Unilever and Sustainability

Introduction

Unilever is one of the largest companies in the world with a diverse number of brands that are very popular. This company has been able to ensure that it promotes its brands to such an extent that they are better known than the company itself. However, while this may be the case, in recent years, Unilever has become one of the global leaders when it comes to sustainability and this has been to such an extent that it is currently being consulted on the best ways to help advance sustainable business by the UN. The company’s recent history shows that it has been constantly attempting to ensure that it continues to expand in the global market while at the same time significantly reducing its carbon footprint. To achieve this objective, Unilever has sought to make sure that it develops its products in such a way that is not only efficient, but also significantly reduces its contribution to the global carbon footprint. Through its sustainable living plan (USLP), Unilever has sought to ensure that it is a world leader when it comes to businesses that promote sustainability in the wake of such global trends as population growth, emerging markets and environmental stress.

Sustainability Portfolio

Tomorrow	Clean Technology ·         Unilever has sought to ensure that it promotes the use of clean technology. This is in order to advance its long-term objective of halving its carbon footprint. ·         The development of clean technology has the potential of ensuring that there is an improvement in the process of environmental sustainability.	Sustainable Energy ·         Unilever’s vision of helping to build a world of sustainable business is one that is essential in the development of solutions to social and environmental problems. It has the ability to direct the company’s efforts towards helping in the creation of means through which these solutions can be effectively implemented. ·         Unilever’s vision is one the advances the need to ensure that there is the development pf new technologies and products that promote a high level of sustainability.
Today	Pollution Prevention ·         One of the biggest causes of pollution within the company is that it has a large number of brands all over the world. The action that it has taken to reduce its waste production in recent years has been ensuring that it sheds some of these brands in order to reduce its carbon footprint and in line with its vision. ·         The elimination of waste at the source has become a paramount objective of Unilever. It has sought to ensure that its products, especially the packaging of brands, are conducted in such a way that allows for recycling and environmental friendliness.	Product Stewardship ·         The implications for product design are quite positive because Unilever has already began an initiative, alongside partners such as Coca Cola, to ensure that its products contribute to sustainability. This means that in future, there will be an attempt to bring about cheaper and sustainable product designs for the market. ·         Reducing the impact of products while at the same time adding value is an achievable objective. With new technologies, it will be possible to produce products cheaply while at the same time reducing their impact on the environment.

 Pollution prevention, product stewardship, and clean technology

The pollution prevention measures undertaken by Unilever are quite significant especially considering the size of the company. One of the most important of these measures has been the reduction of the large number of brands that the company owns. Shedding some of the brands has ensured that the company is able to reduce its carbon footprint. In addition, Unilever has also sought to improve on its product design in such a way that only those products that are sustainable are placed in the market. The latter is related to product stewardship because it involves the development of products that are not only sustainable, but are also cheap. Finally, the use of clean technology has also become one of the most important aspects of Unilever’s vision because it has promoted the idea that the company needs to adopt the most efficient technology to advance environmental sustainability.

Sustainability vision

            The sustainability vision of Unilever, the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan (USLP) is one of the most important examples of the sustainable business. This is because it shows the objectives of the company in the long-term while also allowing for a vision of the manner through which they can be achieved. Unilever has been able to make sure that it undertakes leadership in sustainable business in such a way that it has sought to implement its vision on the matter to reflect the changes that the company needs to achieve its objectives. In its pursuit of its vision, it has ended up in a situation where it has been able to become a leader in the process of sustainability. Unilever’s vision is also quite comprehensive when it comes to the way that it seeks to not only advance the company’s interests, but also those of the societies within which it has operations.

Conclusion

            One of the most important aspects of Unilever’s sustainability strategy is that it brings about an understanding of the need for businesses to advance environmental sustainability. In general, the company has proven to be quite strong in its initiatives, ranging from pollution prevention, sustainable energy, clean technology, and product stewardship. However, one of the biggest concerns about the company’s vision, which can also be considered its greatest weakness, is its stated objective of halving its carbon footprint by 2020. This objective is one that might not be feasible especially considering that it is one of the largest companies in the world and has numerous operations. While shedding some of its brands has allowed it to reduce some of its footprint, halving it, especially when its exact estimate is not known, might not be feasible. Despite this potential setback, Unilever still has one of the most comprehensive sustainability visions in the world, which has the potential of leading to the company’s achieving its environmental stewardship objectives. Therefore, the sustainability strategy that it has undertaken will help promote considerable growth for Unilever while at the same time reducing its carbon footprint.