Unilever Ungc Cop 2021 Final

Download as pdf or txt
Download as pdf or txt
You are on page 1of 50

Unilever Global Compact Advanced COP

2021 Self-Assessment
Implementing the Ten Principles into Strategies & Operations

GC Scope or Criteria for GC Unilever Approach Where To Find Reference


Principle Advanced Out More to GRI
Level Standards

Scope: Criterion 1: The Our commitment to responsible business and Our strategy 102-14
Implementing COP describes sustainable living is embedded into our business agenda
Our strategy: The 102-15
the Ten mainstreaming through our purpose, vision, business model and, for the
Principles into into corporate last ten years, the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan (USLP). Unilever Compass 102-18
Strategies & functions and Annual Report 102-20
The USLP ran until the end of 2020. The USLP has been
Operations business units.
followed by the Unilever Compass, our new business and Accounts
strategy, which has sustainability embedded at its core. 2020 p1; 8-11 (our
The Unilever Compass was formally launched in 2021 strategy); 12-13
and is built on three beliefs: that brands with purpose
(business model)
grow; companies with purpose last; and people with
purpose thrive. USLP 2010 to 2020
During 2020, we continued to embed sustainability into Summary of 10
every part our business under the umbrella of the USLP years’ progress
and the USLP remained the guiding framework for
Our sustainability
Unilever’s sustainability progress during the reporting
governance
period (to 31 December 2020).
To achieve our vision to be a global leader in sustainable
business, we are focused on using our size and scale to

June 2021 1
help drive change in our extended value chain and The world’s food
making our brands prominent vehicles for driving social system needs to
and environmental change. Our people agenda ensures change
our employees find purpose in their work and are
equipped for the future of work. It also aims to deepen Clean home.
our culture of pioneering to fuel innovation. Clean Planet.
We are integrating sustainability into our brands and Clean future.
innovation processes to help drive business growth. Our Positive
To help achieve our Unilever Sustainable Living Plan Beauty vision for
(USLP) goals, we developed a systematic approach to people and planet
integrate sustainability into brand strategy. Previously
known as our Sustainable Living Brands, we now call this Code of Business
Brands with Purpose and we’re continuing with this Principles and
approach in the Unilever Compass, our new business Code Policies
strategy which has sustainability embedded at its core.
Human rights in
The Unilever Compass has now superseded the USLP,
which finished at the end of 2020. Our Brands with our operations
Purpose have both a defined purpose and sustainable Human rights in
products. The purpose captures the action the brand will
our extended
take to measurably make the world a better place.
value chain
Brands that wish to feed into the Unilever Compass Goals
require a Basis of Preparation document to qualify their
impact numbers.
We are working with our customers, and suppliers,
engaging employees and forging new partnerships. We
have developed a simple four-point framework to help
capture the ways in which sustainability contributes to
our business success – more growth, lower cost, less risk,
more trust.

June 2021 2
The Unilever Leadership Executive (ULE), led by our Chief
Executive Officer monitored implementation and delivery
of the USLP and will continue to monitor the
implementation and delivery of the Unilever Compass. In
2019 we integrated the management of sustainability
issues into the ULE, our highest operational leadership
group. The ULE meets monthly and its agenda
incorporates the agenda of our former USLP Steering
Team. The ULE comprises our CEO, COO, CFO, Chief
Digital & Marketing Officer, Chief Supply Chain Officer,
Chief HR Officer, two regional presidents and two
divisional presidents.
The Board’s Corporate Responsibility Committee (CRC) of
Non-Executive Directors monitors USLP progress as one
of its allocated focus risks. The ULE and CRC benefit from
the insights of the USLP Advisory Council – a group of
external specialists who guide and critique our
sustainability strategy. In 2020, the Advisory Council
comprised seven independent external specialists in
sustainability from not-for-profit organisations, impact
investors and academia, chaired by our Chief
Sustainability Officer.
The Unilever Compass will continue the USLP’s focus on
our entire portfolio of brands, all countries in which we
sell our products and applies across our whole value
chain – from the sourcing of raw materials to our
factories and the way consumers use our products. To
embed sustainability into every stage of the lifecycle of
our products, we are working with our suppliers to

June 2021 3
support responsible approaches to sourcing raw
materials.
Our Code of Business Principles and Code Policies are
mandatory for all employees and others working for
Unilever, including our board of directors, and apply to
all Unilever companies, subsidiaries and organisations
over which Unilever has management control.
The Code was refreshed in 2020 and now includes the
provision of a living wage to our employees, ethical data
use, transparency and a greater focus on safety and
mental wellbeing.

Criterion 2: The Until the end of 2020, the USLP was our detailed blueprint Annual Report
COP describes to achieve sustainable growth, while delivering our and Accounts
value chain purpose. From 2021 onwards, the USLP has been 2020 p12-13
implementatio replaced by the Unilever Compass, our new business
(business model)
n. strategy, which has sustainability embedded at its core.
Responsible
Our aim is to create transformational change across our
value chain – from our operations, to our sourcing, to the Sourcing Policy
way consumers use and dispose of our products. We Responsible
work to use our scale and influence to alter the systems
Business Partner
we are part of so positive change becomes possible.
Policy
Through our Responsible Sourcing Policy (RSP) and our
Responsible Business Partner Policy (RBPP) we work with People and
farmers and suppliers to drive social and environmental Nature Policy
standards in our supply chain. The policies embody our
Unilever’s Supply
commitment to conduct business with integrity,
Chain
openness and respect for universal human rights and

June 2021 4
core labour principles advocating a beyond compliance Sustainable and
approach to both our supply and distribution channels. regenerative
We believe that as a business we have a responsibility to sourcing
our consumers and to the communities in which we have
Future of work
a presence. Around the world, we invest in local
economies and develop people’s skills inside and outside Partner with
of Unilever. Purpose
We are continually looking for new ideas and ways to The world’s food
influence our wider value chain. We know that
system needs to
collaboration with others holds the key to tackling many
change
sustainability challenges and our transformational
change initiatives aim to help bring about the systems Clean home.
change needed to address some of the most complex Clean Planet.
social and environmental problems. Through our
Clean future.
business and brands, we run a range of programmes and
use our scale, influence and resources to make a real Our Positive
difference to issues such as taking action on climate Beauty vision for
change, creating a waste-free world, raising living people and planet
standards, equity, diversity and inclusion, positive
nutrition, improving health & wellbeing, protecting and
regenerating nature and improving food security.

Human Rights Management Policies & Procedures

June 2021 5
GC Principle Criteria for Unilever Approach Where To Find Out Reference
GC Advanced More to GRI
Level Standards
In line with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and
Principle 1: Criterion 3: Human Rights 406-1
Human Rights (2011), we base our human rights
Businesses The COP Report 2020
commitment and policy on the International Bill of Human 407-1
should describes
Rights (consisting, in addition to the Universal Declaration Human Rights 414-1
support and robust
of Human Rights, of the International Covenant on Civil and Progress Report
respect the commitments, 414-2
Political Rights and the International Covenant on
protection of strategies or 2017
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights) and the principles
internationally policies in the
concerning fundamental rights set out in the International Human Rights
proclaimed area of
Labour Organization’s Declaration on Fundamental Report 2015
human rights. human rights.
Principles and Rights at Work. We also support the OECD
Respecting Human
Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. Our approach is to
uphold and promote human rights in three ways: Rights
Principle 2:
Businesses • In our operations by upholding our values and Human rights in
should make standards. our operations
sure that they • In our relationships with our suppliers and other
are not Human rights in
business partners.
complicit in • By working through external initiatives, such as the our extended
human rights UN Global Compact. value chain
abuses
A key requirement of the UN Guiding Principles is for Human Rights
businesses to have a policy statement that addresses their Supplier Audit
responsibility to respect human rights. Our Human Rights Update 2020
Policy Statement provides clarity on our commitment to
respect universal principles, our due diligence processes Unilever Human
and our governance. Rights Policy
We were the first company to adopt and use the UN Guiding Statement
Principles Reporting Framework to produce a

