Unilever Goes to 100% Sustainable Sourcing by 2020
According the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan, “Today we source 10% of our agricultural raw materials sustainably. By 2012 we will source 30%; by 2015 50%; and by 2020 100%.”
This would be impressive for any company, but for one as big as Unilever it is remarkable. The company has over 100 brands, operates in 170 countries and has revenue of 63 billon US dollars.
Two big questions arise when I tell people about this. Why and how?
W
hy is Unilever doing this?
Sustainable sourcing is one piece of a larger sustainability plan at Unilever. And as other very large companies like Walmart, HP, IBM, General Electric and others have realized, becoming more sustainable also makes them more profitable with less risk. With proper leadership and an environmental management system in place, this is a no-brainer.
How will it get done?
The only way that Unilever can meet this goal is to require suppliers to compliance to verifiable environmental management standards and globally recognized sustainability standards.
For instance, all paper for end products like paper towels and packaging will be sustainable. That means that virgin paper must be certified to the Forest Stewardship Council’s Chain of Custody standard or be certified to the source as 100% recycled. This requires compliance to sustainability and environmental standards.
What does this mean for you?
If you’re a supplier at any level to companies like Unilever, P&G, Walmart, General Mills or any other consumer goods supplier or retailer, then these requirements are coming to you. Then only way you will be able to meet them is with a proven sustainability and environmental management system that will allow you to show your chops in continuous improvement in environmental quality and tracing what you sell to its source.
The move of big OEM’s and retailers also forces EHS and Sustainability departments to be able to report on multiple standards for all kinds of stakeholders. Be sure to implement environmental quality management systems that make it easy to show compliance to multiple standards because more environmental and sustainability standards are coming to your office soon.
You can get in front of them and take advantage of the same cost savings and risk reduction strategies of the big boys, or you can wait it out and treat the standards as another requirement and burden. I am choosing the former.
- Jim Verzino, Executive Director of the Institute for Building Systems
Contact IBS America, Inc. today to learn more about environmental compliance software and to see how it may be able to help you.
The IBS Environmental Management Software Data Sheet
Create the complete environmental management system using the IBS solutions CompliantPro or QSi System. Both systems can help your organization reap the promised benefits of ISO 14000 certification: the results are a safer workplace, better employee morale, higher customer satisfaction, and lower compliance costs.
Download the IBS Environmental Compliance Software Data Sheet