Reporting

Our approach

We seek to provide a transparent account of our progress each year via our online Sustainable Development Report.

Our website is updated throughout the year and accommodates a wealth of data to address the needs of our consumers and specialist audiences.

Globally, we have been reporting on our environmental performance since 1996, and on our social performance since 2000. Some of our companies also produce their own sustainability reports, such as Unilever Brazil, and Hindustan Unilever.

In November 2010 we published our Unilever Sustainable Living Plan. We will produce an annual report on our progress towards the milestones and targets we set out in the Plan. The first report will be published in 2012. We will also report on how the Plan is contributing to internationally agreed objectives, including the Millennium Development Goals and international climate change commitments. 

2010 reporting

Our Sustainable Development Report 2010 provides an update on the topics we have defined as our most material issues. As we published our Sustainable Living Plan in print (and online) in November 2010 we have not produced a printed version of our Sustainable Development Report for 2010. We will publish our first update on progress on our Sustainable Living Plan in 2012.

Our online Sustainable Development Report 2010 sets out the targets in our Sustainable Living Plan as well as continuing to provide an update on our performance for the year. This online report covers:

• how we are contributing to improved health and well-being

• how we are addressing critical sustainability challenges such as reducing our environmental impacts

• how we are creating wealth and enhancing livelihoods in the communities where we operate.

Our Report also covers a range of other issues of concern to our stakeholders. This includes aspects of responsible business behaviour, such as how we respond to consumer concerns, how we treat our employees and temporary contract workers, managing risks in the supply chain, and take part in the life of our local communities around the world.

Our online Report was published in March 2011 with preliminary 2010 data for CO₂ from energy, water and total waste – our three key eco-efficiency performance measures, and two occupational safety performance measures – fatalities and Total Recordable Frequency Rate. The Report will be updated with assured and final 2010 data for performance measures in May 2011.

Who are our audiences

Our online Sustainable Development Report is aimed at a broad range of audiences, including employees, customers, consumers, suppliers, investors, governments and opinion formers in the fields of sustainability and business responsibility.

How do we define our material issues

Sustainability is now central to our business strategy: our aim is to double the size of our business while reducing our overall environmental impact. Sustainable sourcing of key agricultural raw materials and designing products for a resource-constrained world are critical to our continued business growth and success. The Unilever Sustainable Living Plan has made explicit this intimate link between sustainability and long-term business success. We are embedding the management of sustainability issues within core business functions such as R&D, procurement, category management and marketing.

Our activities and reporting focus on our most significant or ‘material’ issues. We define materiality by:

• the degree to which an issue is aligned with our business, brand portfolio and geography

• the potential impact on our operations, sourcing or consumers

• the extent of Unilever’s influence on the issue

• the importance of an issue to our key stakeholders.

This enables us to develop appropriate strategies and policies based on our tracking of current and emerging trends. In developing our Sustainable Living Plan we carried out detailed analyses of our footprints for water, waste and greenhouse gases. Likewise, the other targets in our Plan have been informed by detailed research into the impacts of our business, enabling us to set targets for improving health and hygiene and people’s livelihoods.

Inclusivity & responsiveness

To ensure ‘inclusivity’ we take into account our impacts on society and the concerns of stakeholders. To do this requires an extensive understanding of our impacts across the value chain; detailed mapping and tracking of issues; ongoing stakeholder input and feedback; and the help of partners to guide our direction. Issues are often complex and we continue to work on those areas where we do not yet have a comprehensive understanding of our impacts.

As a consumer-focused company, ‘responsiveness’ is built into our everyday approach to understanding and responding to our consumers’ aspirations and concerns.

Stakeholder feedback on our reporting

Every year we get feedback from our Board’s Corporate Responsibility and Reputation Committee and the Unilever Sustainable Development Group of external advisers, as well as our employees and specialist opinion formers.

We are in the process of establishing mechanisms to seek views from a broad range of stakeholders, and will periodically review and revise our Sustainable Living Plan to take account of their comments and changing external circumstances.

In compiling our reports, we review external standards such as the Global Reporting Initiative Guidelines and the AccountAbility 1000 Assurance Standard’s practice of ‘inclusivity’.

Please tell us what you think about our sustainability reporting via Contact Us – we value your feedback.

Reviewing our progress

We assess our Sustainable Development Report against the Global Reporting Initiative’s (GRI) G3 guidelines. In 2009 we self- assessed ourselves as a B+ reporter according to GRI-defined application levels. Our full GRI index for 2010 will be published in May 2011.

We are a signatory to the UN Global Compact principles. We provide an annual update in our Communication on Progress on how we are living out the Compact’s ten principles on human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption in our everyday business operations. Our 2010 Global compact index will be published in May 2011.

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set out eight global targets for governments to reach by 2015, ranging from halving world poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS. We can contribute to these goals through the wealth and jobs we create in our business and our value chain and through our partnerships. We provide an annual update on our contribution towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals - this MDG index will be published in May 2011.

Boundaries & scope

In our reporting we aim to cover our economic, social and environmental impacts. We include performance data for our direct operations and a discussion of issues arising in our extended value chain, which encompasses both our supply chain and how our products reach our consumers.

In the issues we cover and the way we address them, we seek to apply recognised international principles for non-financial reporting, notably those adopted by the Global Reporting Initiative. Our 2010 Report uses the AccountAbility AA1000 Assurance Standard’s (2008) principles of inclusivity, materiality and responsiveness to help our stakeholders assess our performance.

As is usual for reports of this sort, our performance indicators, such as our eco-efficiency in manufacturing data, mirror the scope adopted by our statutory Annual Report and Accounts. Therefore, they do not include contract production or outsourced support services.

Assurance

Internal and external assurance is an important part of our approach to reporting.

To allow our sustainability reporting to be published at the same time as our Annual Report and Accounts at the end of March 2011, we present preliminary data for some of our environmental and occupational safety performance indicators. This data will be independently assured by the professional services provider Deloitte LLP, and their assurance report will be published in May 2011.

Final data for all our environmental and occupational safety performance indicators will be published here in May 2011. 

Basis of reporting

The definitions and basis of reporting for our environmental and occupational safety performance indicators are described in the downloadable document ‘Basis of reporting’. This document will be updated and published in May 2011.