June 2021 6
comprehensive, standalone Human Rights report, published Unilever Code of
in June 2015, fulfilling our commitment to report publicly on Principles: Our
our implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Respect, Dignity
Business and Human Rights. In the report we focus on our
and Fair
‘salient’ human rights issues - that is, those that are at risk of
Treatment Code
the most severe negative impacts through our activities or
business relationships. This approach is in line with the UN Policy
Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. We Unilever
published our second standalone Human Rights Report in
Responsible
December 2017.
Sourcing Policy
In 2018, we started a review of our salient human rights
issues, carrying out internal and external consultations with Responsible
rights-holders and their representatives. In 2019 we held Business Partner
internal and external stakeholder meetings in Kenya and Policy
Thailand, and carried out a salient issue review in Brazil. This
Raising living
series of regional stakeholder consultations helped us to
identify specific salient issues relevant to each market, and standards
inform our efforts in 2020. Modern Slavery
In 2020 we published detailed analysis of the latest findings Transparency
from our human rights supplier audits covering our eight Statement 2021
salient human rights issues. This follows similar reports on
audit findings in 2018 and 2019. Basis of
preparation 2020:
In 2020, our third Human Rights Report, set out our human
USLP Progress
rights journey over the last decade and our ambitions for
the future. Summary; p10-13

We are committed to ensuring that all our employees work


in an environment that promotes diversity, trust, human
rights and equal opportunities, and is free from
discrimination or victimisation. Our Respect, Dignity and Fair

June 2021 7
Treatment Code Policy sets out what we and our employees
must do to ensure this, and forms part of the framework of
policies supporting our Code of Business Principles.

Criterion 4: Our Responsible Sourcing Policy sets out our expectations


The COP with regards to the respect for the human rights, including Links as per above for
describes labour rights, of the workers in our extended supply chain. Criterion 3
effective We will only work with suppliers who implement our
management Responsible Sourcing Policy. They must agree to ensure
systems to transparency, to remedy any shortcomings, and to drive
integrate the continuous improvement. We continue to build the
human rights awareness and knowledge of our employees and workers
principles on human rights, including labour rights, encouraging them
to speak up, without retribution, about any concerns they
may have, including through our grievance channels. We
are committed to continue increasing the capacity of our
management to effectively identify and respond to
concerns.
Links as per above for
As part of the USLP and now within the Unilever Compass,
Criterion 3
we have set ambitious goals and are taking a number of
actions to on contribute to a fairer and more socially
inclusive world, a living wage, improving employee health,
nutrition and wellbeing, and ensure safety at work.

Criterion 5: We recognise that we must take steps to identify and


The COP address any actual or potential adverse impacts with which
describes we may be involved whether directly or indirectly through
effective our own activities or our business relationships including
monitoring with our non-supplier business partners who must align with
and our Responsible Business Partner Policy. We manage these
evaluation risks by integrating the responses to our due diligence into

June 2021 8
mechanisms our policies and internal systems, acting on the findings,
of human tracking our actions, and communicating with our
rights stakeholders about how we address impacts. We undertake
integration. impact assessments for high risk
commodities/countries/interactions and take proactive
steps to identify activities that may contribute to negative
human rights impacts.
We work with external monitoring systems to enable
suppliers to demonstrate compliance with our standards.
These include Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit (SMETA)
and in 2018 we introduced the use of EcoVadis assessments
to evaluate indirect procurement suppliers. In 2019 we
introduced a new dashboard for our procurement teams to
track global compliance with our Responsible Sourcing
Policy (RSP).
Our UK Modern Slavery Act Transparency Statement 2021
gives specific information relating to our work to eradicate
forced labour from global supply chains. We identified
temporary workers as an area of focus both in our own
operations and in our extended supply chain. In 2018 we
rolled out our internal policy and process for the
Sustainable Employment of Temporary Workers, which set
out 10 Golden Standards – guiding principles that include
fair and equal treatment, gender equality and the
prohibition of forced labour or modern slavery. By linking
this to extensive work to collect global granular data
relating to the employment of temporary workers in our
factories and by creating a strengthened labour agency
vetting process, we’ve gained greater insight and
understanding of how temporary workers are employed.

June 2021 9
Instances of recruitment fees being paid were found and
these are being further investigated. In 2020, because of
COVID-19, these assessments, including worker surveys,
were done remotely, focusing initially on South East Asia.
The realisation of the right to Freedom of Association in
addition to the provision of grievance mechanisms in line
with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human
Rights is vital to effectively evaluate our progress. For more
information of how we are both integrating human rights
principles and monitoring this work see both our Human
Rights Report 2020 and our work on Respecting Human
Rights.

June 2021 10
Labour Management Policies & Procedures

GC Principle Criteria for Unilever Approach Where To Find Reference


GC Advanced Out More to GRI
Level Standards

Principle 3: Criterion 6: Millions of people work in our operations and extended Responsible 406-1
Businesses The COP supply chain, helping us create the products used two and Sourcing Policy
407-1
should describes a half billion people every day. For us, fairness in the
Responsible
uphold the robust workplace is about respecting, and advancing, their human 409-1
Business Partner
freedom of commitments, rights – everywhere we operate, and in everything we do.
Policy
association strategies or
We prohibit discrimination and we are committed to safe
and the policies in the Human Rights
and healthy working conditions, the right to freedom of
effective area of labour Supplier Audit
association and collective bargaining, and to effective
recognition of Update 2020
information and consultation procedures. We expect our
the right to
partners to adhere to business principles consistent with Unilever Human
collective
our own, and implement this through our Responsible Rights Policy
bargaining.
Sourcing Policy and Responsible Business Partner Policy. Statement
Our Respect, Dignity & Fair Treatment Code Policy sets out Human rights in
Principle 4: our commitment to human rights within our own
our operations
The operations, specifically our commitment to ensuring a
elimination of working environment that promotes diversity, where there is Human rights in
all forms of mutual trust, respect for human rights and equal our extended
forced and opportunity, and no unlawful discrimination or value chain
compulsory victimisation. Human Rights
labour.
Our Code of Business Principles states that “We will not use Report 2020
any form of forced, compulsory, trafficked or child labour”.
Our internal Social Impact Hub gives guidance on issues

June 2021 11
Principle 5: including child, migrant and contract labour and the Human Rights
The effective eradication of forced labour including modern day slavery. Progress Report
abolition of 2017
Since 2015 we have worked closely with the Fair Wage
child labour.
Network to develop a Framework for Fair Compensation. Human Rights
The Framework outlines how the various existing elements Report 2015
of our compensation packages deliver fair compensation to
Principle 6: A living wage
our employees and is supported by a methodology to
The
monitor our employees’ rewards against relevant Living Equity, Diversity
elimination of
Wage benchmarks. and Inclusion
discrimination
in respect of In 2017 we increased our ambition on the Framework’s Business integrity
employment living wage element by advancing our target from 2020 to UK Gender Pay
and 2018. We fulfilled the Framework’s living wage element by Report 2020
occupation the end of 2020. This meant that worldwide, all our direct
employees were paid at or above a certified living wage. In Unilever Compass
2021 we increased our ambition further when we Strategy
announced that one of our new Unilever Compass goals is
Unilever Modern
to ensure that everyone who directly provides goods and
Slavery and
services to Unilever will earn at least a living wage or
Human Trafficking
income by 2030.
Statement p.8
We have a longstanding commitment to equal pay for
equal work, which forms another principle of our Fair
Compensation Framework. Our compensation structures
are intended to be gender neutral, with any pay differences
between employees in similar jobs fairly reflecting levels of
individual performance and skill. Our most recent analysis
highlights that there is more work to do to continue
improving our gender balance, and related gender pay
gaps, at various levels and in various countries throughout
the business. In 2020 we published our fourth UK Gender

