Environmental management

Our policy

Unilever is committed to meeting the needs of customers and consumers in an environmentally sound and sustainable manner, through continuous improvement in environmental performance in all our activities. See related links for full details.

Our strategy

Our corporate responsibility strategy has at its heart environmental themes such as climate change, water, packaging and sustainable agricultural sourcing. This strategy also sets out our commitment to making continuous progress in the area of eco-efficiency in manufacturing and integrating environmental considerations into product innovation and marketing plans. For more information see Strategy and Governance.

Our management system

All Unilever companies must comply with the Unilever standards for occupational safety and health and environmental care (SHE) and our Consumer Safety Policy, in a manner that recognises, and is consistent with, local legislation. Our environmental management systems are designed to achieve continuous improvement and are based on, and compatible with, ISO 14001. A diagram showing the various elements of the Environmental Management System is given below.

Unilever's environmental management system

Framework standards

All manufacturing sites have implemented our Environmental Care Framework Standards, which require all Unilever operations to establish a formal environmental management system. The framework is based on the ISO 14001 management systems standard, and is ultimately applicable to all parts of the business.

The Framework Standards (which also cover occupational health) are supported by specific standards and guidance documents. These include specific standards covering third-party manufacturing, SHE management systems auditing/positive assurance, environmental performance reporting and for the notification and investigation of SHE incidents. Detailed guidance documents have also been generated to cover areas such as environmental aspects evaluation, incident investigation and audit protocols to assess compliance with the SHE framework standards.

ISO 14001

The number of ISO 14001 certified sites increased slightly in 2008 from 136 to 138 (based on the number of physically separate Unilever sites). This represents 50% of our manufacturing sites worldwide. During the year, a further eleven sites were certified, but six ISO certified sites were closed or sold, and a further three sites decided not to renew their certification. The decision whether or not to seek external certification to ISO 14001 lies with the specific region, operating company and/or manufacturing site, and is based purely on local business relevance.

Training & awareness

While all sites have a person responsible for environmental (or SHE) performance, by the end of 2008, 80% of our manufacturing sites had a trained environmental manager. A further 5% of sites had managers who had been in the job for less than six months, and had not yet received specific training. The remaining sites – some of which are new to Unilever – will be providing appropriate training for their environmental managers as part of the requirements of the framework standards, except where there are plans to sell or close a site.

Various environmental training courses have been developed and implemented using a 'train the trainers' approach. Examples include: a course on how to implement the Unilever Environmental Care Framework standards; awareness training for senior managers (half-day) and operational staff (two hours); specific eco-efficiency workshops on waste and water minimisation and energy efficiency plus a course for SHE auditors within each of our regions/business groups. Compact disks (CDs) with training material have been widely disseminated throughout the business.

An eco-efficiency training course, internally developed by our Safety & Environmental Assurance Centre (SEAC), has been run throughout Unilever since June 2003. The course aims to give employees the tools, techniques and awareness needed to reduce the environmental impact of our manufacturing operations, and provides a forum where good environmental practices (GEP) can be shared and discussed for implementation. Special emphasis is put on reducing water use, waste and energy consumption. The course is particularly effective when used as a starting point for the launch of collaborative projects such as Project Electra (energy in Latin America), Project Triple R (waste in Asia-Africa), and the award-winning Project Medusa (see related links). During 2008 eco-efficiency training workshops were held in Indonesia, China, the UK, Cote d'Ivoire, Israel and South Africa.

A Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) programme has been implemented throughout our business. This has improved our eco-efficiency performance. See related links for more information.

Sharing best practice

We have established intranet sites for SHE at corporate and business group level to help share best practice around the world. One example of this is a searchable web portal that has been developed with over 350 examples of good practice covering water, waste, chemical oxygen demand (COD) and general environmental issues. Our global network of senior SHE professionals also meets regularly to agree SHE programmes and identify future needs. Environmental awareness workshops are co-ordinated at a regional level.

In 2006 we rolled out our Triple R waste reduction programme at sites in Africa, the Middle East and Turkey. By sharing best practice and setting targets, these sites achieved a significant 27.5% reduction in total waste per tonne of production, narrowly missing their target of 30% reduction by the end of 2006. Through this project, our sites have found ways of reusing waste, which can also have economic benefits. For example, spent bleaching earth is being used by local brick companies as fuel for kilns and as a filler for bricks.

Assurance

At least once a year, all operating units conduct a review of their business risks and their compliance with corporate policies. They also conduct a continuous self-assessment of their operating controls. These exercises are summarised in a Positive Assurance letter that is sent to the Corporate Risk Committee each year. This assurance covers all aspects of corporate responsibility, including compliance with the Unilever SHE Framework Standards (that cover environmental care and occupational health and safety) and the Consumer Safety Policy.

Supporting this assurance process is the principle that managers stand accountable for all aspects of corporate behaviour and performance in their units.

Audits & targets

Environmental auditing programmes have been implemented within each region to help sites achieve continuous improvement in environmental performance. Auditing is carried out by trained Unilever employees external to the site being audited. All Unilever manufacturing sites which are not certified to ISO 14001 are subject to an environmental audit at least once every three years. ISO 14001 certified sites are audited every year by the certifying body.

By the end of 2008, 93% of manufacturing sites owned by Unilever for more than a year had been audited. The non-audited sites are either new or less strategic and have yet to be included in the regional programmes, which are on a three-year cycle.

We are committed to improve the environmental efficiency of our manufacturing operations and all sites are required to set improvement targets. See Eco-efficiency below for more details.

In addition to this internal auditing process, as part of the annual Sustainable Development Report assurance process, ten manufacturing sites worldwide are visited by a third-party assurer (Deloitte LLP) to review each site's environmental and occupational safety data collection, collation and validation processes.