Vision & strategy

A new vision

This new vision recognises that the world is changing. Populations are growing. Rising incomes around the world continue to fuel growth in demand for consumer products. Products like ours rely on an increasingly constrained set of natural resources, whether it is fuel or other raw materials. At the same time, climate change is not just a problem for the planet, it represents a huge threat to economic and social stability.

We know that if we are to achieve our growth objectives we must reduce the total environmental impacts of the business. Our commitment covers not just our factories and offices but also the environmental impacts associated with sourcing our raw materials, through to how consumers use and dispose of our products.

Our vision

We work to create a better future every day.

We help people feel good, look good and get more out of life with brands and services that are good for them and good for others.

We will inspire people to take small, everyday actions that can add up to a big difference for the world.

We will develop new ways of doing business with the aim of doubling the size of our company while reducing our environmental impact.

We fully recognise that we will need to develop a new model for business growth. We are embarking on a long-term programme of work with our suppliers, customers and other partners to realise this goal.

With our portfolio of strong brands, presence in emerging markets and long-standing commitment to shared value creation, we believe we are well placed to deliver on this ambition.

Our sustainability journey

More than 100 years ago, our founders not only created some of the world's first consumer brands, they also built a business with strong values. We have continued to update our vision as the world has changed.

Our brand imprint process

In the 1990s we formally integrated sustainability factors into our strategy. Then, in 2005, we started to embed this agenda into our product brands using a process called Brand Imprint. Since then, Brand Imprints have been completed across all our product categories. Social and environmental considerations are now integrated into the innovation and development plans of our major brands.

At the same time, we are also evolving our approach to corporate branding. We are starting to consider how we make Unilever's corporate commitments and activities more visible and relevant to our consumers. With individual product brands taking a stronger stance on social and environmental issues, consumers will look at the corporate brand for its values and approach. Product brands can only communicate effectively and credibly on these issues if they have a firm foundation in the company's overall approach and commitment. This led to the development of our new vision.

Engaging consumers

Our research shows consumers not only want to be reassured that the products they buy are ethically and sustainably produced; they also want to choose brands that are good for them and good for others.

However, they also told us they feel powerless to make a difference: the scale of the challenges is too great and their individual actions are too small.

We believe we are well placed to help people understand how their brand choices and small actions, when added to those of others, can make a big difference across the world.

For example, Unilever's detergent brands are used in 125 billion washes a year. That is the equivalent of 14 million washes every hour. Every time a Unilever consumer does the laundry at a lower temperature or with a full load, the reductions in energy, CO₂ and water are cumulatively very large.

With consumer use accounting for around 70% of our greenhouse gas footprint, engaging consumers through initiatives such as the Cleaner Planet Plan will be key to achieving our vision.

Assessing impacts across the value chain

Our commitment to reduced environmental impact extends right across our value chain – ie, from the sourcing of raw materials through our own production and distribution to consumer use and eventual disposal of residual packaging.

In 2008 we developed a set of metrics for our four priority environmental impact areas across this value chain:

• greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions

• water

• waste

• sustainable sourcing.

These metrics are designed to measure the impacts of our products when used by consumers, such as grams of greenhouse gas per single usage occasion. During 2009 around 1 500 products were assessed to allow us to understand their water, waste and GHG impacts in 14 of our largest markets.

In 2009 we also started to develop a set of metrics covering social impacts. For those of our brands with social missions, the metrics seek to measure the benefits they bring to society. In 2010, Lifebuoy will be the first brand to pilot the new metrics, helping track the impact of Lifebuoy programmes on handwashing behaviours over a five-year period.

The development of these metrics will allow us to track performance across our portfolio, enabling us to show consumers how their small, individual actions can add up to a big difference.

Working for others

Unilever does not have all the answers to the challenges and dilemmas that our business faces today. Many sustainability issues can only be addressed through a collaborative, multi-stakeholder approach. If we are to fulfil our vision, we must work in partnership. Partners bring expertise on specific issues as well as the networks to deliver practical initiatives on the ground. We complement this with our own experience, marketing expertise and commercial muscle.

Some of our partnerships are formal, long-standing relationships with well-known global organisations; others are informal alliances with others in industry, NGOs, governments and UN agencies. One example is the work we are doing to promote sustainable palm oil through a coalition of businesses and NGOs including Greenpeace, Oxfam and WWF.

Our global partnerships

Our principal global partnerships are with:

• the UN World Food Programme: to feed hungry children and improve their nutrition

• the World Heart Federation: to promote heart health

• the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition: to co-create new approaches in food fortification to address malnutrition

• FDI World Dental Federation: to improve oral health

• the Global Public-Private Partnership for Handwashing with Soap: to save children's lives by promoting handwashing with soap.

UN Global Compact

We are also signatories to the United Nations' Global Compact and are committed to living out the Compact's ten principles on human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption in our everyday business operations.

Our own Code of Business Principles has long reflected the Compact's goals. We provide an annual update in our Global Compact Communication on Progress, explaining how we are implementing the principles across our business.

See Related links for more.

Progress on our commitments

Our commitments – and the progress we made against them in 2009 – are set out in the table below.

A pdf of the table is also available to download.