CorpComms Magazine

Unilever, the Persil to PG Tips manufacturer, has unveiled a radical sustainability plan to halve the environmental impact of its products while doubling sales by 2020.

The 'Sustainable Living Plan', which focuses on Unilever's entire supply chain, covers its carbon emissions, waste and water use as well as the impact caused by both its suppliers and consumers.

It had already announced plans to use 100 per cent sustainably sourced paper for its packaging.

Launched simultaneously in London, Amsterdam, Delhi and New York, the 'Sustainable Living Plan' is the result of 12 months' planning. An annual report detailing its progress will be produced.

Dave Lewis, president of Unilever Americas, said: 'We cannot choose between growth and sustainability. We have to do both.'

The global consumer products manufacturer, which touches two billion consumers every day, aims to improve the health of one billion people in Asia, Africa and Latin America. It will teach them how to use Lifebuoy soap to wash their hands correctly in an effort to reduce incidences of diarrhoea.

Sales of its Pureit home water purifier will also be extended in these regions to make drinking water safer.

Unilever will also work with non-governmental organisations, such as Oxfam and the Rainforest Alliance, to improve standards of living of 500,000 smallholders and small-scale distributors by linking them to its supply chain.

It also announced plans that all agricultural raw materials, including palm oil, will be bought from sustainable sources by 2015. Unilever currently annually consumes three per cent of the world's palm oil supply.

But the company will also try to influence consumers' behaviour and the way that they use products to reduce their environmental impact.

For example, Unilever estimates that 95 per cent of the greenhouse gas emissions associated with soaps, shower gels and shampoos occur when they are being used and particularly when people shower.

It aims to reach out and persuade 400 million consumers to change their shower habits by 2020. If 20 million people cut one minute from their shower time, it would save one million metric tonnes of CO2 emissions every year - equivalent to taking 110,000 cars off the road.

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