Awards & recognition

These are some highlights of recognition we have received from external bodies on our social, economic and environmental performance during 2009 and 2010

Highlights from 2009 - 2011

International

Specialist agencies and organisations, including environmental groups, responsible investment analysts, academics and institutes, publish a variety of ratings and rankings of our global performance. Sometimes this is a result of our engagement with them through questionnaires and in-depth discussions, sometimes it is the agencies’ own research, in part analysing the data and information we disclose on our website.

For example:

  • Included in Carbon Disclosure Leadership Index for sixth consecutive year with a score of 82% for disclosure in 2010 Carbon Disclosure Project.
  • Unilever won a Biodiversity Innovation 2010 award from the Union for Ethical BioTrade. This recognised our work on allanblackia and in particular the development of a business model to promote conservation while generating income for smallholder farmers in Africa. See Supporting smallholder farmers.
  • Unilever participated in the second request for information from the Forest Footprint Disclosure project in 2010. As in 2009, there was no ranking of companies’ performance, just a listing within the relevant industry. Unilever was listed in the food products and soft drinks sector of the FFD Annual Review published in January 2011. See Combating deforestation. 
  • DJSI logoFood industry leader in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Indexes for the 12th year running - the only company to have achieved this.
  • Top performer in new FTSE Carbon Strategy 350 Index
  • Committed to the Environment AwardReceived the International Charter's 'Committed to the Environment 2010' award for environmental management and performance

 

  • SAM Gold Class logoRetained SAM Sector Leader and SAM Gold Class Sustainability distinctions from Sustainable Asset Management
  • FTSE4Good logoIncluded in the FTSE4Good Index Series since its inception in 2001 and attained a top environmental score of 5, leading to inclusion in the FTSE4Good Environmental Leaders Europe 40 Index
  • Carbon Disclosure ProjectMember of the Carbon Disclosure Project's Leadership Index, scoring 76% in its 2009 survey

  • Ranked 7th in the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World, a list compiled by 'Corporate Knights' magazine

  • Sunday Times Companies That Count logo  Unilever has achieved Platinum Plus status in the latest evaluation carried out by the UK's Business in the Community (BITC). Scoring 80%, Platinum Plus is the highest ranking in BITC's CR Index 2009. Toby Shillito, BITC Director, CR Index and Advisory Services, commented: "Unilever has demonstrated how the thinking around sustainability issues can be used to create business value and competitive advantage".

  • The Natural Value Initiative logoScored 78% and recognised as 'best practice' at Level 4 by the Natural Value Initiative's Ecosystem Services Benchmark, a tool to help investors assess biodiversity and ecosystem impacts

  • WWF logo Placed in the top five of 59 European companies in the 2009 Palm Oil Buyers' Scorecard, and rated top of six Australian companies in the 2010 Palm Oil Buyers' Scorecard, both assessments conducted by WWF

  • Top of the foods sector in a benchmarking study carried out by Ceres, UBS and Bloomberg on companies' disclosure of water use

  • Presented with the highest international level of recognition – the Level II International Corporate Health and Productivity Management Award by the Institute for Health and Productivity Management (IHPM) for our Lamplighter programme

  • Tomorrows Value Rating Icon Led the food and beverage sector with a 64% score in the Tomorrow's Value Rating of how well companies manage their most pressing social and environmental issues. The research was carried out by the sustainability consultancy, Two Tomorrows

National & regional

At national and regional level, our country-based operations – including our manufacturing sites – also receive awards and recognition of various kinds from external organisations. A list of these awards from 2009 is available to download in related links.

Related links

Downloads

External links