June 2021 12
Pay Gap Report in line with the UK Government’s Gender Pay
Gap regulations.
We continue to focus on the eradication of forced labour in
global supply chains and have made progress on the
removal of worker recruitment fees through the Leadership
Group for Responsible Recruitment, the Consumer Goods
Forum, Humanity United and the Responsible Labour
Initiative (part of the Responsible Business Alliance which
we joined in 2019). In 2018 and 2019 we rolled out our
internal policy on the Sustainable Employment of
Temporary Workers, which set out 10 Golden Standards –
guiding principles that include fair and equal treatment,
gender equality and the prohibition of forced labour or
modern slavery. In 2019 we signed an MOU with the Fair
Labour Association to improve working conditions for
migrant seasonal agricultural workers in Turkey,
participating in the Harvesting for the Future project. Over
2019 and 2020, five brands participated in the project and
20 participant suppliers. 9,440 workers were reached via 528
worker groups, 363 labour contractors were reached and
746 producers.
We work with trade unions at both a local and global level
to improve working conditions (see Criterion 7).
We regularly engage with expert organisations such as Shift
and the Institute for Human Rights and Business, and with
trade unions and civil society organisations, such as Oxfam,
on human rights including labour rights. We support the
Children’s Rights and Business Principles developed by
UNICEF, Save the Children and the UN Global Compact. We
are members of industry organisations such as the

June 2021 13
Consumer Goods Forum (CGF), Aim Progress and the World Links as per above
Business Council for Sustainable Development, where we in Criterion 6
use our membership to work with other businesses to scale
up solutions to human rights issues. Unilever is a member of
the Institute for Human Rights and Business Leadership
Group for Responsible Recruitment where we are
committed to the Employer Pays Principle – that no worker
should pay for a job and we were instrumental in the CGF
resolution on forced labour and subsequent Three Priority
Industry Principles.

Criterion 7: We know that labour rights abuses exist in the sectors and
The COP markets in which we operate – and at times, in our own
describes value chain. These abuses are unacceptable. We have
effective identified our eight most salient human rights issues
management including labour rights risks such as freedom of association,
systems to forced labour, harassment, discrimination and fair wages.
integrate the We report on progress in our third Human Rights Report
labour published in December 2020, in our Planet and Society hub
principles on Unilever.com and in our Human Rights 2020 Supplier
Audit Update.
We have a longstanding commitment to Freedom of
Association, and we engage with both local and global
trade unions through both formal and informal
consultations. Formal consultations are in addition to the
day-to-day interactions our leadership teams have with
union representatives in the factories, and regional and
global consultations we have with trade union executives.
In 2019 we signed a joint commitment on Sustainable
Employment in Unilever manufacturing with the IUF and
IndustriALL. The commitment recognises the key role of

June 2021 14
trade unions in protecting worker rights. Governance of our
human rights strategy is led from the top by our CEO and
the Unilever Leadership Executive, with oversight provided
by the Corporate Responsibility Committee of the Unilever
Board of Directors. We continue to embed human rights and
implement the UN Guiding Principles on Business and
Human Rights throughout our operations. We work to align
and expand our internal policy framework with the
Principles and integrate them into pre-existing policies and
codes, driving labour rights improvements. We embed our
policies through audits, Human Rights Impact Assessments
(HRIAs), specific local action plans and by working with External
others, either bilaterally with our suppliers, or through whistleblowing
industry or other multi-stakeholder initiatives. reporting site:
Our dialogue with suppliers and business partners is Business Integrity
critical, where they feel able to raise issues so that we can – It’s How We
work together to share best practices and respond to Work
challenges as they emerge. For example, to keep the lines Unilever Code
of communication open, our procurement managers work Support Line
directly with suppliers to help identify risks and
remediate gaps in policies and practices.
Effective grievance mechanisms, as described in the UN
Guiding Principles, are critical in ensuring that human
rights, including labour rights, are respected. We have
developed a single integrated channel to ensure that our
employees can raise grievances, issues and concerns as
simply as possible. We have also further developed and
strengthened our tools to analyse and resolve the
grievances and breaches we receive.

June 2021 15
Our Responsible Sourcing Policy includes information on
grievance mechanisms and we have a specific palm oil
grievance mechanism.

Criterion 8: Since 2012, we have provided a web-based reporting


The COP process for both employees and suppliers to raise concerns
describes or highlight workplace or supply chain issues, in addition to
effective existing telephone and email reporting systems. Employees
monitoring can also report concerns to their line manager, local
and Business Integrity Officer or a member of their local
evaluation Business Integrity Committee. Alternatively, they can use
mechanisms our confidential external ‘Unilever Code Support Line’
of labour (whistleblowing line) via telephone or internet. Business
principles Integrity training and communications materials provide
integration details of available options. All reported breaches of the
Code of Business Principles are monitored and dealt with by
our local business leaders at country level.
We continue to align our own factories with our Responsible
Sourcing Policy, using independent, external on-site audits
determined from a risk-based perspective. This ensures that
all internal sourcing units are held to the same standard as
external suppliers.
We are seeking to improve our analytical capabilities to
make sure any internal trends, hot spots and root causes
are rapidly identified and remediated through
the introduction of appropriate controls.
We are committed to transparency, acknowledging that
many challenges remain which must be resolved. In the
Salient Issues section of our Human Rights report,
we discuss the complexities present in both our operations

June 2021 16
and our extended supply chain. We have continued to
expand our Framework for Women’s Safety and created
global Land Rights Principles and Implementation
Guidance which we will use to monitor our work to address
potential human rights issues. Our third Human Rights
Progress Report published in December 2020 and our
Respect Human Rights section on unilever.com explain our
progress against each of our salient human rights issues in
both our own operations and extended supply chain and
the actions we are taking to remedy any issues.

Environmental Management Policies & Procedures

Criteria for GC Reference


Where To Find
Advanced Unilever Approach to GRI
GC Principle Out More
Level Standards

Principle 7: Criterion 9: Our Code of Business Principles states that we are Unilever 102-11
Businesses The COP committed to making continuous improvements in the Environmental
should support describes management of our environmental impact and to the 301-1
Policy
a precautionary robust longer-term goal of developing a sustainable business.
305-1
approach to commitments, Unilever Compass
environmental strategies or Furthermore, our Code states we will work in partnership
Strategy 303-1
challenges. policies in the with others to promote environmental care, increase
area of 308-1

June 2021 17
environmental understanding of environmental issues and disseminate Unilever 308-2
stewardship good practice. Sustainable Living
Principle 8:
Businesses We consider the reduction of our greenhouse gas (GHG), Plan 2010-2020:
should water and waste impacts across our value chain, from Summary of 10
undertake sourcing our raw materials to within our own years’ progress
initiatives to manufacturing and operations and consumer use. We p.4, 14-28
promote also aim to source our agricultural raw materials
greater sustainably. Our policies
environmental
responsibility. One of our environmental goals – which we began in the Sustainability
USLP and is continuing as part of the Unilever Compass – Reporting Centre
is to halve the greenhouse gas impact of our products (Our policies and
across the lifecycle by 2030. This covers our entire value
Principle 9: management
chain, from the sourcing of our raw materials and our
Businesses own manufacturing, through to consumer use and approach)
should disposal.
encourage the Our eco-efficiency
development In 2015 we set an ambition to become ‘carbon positive’ in reporting
and diffusion of our manufacturing operations by 2030 which included
environmentally sourcing 100% of our energy across our operations from Climate Action
friendly renewable sources. Since we set our greenhouse gas
Protect and
technologies. emissions target, we have extended our focus beyond our
manufacturing sites to apply to our global operations. regenerate nature
Our ambition has evolved from becoming carbon positive
Waste-free world
to achieving zero emissions from our operations by 2030.
To achieve this, we are building on our longstanding work Water
across our global factory network to reduce our energy
stewardship
use, transition to renewable grid electricity, phase out
coal and move to 100% renewable energy across our Annual Report
operations. The Science Based Targets initiative has and Accounts
validated this target as meeting the level of

