Hamilton explains that Unilever’s three targets are to halve the environmental footprint of our products, to source 100 per cent of our agricultural raw materials sustainably, and to help 1 billion people take action to improve their health and wellbeing.
Unilever started reporting on its own manufacturing in the 1990s but manufacturing, its own operations only represent a part of the lifecycle so it decided to broaden out and address sustainability challenges up and down the supply chain. Hamilton says this will be core to company growth going forward.
Unilever has already been working on green supply chains for some of its major raw materials, such as palm oil and fish, but small volume materials will be more challenging and Hamilton says partnerships will be crucial.