HUL, aiming to create a better future!

India’s largest fast moving consumer goods company, Hindustan Unilever (HUL) in addition to business believes and works to create a better future every day. The company touches the lives of two out of three Indians - helps people feel good, look good and get more out of life with brands and services that are good for them and good for others.

Following the parent Unilever’s commitment to put sustainable and equitable growth at the heart of its business model is helping to drive increased sales while reducing costs and risks.

How this is  made possible? The answers lie in the recent published second Unilever Sustainable Living Plan Progress Report. The report talks about brands that have made sustainability central to their brand proposition or product innovation have accelerated sales during 2012, globally. Lifebuoy soap, which has increased its hand  washing education programmes, has seen double digit growth in each of the last three years; Dry shampoos such as TRESemmé and Dove, which result in 90 per cent less greenhouse gas emissions compared to washing hair in heated water, grew by 20 per cent in 2012; Calorie-controlled Max and Paddle Pop children’s ice creams grew high double digit in 2012.

Unilever is also accelerating the integration of sustainability into the heart of many of its biggest brands. For example Dove, its largest personal care brand with sales of over €3 billion, redesigned its self esteem programme for young people in 2012 to further strengthen its engagement with consumers by helping them look and feel their best. Last week Dove launched a new Real Beauty campaign and just in a couple of days the video reached over 10 million views on YouTube.

Another example comes from Unilever’s biggest brand, Knorr, which launched its first product with a ‘sustainably grown’  label on pack, with more to come. At the same time, eco-efficiencies in Unilever factories from reducing energy, water, materials and waste have enabled the company to take over €300 million out of the system since 2008. Unilever has also reduced risk at a time of volatility in food commodity prices by increasing its purchases of agricultural raw materials from sustainable sources from 14 per cent in 2010 to 36 per cent in 2012.

Says Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever: “Sustainability is contributing to our virtuous circle of growth. The more our products meet social needs and help people live sustainably, the more popular our brands become and the more we grow.  And the more efficient we are at managing resources such as energy and raw materials, the more we lower our costs and reduce the risks to our business and the more we are able to invest in sustainable innovation and brands.”

In 2010 Unilever set three big goals, all to be achieved by 2020 viz - Help more than a billion people take action to improve their health and well-being; Source 100  per cent of agricultural raw materials sustainably and Halve the environmental footprint of its products across the value chain.

Two years in to its ten-year Unilever Sustainable Living Plan, Unilever reports solid progress on two of its three big goals.  Help more than a billion people take action to improve their health and well-being. Unilever has reached 224 million people worldwide with programmes to reduce diarrhoeal disease through hand washing with soap, provide safe drinking water and through other health and well-being initiatives.

Lifebuoy soap reached 71 million people in 16 countries in 2012 – five times as many people as in 2010. In India, Hindustan Unilever (HUL) has reached over 47 million people since 2010 through Lifebuoy Hand washing programmes. In 2012, Lifebuoy reached 17 million people in India. In partnership with UNICEF and the Government of Madhya Pradesh, HUL reached out to three million people by the end of the first quarter of 2013 with its rural school contact programme to inculcate the habit of hand washing in children.

Unilever now buys over a third (36 per cent) of its agricultural raw materials from sustainable sources, with particular progress in palm oil, sugar, cocoa, vegetables and sunflower oil. It has also now helped to train 450,000 tea farmers in sustainable practices, of whom over 300,000 have achieved Rainforest Alliance certification. By end of 2012, HUL sourced 69 per cent of its raw materials sustainably in India. In 2012, 100 per cent of palm oil sourced by HUL was covered by ‘Green Palm’ certificates. Halve the environmental footprint of its products across the value chain

Globally, between 2008-2012 greenhouse gas emissions from energy in manufacturing have been cut by nearly a third and manufacturing waste has halved for Unilever. Over half of Unilever's 252 manufacturing sites around the world now send zero non-hazardous waste to landfill, and the company has set itself a new target of extending this to all its factories by 2015. In its manufacturing operations, HUL has reduced CO₂ emissions by 22 per cent, water usage by 29  per cent and waste by 77 per cent against the 2008 baseline. In India, 31 out of 38 factories are now 100 per cent zero non-hazardous waste to landfill.

Says Nitin Paranjpe, CEO, HUL, “Last year, we brought to market, innovations like Magic water saver and Comfort 1 Rinse to help cut water usage by our consumers while using our products, where a large part of our footprint lies. Many more such solutions are needed to drive change. We need to work with more partners and help bring the fruits of sustainable growth to society. And above all else, we have to enlist the support of people to influence behaviour change at the consumer-end because only then can we make an impact across the value chain. This remains a big challenge.”

Sustainable Living Plan - India Highlights:

• Over 17 million people reached through Lifebuoy Hand washing programmes in 2012, taking the total to 47 million people reached since 2010.
• More than 45 million people gained access to safe drinking water from Pureit globally by end of 2012.
• CO2 emissions per tonne of production in India reduced by 22 per cent, water use by 29 per cent and waste by 77 per cent compared to 2008.
• More than 30,000 climate-friendly freezers with Hydrocarbon technology deployed in India till date.
• Out of 38 HUL factories, 30 became zero-discharge sites by 2012.
• HUL factories with 100% zero non-hazardous waste to landfill increased to 31.
• 100 per cent of palm oil products sourced in 2012 are backed by sustainability certificates.
• Number of Shakti entrepreneurs scaled up to 48,000 in 15 states across India; Shaktimaans scaled up to more than 30,000 across India.