June 2021 18
decarbonisation (removal of carbon dioxide from the 2020 p28-30
atmosphere) needed to keep the global temperature (Planet and
increase to 1.5⁰C. In our 2020 Annual Report we published Society); p51-60
the results of a high-level scenario analysis of the impact
(sustainability
of 2°C and 4°C global warming scenarios on our business
deep-dives,
in 2030 and the potential impact of climate change on
three of our key agricultural commodities: soy, palm oil including TCFD
and black tea (see pages 51-57 of our 2020 Annual Report reporting)
and Accounts).
Climate Transition
We set a goal to halve the waste associated with the Action Plan
disposal of our products by 2020. Although we did not hit
PwC's
the 50% target, we achieved a 34% reduction in our
Independent
consumer waste footprint. We also have ongoing waste
targets, including a commitment to ensuring that 100% of Limited Assurance
our plastic packaging will be reusable, recyclable or Report 2020
compostable by 2025; to halve the amount of virgin
plastic we use in our packaging by 2025; and to help Basis of
collect and process more plastic packaging than we sell, preparation 2020
also by 2025.
Responsible
We are transforming our approach to plastic packing Sourcing Policy
through our ‘Less plastic. Better plastic. No plastic.’
internal framework. In 2020, a number of our brands Responsible
increased their use of recycled plastic. For example, Business Partner
Magnum collaborated with supplier SABIC, to develop Policy
recycled plastic ice cream tubs in Europe that are food-
grade and able to withstand freezing temperatures. This Zero
new technology uses low quality, mixed plastic waste deforestation
that wouldn’t otherwise be recycled. Magnum’s new tubs
– more than 7 million of them – are now going global.

June 2021 19
In the USLP, we also set a target to halve the water Sustainability
associated with the consumer use of or products by 2020. performance data
We didn’t achieve this challenging target by the end of
2020 and our water impact per consumer remains the CDP Climate 2020
same as when we set the target. This is partly because response
progress has been counterbalanced by changes in our
product portfolio since 2010. Our portfolio is now made CDP Water 2020
up of more products that have a higher than average response
water footprint compared to 2010 and our biggest water
impact – over 99% – occurs when consumers shower, CDP Forests 2020
bathe and wash clothes with our products. response

We did see water savings in some of our product


categories since 2010. This was most notable in Skin
Cleansing (e.g. growth of Lifebuoy hand soap sales in
Asia) and Fabric Solutions (e.g. growth of Rin and Wheel
laundry detergents in Asia), which together account for
76% of the total water footprint. These changes were in
part due to water-smart innovations such as our Rin
detergent bar which uses SmartFoam technology and up
to halves the water needed for rinsing, making the
washing process easier and quicker for consumers in
water-scarce regions.

To tackle water scarcity, in 2019 we launched a range of


no-rinse conditioners in the US with our new hair care
brand ‘the good stuff’. Our Love Home and Planet dry
wash sprays are made with only 0.02% of the water used
in a normal UK laundry load. And our Rin detergent bar
uses up to half the water needed for rinsing, making the

June 2021 20
washing process easier for consumers in water-scarce
regions.

We have two new goals relating to water in the Unilever


Compass as part of our Protect and Regenerate Nature
pillar: implement water stewardship programmes in 100
locations in water-stressed areas by 2030; and making
100% of our ingredients biodegradable by 2030.

All of our environmental targets can be found in our new


business strategy, the Unilever Compass.

We are founding members of the CDP (formerly Carbon


Disclosure Project) Supply Chain Leadership
Collaboration. CDP aims to increase companies’
disclosure of their GHG management plans and impacts,
and to encourage them to put reduction plans in place.
CDP’s supplier programme has a global reach and
involves businesses collaborating through their supply
chains.

We are part of the Natural Capital Coalition and we


working to advance work in this area, through the WBCSD
and Natural Capital Project amongst others.

Criterion 10: Our environmental management system (EMS) underpins


The COP our environment strategy. All Unilever companies must
describes comply with the Unilever standards for occupational
effective safety and health and environmental care (SHE), as well
management as our Consumer Safety Policy. Our environmental policy
systems to outlines our individual and shared responsibilities to the
integrate the environment and is implemented through the

June 2021 21
environmental commitments within the environmental pillars of the
principles Unilever Sustainable Living Plan.

Each Unilever organisation must establish a formal SHE


Framework Standard for Environmental Care, based on
the ISO 14001 management systems standard. Our EMS is
designed to achieve continuous improvement.

Lifecycle assessment (LCA) is one of a number of


techniques we use to help us understand the impacts of
our products on the environment. We conduct LCAs on our
existing products and ingredients to help identify
improvement opportunities, to improve data quality and
relevance to our studies.

We require all suppliers to comply with our Responsible


Sourcing Policy, which mandates suppliers to conduct
their business in a manner which embraces sustainability
and reduces environmental impact. Our mandatory
requirement is that suppliers are environmentally
compliant with all necessary legal permits, but the policy
expects them to proceed towards best practice. We are
willing to apply more stringent criteria than those
required by law when we believe this to be appropriate.

Within our own operations, our World Class


Manufacturing (WCM) programme provides tools,
techniques and awareness to integrate sustainability
through continual improvement and investing in new
equipment and technology.

We share best practice with those people responsible for


reducing the environmental impact of our manufacturing

June 2021 22
operations. Our central Best Practice Portal has over 360
replicable examples of environmental improvements.

Over the past five years, we piloted different carbon


pricing schemes including a programme that ‘taxed’
divisional capital expenditure budgets in order to create
a centrally managed Low Carbon Fund. The fund was
used to accelerate clean technology investment at our
sites. We have decided to replace this programme with an
explicit commitment to ensure that future capital
expenditure is aligned with the Paris Agreement’s
objective of limiting global average temperature rise to
1.5 degrees.

Criterion 11: We use a number of metrics to assess our environmental


The COP impacts across the value chain covering greenhouse gas
describes (GHG) emissions, water, waste and sustainable sourcing.
effective
monitoring Eco-efficiency data is used to track performance, set
and targets and identify the best opportunities to drive
evaluation reductions in each of our key indicators.
mechanisms Many of our manufacturing sites also make use of real-
for time eco-efficiency data. This is collected through
environmental automated systems – known as measurement,
stewardship monitoring and targeting (MM&T) systems. This helps our
manufacturing sites to better track their performance and
identify reduction opportunities.

We collect financial information through our


Environmental Performance Reporting system for all
manufacturing sites and by each energy and water type,
which enables us to measure the economic benefits of

June 2021 23
our eco-efficiency programme. Since 2008 we have
avoided costs of more than €1.2 billion through improving
water and energy efficiency at our factories, using less
material and producing less waste.

Regular environmental audits help our sites to achieve


continuous improvement. We use a mixture of internal
and external audits. Of our sites, 100% receive a regular
audit (at least every three years) to assess the robustness
of the implementation of our Environmental Care
Framework Standard. More than 25% of our sites are
audited every year, whether that is via internal or external
parties. In 2020, approximately 32% of our production
output from group-wide operations was certified or still
certified by ISO14001. We developed the Environmental
Care Framework Standard with inputs and requirements
on par with ISO14001 which is now mandatory for sites to
adopt and operate by. Our Framework Standard, aligned
with ISO14001, is audited by external and internal
professionals.

