Articles

18.10.2010 Unilever goes green to boost brand equity

Unilever, the FMCG giant, has established a range of sustainability goals which it believes will drive long-term growth and strengthen brand equity. The company hopes to halve the footprint of its goods, ensure 1bn people enhance their health and wellbeing and source all agricultural raw materials sustainably. The owner of Knorr and Lipton has outlined 50 specific targets, like slashing greenhouse gas emissions, water and waste internally, and among suppliers and customers. Indeed, this latter group contributes two-thirds of Unilever's aggregated emissions and half of its water use.

"Our aim is to help people in developing countries improve their quality of life without a big increase in their environmental impacts, and to help those in developed markets maintain a good standard of living while reducing theirs." Another motivating factor is forging successful strategies looking beyond the pressures of the recession. This approach diminishes Unilever's reliance on scarce resources, and reflects the evolving requirements of shoppers who are starting to "vote with their wallets on responsible products". The Anglo-Dutch firm has now partnered with organisations like Oxfam and the Rainforest Alliance to link 500,000 smallholder farmers and small-scale distributors with its supply chain.

B.L. 18.11.2010