As ambitious plans go, Unilever's sustainable living plan is certainly far reaching.
The company has set itself three main goals to achieve by 2020: to help one billion people improve their health and wellbeing; to improve the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people in the supply chain; and to halve the environmental footprint of the group's products.
The plan is the result of 10 years of work by Unilever to find a long-term path to sustainable growth. In 2009 it set out a vision to double in size, while reducing the company's environmental impact.
The sustainable living plan, produced a year later, is the way that goal will be achieved.
It includes 50 social, economic and environmental targets covered by the three main objectives – health and wellbeing, the environment and enhanced livelihoods.
Each of the company's brands is responsible for achieving sustainability targets and the Unilever executive team is measured on its success in achieving the overall plan.
The initiative has an impressive sweep, taking in the company's entire value chain from suppliers to consumers.
Among the targets Unilever has set itself is a plan to source 100% of agricultural raw materials from sustainable sources.
It also wants to link together some 500,000 smallholder farmers and small-scale distributors in the supply chain, to improve hygiene for a billion people in Asia, Africa and Latin America by promoting handwashing, and to double the proportion of food products achieving the highest nutritional standards.
During 2010, Unilever undertook work to understand the impact it was having. Some 1,600 products – representing about 70% of sales – were assessed, a new agricultural code was put in place, and 250 factories reviewed to find the best ways to reduce waste, water and energy use.
By the end of the year several impressive results had been achieved. About 125 million people had been reached by the handwashing campaign, Unilever's in-home water purifier was giving 15 million people in India access to affordable clean drinking water, and Some 10% of agricultural products were being sourced sustainably.
Simon Beavis is part of the wordworks network
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