At least once a year, all operating units conduct a review


of their environmental 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 our Corporate Risk Committee each
year.

A selection of our environmental metrics are


independently assured by PwC.

June 2021 24
Anti-Corruption Management Policies & Procedures

GC Principle Criteria for Unilever Approach Where To Find Reference


GC Advanced Out More to GRI
Level Standards
Principle 10: Criterion 12: Unilever has a global zero tolerance approach to all forms of Code of Business 102-16
Businesses The COP corruption, which is outlined in our Code of Business Principles and
should work describes Principles. Our Code of Business Principles (launched in 1995) Code Policies 102-17
against robust and 24 related Code Policies (updated and also published 205-3
corruption in commitments, externally in 2016 and subsequently updated in 2020) are at Business integrity
all its forms, strategies or the heart of our Business Integrity framework. This extends to (including countering
corruption policy
including policies in the all our employees, board members, third parties, new
documents)
extortion area of anti- acquisitions and joint ventures, irrespective of financial
and bribery. corruption values involved. We elaborate our commitment in multiple Unilever Code
Code of Business Principles (CoBP) Code Policies including (i) Support Line
Avoiding Conflicts of Interest, (ii) Anti-Bribery, Gifts & (whistleblowing
Hospitality (G&H), (iii) Anti Money Laundering, Accurate line)
Records, Reporting and Accounting; (iv) Protecting Unilever’s
Physical and Financial Assets and Intellectual Property, (v) Annual Report
Contact with Government, Regulators and Non- and Accounts
Governmental Organisations; and (vi) Political Activities and 2020 p18 (Working
Political Donations. All were updated in 2016 and give clear with integrity); p72
instructions on mandated behaviours. In 2018, we launched (Report of the
a new company-wide platform for online disclosure of G&H Corporate
and conflict of interest to enhance recording practices and Responsibility
oversight. Committee)

Our Code Policies go beyond complying with applicable laws


and regulations and are mandatory in all jurisdictions to set

June 2021 25
consistently high standards. Periodic mandatory training on Responsible
all relevant Code Policies is provided to managers and Sourcing Policy
additional higher risk teams and we offer other bespoke
training and awareness raising events for specific business Human rights in
activities and functions. In order to enhance capabilities and our operations
standards, in 2018 we reviewed some of our guidance and Human rights in
resources, refreshed our country risk profiles, and launched our extended
an Anti-Corruption Community of Practice for all staff value chain
involved in advisory and case resolution.
Responsible
In 2018 we also rolled out new principles for recruiting Business Partner
employees from the public sector to ensure the right balance Policy
is struck between the benefit from such recruitment and
avoiding potential conflicts of interest with previous
employers (revolving doors).

The Code Policies are also distilled into a ‘Winning with


Integrity’ booklet for non-managers, translated into multiple
languages.

Countering corruption remains a focus area. In 2018 and


2019, we deployed mandated interactive training across the
business to all employees on topics such as Anti-bribery;
Gifts and Hospitality; Avoiding Conflicts of Interest; Anti-
Money Laundering; and Accurate Records, Reporting and
Accounting, which are ongoing. Our approach to training
employees in 2020 was based on a combination of external
and internal risks which resulted in tailored learning
curriculums deployed based on geography and function.
Learning materials, which are regularly updated, are
available both online and for face-to-face awareness and
learning sessions. They are designed to highlight key risk, our

June 2021 26
“musts” and “must nots” and are available in numerous
languages. Materials target not only office-based
employees, but also those working in factories and more
remote areas.

In 2020 our offline learning approach which was expanded


to include more African and Asian languages, was centred
around 6 animated videos supported by guidance materials
for the local trainers and 34,529 of our offline employees
were trained using these materials.

In total, 450,854 individual online Business Integrity training


sessions were completed by Unilever employees in
2020.Unilever is committed to working with others who share
our values and seek to operate to the same standards as we
do. We perform due diligence on all our suppliers and
business partners, and we extend our zero-tolerance
approach to them through mandatory compliance with our
Responsible Sourcing Policy and Responsible Business
Partner Policy.

Criterion 13: Our CoBP framework is built on the pillars of “Prevent –


The COP Detect – Respond” to ensure we have a continuous ability to
describes develop our compliance programme based on learnings
effective (e.g. from CoBP cases, self-assessments and audits). We also
management actively monitor regulatory developments and participate in
systems to conferences to share, learn and adopt best practices.
integrate the
anti- The Chief Legal Officer and Group Secretary (CLO) is
corruption responsible for the strategy implementation of the full
principle compliance programme. The Business Integrity (BI) team is
part of Unilever’s legal function, giving Unilever dedicated

June 2021 27
expert resource to embed a compliance culture and make
Unilever more agile in identifying and mitigating compliance
risks. The BI organisation features five dedicated regional BI
Directors who oversee BI work in North America, Latin
America, Europe, Asia & Russia/Africa/Middle East: reporting
to the Chief Business Integrity Officer (CBIO), they are
supported by a team of BI Officers across the globe,
including dedicated team members in geographic “hot
spots” to drive operational excellence. In 2018 we also hired
a Global Anti-Corruption Counsel to provide specific subject
matter expertise to the business and lead the different
enhancements to our compliance framework.

The Global Code and Policy Committee (GCPC) oversees


compliance globally including related policies and
standards, and reports to the Unilever Leadership Executive
(ULE) and to the Audit & Corporate Responsibility
Committees of the Board of Directors. The GCPC is chaired by
the CLO.

Unilever’s Chief Business Integrity Officer also attends


meetings of the Board Corporate Responsibility Committee.

In 2020, the Corporate Responsibility Committee studied


Unilever’s latest methodology for assessing anti-bribery and
corruption risks and the comprehensive mapping of these
risks by country and business activities. These and a number
of other initiatives have helped Unilever move to Band A of
Transparency International UK’s Anti-Corruption Compliance
Benchmark.

June 2021 28
We partner with Maplecroft for detailed indices of
compliance risk by country (updated in 2018) and we have
historically partnered with PwC to review our third-party
compliance programme for external validation and
recommendations to build into our 2017-2020 Roadmap.
Further, Unilever’s risk assessment methodology builds on
UN Global Compact, OECD, Transparency International and
external advisor PwC’s best practice.

Unilever is a founding signatory of the United Nations Global


Compact (UNGC) to help drive global efforts to combat
bribery. Realising UNGC Principle 10 (regarding corruption in
all its forms) is a core focus for us. As part of our culture of
continuous improvement we periodically benchmark
through peer groups and formally through Transparency
International UK’s annual anti-corruption benchmark – their
deep-dives series and their Business Integrity Forum.

Unilever leaders make a visible commitment to fighting


corruption in all its forms, through active participation in
government consultations and key fora such as the UNGC
and its Business for the Rule of Law Steering Committee
(B4ROL), the World Economic Forum Partnering Against
Corruption Initiative (WEF PACI), the International Chamber
of Commerce (ICC), successive B20 task forces and the
Institute of Business Ethics. These efforts result in public
policy transformation and resources that aim at sharing best
practices on developing strong anti-corruption practices in
business and beyond.

Criterion 14: We foster a speak-up culture. Unilever provides external


The COP channels for employees and third parties to confidentially

June 2021 29
describes log concerns through a dedicated web portal or 24-hour toll-
effective free hotline. A dedicated helpdesk covers questions about
monitoring CoBP compliance so issues can be discussed to pre-
and emptively find solutions that avoid breaches.
evaluation
mechanisms Any suspected CoBP breach with a potential anti-corruption
for the angle is subject to triage that ensures accelerated review
integration of supported by internally-created tools involving subject-
anti- matter experts from the BI team. Investigations are overseen
corruption by local Business Integrity Committee unless senior
executives are involved (in which case the CLO and CBIO are
personally involved). Confirmed breaches result in
disciplinary action in line with Unilever’s Global Sanctions
Standard. ‘Reportable’ breaches are escalated to the GCPC
as well as to the Unilever Leadership Executive (ULE), Audit
and Corporate Responsibility Committees of the Board. They
see a quarterly review of case analytics and ‘reportable’
Code breaches by country.

