NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Monday, November 15, 2010

Consumer products giant Unilever has unveiled a “new business model” putting sustainability at the heart of its global operations.

It pledged to halve the environmental impact of its products while doubling sales over the next 10 years.

Chief executive Paul Polman said the new model was “the only way to do business long term”.

The company said it would produce an annual report on its progress towards achieving these goals.

Unilever, which makes a number of the UK’s most popular brands, such as Persil, Dove, Flora, PG Tips and Ben & Jerry’s, made three overarching commitments to achieve by 2020:

• cut by 50% the environmental impact of its products in terms of water, waste and greenhouse gases
• source 100% of its agricultural supplies from sustainable sources
• improve the health and well-being of one billion people across the world.

It outlined a number of ways in which it would deliver on these commitments, including doubling its use of renewable energy to 40% of total energy use; reducing its water consumption by 65% on 1995 levels; reducing waste sent for disposal by 70% on 1995 levels and reducing levels of salt, fat and sugar in its food products