 million people.

716,000† smallholder farmers and 1.6 million small-scale retailers enabled to access initiatives aiming to improve agricultural practices or increase incomes*

Improve livelihoods of smallholder farmers^†

Improve incomes of small-scale retailers

Increase participation of young entrepreneurs in our value chain

Find out more about inclusive business

Key to our performance

Achieved

This is the number of targets we have achieved
On-Plan

This is the number of targets we are on track to achieve
Off-Plan

This is the number of targets we are currently not on track
%
Of target achieved

This is the percentage of the target we are on track to achieve

^† Independently assured by PwC.
* Our environmental targets are expressed on a 'per consumer use' basis. This means a single use, portion or serving of a product.
⁺ In seven water-scarce countries representing around half the world's population.
• In 2017 around 370,000 women accessed initiatives under both Opportunities for Women and Inclusive Business.

Our strategy for sustainable growth

Man next to wind turbine and solar panel

By integrating sustainability into our strategy, we can drive more profitable growth for our brands, save costs, mitigate risk and build trust among our stakeholders.

Our strategy

Introducing our plan

The Unilever Sustainable Living Plan is our blueprint for achieving our vision to grow our business, whilst decoupling our environmental footprint from our growth and increasing our positive social impact.

Introducing our plan