Incidents or concerns involving third parties are managed in


ways that align with our overall approach, by reference to
our internal Red Flag Mitigation Guidance that ensures
prompt escalation and consistency. Since 2018 a newly
staffed Investigations Centre of Excellence provides
enhanced capabilities and resources to all BI investigators.

In 2020, we worked to simplify and improve the


whistleblowing process for users. This year, we received 1,357
reports, closed 1,434 reports (including some from prior
years) and confirmed 723 reports as breaches, which led to
338 people leaving the business.

June 2021 30
Taking Action in Support of Broader UN Goals and Issues
GC Principle Criteria for Unilever Approach Where To Find Reference
GC Advanced Out More to GRI
Level Standards

Scope: Criterion 15: We believe the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Sustainable 102-12
Taking The COP are a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create a better world. Development
Action in describes We use our scale and reach to contribute to the UN’s agenda, Goals 102-13
Support of core business and benefit from them.
Broader UN contributions Planet & Society
Goals and to UN goals We contributed to the development of the SDGs, with actions Hub
Issues and issues including:
• 2012: Our former CEO, Paul Polman, served on the Human rights in
UN’s High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post- our operations
2015 Development Agenda, seeking to ensure that the Human rights in
Criterion 16: voice of business was included.
The COP our extended
• 2014: Unilever co-ordinated the development of a value chain
describes Post-2015 Business Manifesto, endorsed by more than
strategic 20 leading international companies, laying out a Human Rights Report
social vision for strengthening the ability of business to 2020
investments substantially help achieve the SDGs.
and Engaging with our
• 2015: The UN General Assembly adopted the 2030
philanthropy stakeholders
Agenda for Sustainable Development, including 17
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Raising living
• 2016: Our former CEO, Paul Polman, began serving on standards
Criterion 17: the UN Secretary-General’s Advocacy Group for the
The COP Global Goals.

June 2021 31
describes • 2017: Paul Polman (our then CEO) co-founded the Using our voice for
advocacy and Business & Sustainable Development Commission in a zero carbon
public policy 2016, which culminated in the launch of a seminal future
engagement report in 2017, Better Business, Better World, on the
business case for action on the SDGs.
• 2018: We agreed a partnership with UNDP specifically Climate Transition
Criterion 18: aimed at collaborations that will help achieve the Action Plan
The COP SDGs in Bangladesh. A key element will be delivered
through our Pureit brand, helping to ensure safe Transform:
describes
drinking water for Bangladeshis, in support of clean Unlocking the
partnerships
water and sanitation (SDG6). power of markets
and collective
• 2019 and 2020: We continued our work with through
action
TRANSFORM – which we set up in 2015 with the UK’s partnership
Department for International Development –
Sustainability
supporting projects across a number of SDGs aligned
performance data
to our business. TRANSFORM is currently supporting
over 45 projects across 11 countries, which have
reached more than a million people so far.

In 2017 we mapped the SDGs to the nine pillars of the USLP,


and in 2021 we mapped the SDGs to the eight pillars of the
Unilever Compass and found 12 have a strong and direct link.
Furthermore, six of those SDGs have strong and direct links to
more than one pillar.

Our Planet & Society Hub on the Unilever website outlines our
contribution to the SDGs.

We are a founding signatory to the UN Global Compact


(UNGC). This sets out commitments for business in relation to
human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption.
We have pledged to uphold these principles across our

June 2021 32
business. Our former CEO, Paul Polman, is the Vice Chair of
the UNGC and a long-standing member of the Board. We are
active participants in the Action Platforms.

We are members of UNGC’s Human Rights Working Group,


Business for the Rule of Law Committee, CEO Water Mandate
and Caring for Climate Initiative, and we have implemented
the UNGC’s Business Leadership Criteria on Carbon Pricing.
We also support its Guide to Responsible Engagement in
Climate Policy. We are also members of 16 UNGC local
networks in a number of countries including the Netherlands,
Vietnam, Zambia, Romania, South Africa, Turkey, Myanmar,
Mozambique, Ghana, Chile, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Singapore,
Argentina, Colombia, Kenya and the UK. We are actively
increasing our membership of UNGC local networks.

In July 2013, we endorsed the Women’s Empowerment


Principles, a collaboration between UNGC and UN Women.
We are implementing these across our business, as well as
taking steps to increase women’s rights and economic
inclusion in our supply chain. We have also given our support
to UNGC’s Food and Agriculture Principles.

We are signatories to the UNGC Business for Peace, a


platform of over 130 leading companies from 37 countries
dedicated to catalysing collaborative action to advance
peace. Companies who join Business for Peace commit to
paying heightened attention to the implementation of the
UN Global Compact Ten Principles in high-risk and conflict-
affected areas, take action to advance peace, either

June 2021 33
individually or in collaboration with others, and annually
communicate on our progress.

Unilever partners with global organisations Oxfam, Save the


Children, PSI, World Food Programme and UNICEF. These
partnerships helped us to meet our ambitious goal of
helping 1 billion people improve their health and well-being
two years early in 2018. In addition to our focus on water,
sanitation and hygiene (WASH), we are also investing in
livelihoods, sustainable sourcing and women’s
empowerment. Our partners in these areas include: Acumen,
Clinton Giustra Enterprise, the Ford Foundation, and the
Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN).

We believe that Unilever should play an active role in


shaping legislation and regulations that enhance positive
social and environmental outcomes. We have an advocacy
team that works together with other stakeholders to bring
about changes in public policy in key areas of health and
sustainability.

Unilever’s social and community investment strategy is


aligned with our business priorities and strategy in support of
our brands with purpose agenda and the USLP. It is not
based on the traditional model of charitable philanthropy.
Our social and community investment contributions
excluding management costs totalled €169.7 million in 2020
(including management costs the total was €172.7 million (2019: €81.9
million including management costs, €80.2 excluding
management costs).

June 2021 34
In 2020, our spend on Commercial Initiatives designed to
deliver positive social and environmental impact at the same
time as growing our brands – was 11% of our total corporate
community investment. We continue to invest in community
activities that are strategically aligned to the USLP,
accounting for 69% of community investment in 2020.
Charitable donations made up the remaining 20% of spend.
Our reporting of community investment is aligned with the
LBG methodology for corporate community investment.

In 2020, we considerably increased our community


investments and charitable donations to respond to the
COVID-19 pandemic. A large portion of these contributions
was made through in-kind donations of essential hygiene
products (soap, sanitiser, bleach) to respond to our partners’
needs as handwashing and hygiene are two of the most
effective, affordable and easiest ways to help reduce the
spread of germs. For example, in partnership with UNHCR, we
have delivered 30 million bars of soap, hand sanitizer and
disinfectant to more than 50 countries worldwide. This does
not reflect a change of our Corporate Citizenship strategy.

Corporate Sustainability Governance and Leadership

June 2021 35
GC Principle Criteria for Unilever Approach Where To Find Reference
GC Advanced Out More to GRI
Level Standards

Scope: Criterion 19: The Unilever Leadership Executive (ULE), led by our Chief Our sustainability 102-14
Corporate The COP Executive Officer, monitored implementation and delivery of governance
Sustainability describes the USLP and this is continuing for the Unilever Compass. 102-18
Governance CEO Sustainability criteria are built into our senior executive Corporate
governance 102-19
and commitment remuneration procedure in the form of a Management Co-
Leadership and Investment Plan (MCIP) which includes consideration of Our strategy for 102-20
leadership progress against our sustainability targets. sustainable 102-21
growth
Criterion 20: Governance of our conduct as a responsible corporate 102-40
The COP citizen is provided by our Boards’ Corporate Responsibility Our strategy: The
describes Committee (CRC). The CRC monitored USLP progress as one Unilever Compass 102-42
Board of its allocated focus risks and will monitor the progress of
Annual Report 102-43
adoption and the Unilever Compass.
and Accounts
oversight 102-44
In 2019, we integrated the management of sustainability 2020 p72 (Report
issues into the Unilever Leadership Executive (ULE), our of the CRC)
highest operational leadership group. The ULE agenda now
Engaging with our
incorporates the agenda of our former USLP Steering Team
stakeholders
(which comprised 11 members of our 12-member ULE plus
representatives from our global Sustainability and Finance Annual Report
teams). The ULE meets monthly. and Accounts
2020 p14-15, p93
As part of MCIP, we have introduced The Unilever
(Stakeholder
Sustainable Progress Index, a long-term incentive linked to
review)
our sustainability performance. To avoid over-focus on any
one element of the USLP (until the end of 2020) and the Take Action
Unilever Compass (2021 onwards), the progress index is an
assessment made by the Board’s Remuneration Committee.

June 2021 36
In 2020, it took into account progress towards five targets in Our position on
our reported USLP scorecard.

Criterion 21: To succeed in our purpose of making sustainable living


The COP commonplace, we need to engage and work in partnership
describes with a wide range of stakeholders. These include: investors;
stakeholder consumers; customers; suppliers; governments; regulators
engagement. and legislators; NGOs; civil society; and peer companies.

We seek to understand the issues of concern to our


stakeholders and to respond openly and transparently to
any questions raised about our products and the way we run
our business. We publish our responses to some of these
questions in the Our Position On section of our global
website.

Both our ULE and Corporate Responsibility Committee


benefit from the insights of the Unilever Sustainability
Advisory Council – a group of external specialists in
corporate responsibility and sustainability who guide and
critique the development of our sustainability strategy (see
Our sustainability governance). In 2020, the Council comprised
seven members from not-for-profit organisations, impact
investors and academia.

The variety of our relationships means we engage in


different ways, depending on the nature of the interest, the
relevance to the business and the most practical way to
meet stakeholders’ specific needs and expectations.

June 2021 37
Annex: Business & Peace

GC Principle Criteria for Unilever Approach Where To Find


GC Out More
Advanced
Level
Code of Business
Scope: Annex 1: The In addition to ensuring compliance with our Code of Business
Principles and
Business & COP Principles and Code Policies, an important way in which Unilever
Code Policies
Peace describes monitors our due diligence – particularly in high-risk or
policies and conflict areas is through Human Rights Impact Assessments Business integrity
practices (HRIAs) which include on-site visits by third party experts who
(values and
related to engage and consult right-holders and other stakeholders.
principles)
the The results of HRIA’s enable us to adapt our due diligence
company's and sourcing decisions. For example, in 2019 we carried out Human rights in
core HRIAs in Guatemala, Thailand and Turkey — and their our operations
business findings are reported in here.
operations in Human rights in
We continue to monitor working conditions or our tea our extended
high-risk or
plantations including ensuring that any issues of harassment
conflict- value chain
are addressed, focussing on the prevention of incidents
affected Human Rights Report
through increased education and awareness, strengthening
areas 2020
the management team, and improving the grievance and
reporting procedures. Progress is continually monitored Human Rights
through monthly reviews with the VP of Tea Procurement and Progress Report
Operations and bi-monthly meetings with the Chief
2017
Procurement Officer.
Human Rights
In addition, we are working with UN Women to externally
review the measures we have implemented and to extend Report 2015
our Safety Framework in Kenya and Assam, India. In countries
with a particularly high risk of forced labour, we are rolling

June 2021 38
out awareness raising and capacity building for our Human Rights
employees and suppliers. In 2018 we worked with UN Women Supplier Audit
to develop a Global Women’s Safety Framework in Rural Update 2020
Spaces to help tackle harassment.
Our salient
human rights
issues

Human Rights
Impact
Assessments
(HRIAs) 2019

Annex 2: The Unilever neither supports political parties nor contributes to Code of Business
COP the funds of groups whose activities are calculated to Principles and
describes promote party interests, in line with our Code Policy on Code Policies, p41
policies and political activities and donations. We prohibit participation in
practices the activities of political parties for business purposes.
related to
the
company's
government
relations in
high-risk or
conflict-
affected
areas

June 2021 39
Annex 3: The Unilever takes a targeted approach to its social investments Disasters and
COP by focusing our support on helping to improve the quality of emergencies
describes people’s lives through the provision of hygiene, sanitation,
local basic nutrition and access to safe drinking water, as well as
stakeholder by enhancing self-esteem. A number of these programmes
engagement take place in high-risk countries.
and strategic
We’ve been responding to global disasters and
social
humanitarian crises for years. We know that we can
investment
maximise our assistance by working through partnerships.
activities of
the company In response to the devastating Australian wildfires in 2020,
in high-risk for instance, we distributed hygiene and food products to
or conflict- those affected via our partner Foodbank. And we supported
affected relief efforts by offering extra paid leave to brave employees
areas volunteering as first responders.
Following the Beirut explosion in 2020, we donated to the
Lebanese Red Cross and to NGOs Beit el Baraka and Live
Love Beirut. And we donated Lifebuoy hygiene products to
Our Lady of Hope, Save the Children and Ajialouna.
Since 2012, we have partnered with five leading global
organisations – Oxfam, Population Services International
(PSI), Save the Children, UNICEF and the World Food
Programme (WFP). By working together, we have expanded
the delivery of life-saving solutions and contributed to
systemic and scalable social change.
Since 2017 we have partnered with international
humanitarian aid organisation Direct Relief to help people
get the products they need as fast as possible in times of
crisis. Our soap, body wash and shampoo are part of the
emergency kits distributed through Direct Relief’s networks.

June 2021 40
So far, Direct Relief has distributed over 800,000 kits in
response to a number of emergencies in over 35 countries.
And since the onset of Covid-19, Direct Relief has been
providing PPE, ventilators and medical essentials to health
workers worldwide. In response to Covid-19, we’re donating
€100 million worth of soap, sanitiser, bleach and food. We’re
also giving approximately €50 million to the Covid Action
Platform of the World Economic Forum, supporting
organisations including UNICEF and UNHCR.
We’ve donated 32 million bars of soap to UNHCR, which were
distributed through 55 operations – this is one of the largest
in-kind donations received by UNHCR from the private sector.
We’ve also launched the Hygiene & Behaviour Change
Coalition to teach a billion people about practical steps to
help avoid infection (see below).
To support suppliers, we offered €500 million of cash flow
relief across our extended value chain, and early payment for
our most vulnerable SME suppliers, to help them with
financial liquidity. And we extended credit to selected small-
scale retail customers whose business relies on Unilever, to
help them manage and protect jobs.
We protected our own workforce from sudden drops in pay –
as a result of market disruption or being unable to perform
their role – for up to three months. This included our
employees, contractors and those who manage or work on
our sites.
As lockdowns were eased, we saw widespread feelings of
apprehension as people tried to do ‘normal things’ with the
threat of infection continuing to loom. So we created the

June 2021 41
Hygiene & Behaviour Change Coalition with the UK
government to give practical advice and peace of mind to
help people move forward with their lives, while protecting
health.
Together, we’re aiming to make sure up to a billion people
across the world are washing their hands with soap
regularly, practising distancing and mask wearing in public
places, and disinfecting surfaces with bleach.
To achieve this, we’re using our scale (including in low- and
middle-income countries) and our experience of rapid, mass-
reach campaigns and programmes, as well as our ecosystem
of partners. We began by adapting our evidence-based
behaviour change programmes specifically for Covid-19,
using our consumer insights through hygiene brands
Lifebuoy and Domestos.
Working with 21 partners across 37 countries in Africa, Asia
and South America, we’re reaching the most vulnerable
communities. We will also advocate for increased investment
in behaviour change programmes and infrastructure –
especially in schools – to promote Water, Sanitation and
Hygiene (WASH).

We support refugees’ long-term needs through a number of


initiatives:
• In Lebanon, Iraq and Jordan, we have partnered with
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
and Carrefour, the supermarket chain, to help
vulnerable individuals.

June 2021 42
• In 2020, Lifebuoy carried out its first public fundraising
campaign, supporting Syrian refugees. More than a
quarter of this community lacks access to water,
sanitation and hygiene facilities, making them
particularly vulnerable to disease. We introduced a
special Lifebuoy purpose pack in the Gulf states and
Saudi Arabia to support the health of Syrian refugee
children.In Turkey, we’ve developed a reverse
mentoring scheme with ideas platform, Xynteo. The
‘Embark’ partnership connects talented young Syrians
in Istanbul with business leaders across Unilever
Turkey to build refugees’ personal and professional
networks. In return, we benefit from insights into where
young people see culture, technology and business
heading. We’re now running this in collaboration with
Mastercard.

Unilever was one of the first businesses to join the Tent


Partnership for Refugees (Opens in a new window). This
works to help businesses hire refugees and use their voice to
advocate for refugees’ right to work. In Malaysia, for
example, we’re working with Tent, UNHCR and other business
leaders to call on the government to give refugees the right
to work.
We also sit on the Centre for Global Development’s
‘Expanding Refugee Labour Market Access’ Advisory Group
alongside government, UN and civil society representatives.
This is aimed at creating a stronger policy evidence base to
drive policy change in this area.

June 2021 43
Our partners also serve as our primary beneficiaries in times
of disaster and emergency relief.

Annex: Women’s Empowerment

GC Principle Criteria for GC Unilever Approach Where To Find


Advanced Out More
Level

Scope: Annex 1: The Empowering women and girls is the focus of SDG 5, Advancing
Women’s COP describes Achieving Gender Equality. But, like the need to work in diversity &
Empowerment policies and partnership (SDG 17), women’s empowerment is a thread inclusion
practices that stitches all the SDGs together. In particular, it
related to underpins the SDGs that aim to improve access to skills A beacon of
supporting and employment and the resulting economic diversity and
women’s empowerment this brings. inclusion
empowerment
We had a target in the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan Annual Report
and
(USLP) to empower five million women by advancing and Accounts
advancing
opportunities for women in our operations, promoting 2020 p19 (Open to
gender
safety, developing skills and expanding opportunities in all)
equality in the
our retail value chain by 2020. Our USLP summary of 10
workplace Code of Business
years’ progress shows that we did not hit this ambitious
target, but we did enable 2.63 million women to access Principles and
initiatives aimed at promoting their safety, developing Code Policies; p25-
their skills or expanding their opportunities.. 26 (Respect, Dignity
and Fair Treatment);
We have a great opportunity to help create this vision
of unlocking women’s potential throughout our extended

June 2021 44
value chain and in society at large. We start with p35 (Responsible
progressive policies and practices in our own workplace Marketing)
and supply chain operations through: building a gender-
Advertising and
balanced organisation with a focus on management;
Marketing
promoting safety for women in the communities where we
operate; enhancing access to training and skills; and Opportunities for
expanding opportunities in our retail value chain. women:
Challenging
In 2017, we introduced our Global Maternal Well-being harmful social
Standard, which was rolled out to every country in which norms and gender
we operate by the end of 2018. The Standard gives stereotypes to
returning mothers access to facilities that allow them to unlock women’s
nurse their baby and to have all the flexibility they need to
potential
return to the workplace. Among other measures, it entitles
all employees to 16 weeks of paid maternity leave as a Championing
minimum. Although our previous entitlements already met inclusion via our
local regulatory requirements, our Standard is a major brands
advance. In 54% of the countries in which we operate, it
exceeded the local regulatory requirement when we Dove Beauty and
introduced it. Confidence

Unilever is included in the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Report


Index 2021 which comprises companies committed to Helping SME
transparency in gender reporting and advancing women’s
retailers
equality in the workplace.
Unilever
Framework for
Annex 2: The Unilever’s Opportunities for Women’ training and skills Fair
COP describes target in the USLP was critical for expanding female Compensation
policies and participation in the economy. This has evolved in the
practices Unilever Compass to new ambitions to accelerate diverse

June 2021 45
related to representation at all levels of leadership, and to achieve UK Gender Pay
supporting an equitable and inclusive culture by eliminating any bias Report 2020
women’s and discrimination in our practices and policies. These two
Supporting self-
empowerment goals – as are all of the goals in the Unilever Compass –
esteem and wellbeing
and are underpinned by our commitment to respect and
advancing promote human rights and the effective implementation of USLP 2010 to 2020
gender the UN Guiding Principles. Summary of 10 years’
equality in the progress
Access is one of the major barriers to women participating
marketplace
in training. This is why Unilever’s training is designed to Sustainability
encourage the full and equal participation of women, for performance
example, by being held at convenient times in accessible
data: People
locations or by providing online courses. Unilever is also
performance data
working with partners, which helps us reach more women
and encourages mutual learning.
Our Unilever Sustainable Living Plan (USLP) contained
targets to expand opportunities for women in our retail
value chain and to increase the number of Shakti
entrepreneurs that we train, recruit and employ. In 2020
our Shakti network in India grew to around 131,000 women
entrepreneurs. Shakti is a programme that catalyses rural
affluence while benefiting our business by equipping
women to distribute our products in villages. It’s become
Unilever’s model to reach out to rural consumers on
typically low incomes in developing and emerging markets
such as South-East Asia, Africa and Latin America.
We continue to explore new models that deliver a positive
social impact, including through public-private models
that support social entrepreneurship, such as TRANSFORM,
a joint initiative between Unilever and the UK’s Department
for International Development (DFID). By the end of 2020,

June 2021 46
TRANSFORM had supported over 56 projects across 13
countries, which have already benefited over a half a
million people.

Annex 3: The We want to empower women throughout our supply chain.


COP describes
In 2014 we introduced a new USLP target on women’s
policies and
safety following our study in Kenya – which confirmed
practices
safety as a critical issue for women in the communities
related to
where we operate. Our approach to this issue is systematic
supporting
and inclusive and we work alongside communities. We
women’s
continue to partner with expert external organisations to
empowerment
further strengthen this work, raising awareness, providing
and
more information on what constitutes sexual harassment
advancing
and advancing more opportunities for girls to engage in
gender
social activities.
equality in the
community In 2016, we started a global partnership with UN Women.
As a result of the joint work on tea estates in Assam, India
and Kericho, Kenya, in December 2018 A Global Women’s
Safety Framework in Rural Spaces was published. This
ground-breaking guidance was created by UN Women,
with our support, and in 2019, we published
Implementation Guidance to facilitate wider take-up of the
Framework. We are continuing to partner with expert
external organisations to further strengthen this work by
raising awareness and providing information. In 2020, we
supported women’s rights organisations on awareness-
raising initiatives on Covid-19 and on violence against
women and girls in Kenya, Tanzania and Assam. We also
extended our women’s safety programme to Rwanda.

June 2021 47
Our latest initiative is in India, where we’ve started a new
partnership with IDH – the Women’s Safety Accelerator
Fund – to help create a safe and empowering workplace
for women in its tea sector. This Fund builds on our
partnership with UN Women.
More and more of our brands such as Sunsilk, TRESemmé
and Radiant are developing sustainable living purposes
around skills and confidence-building or, like Surf, are
tackling the norms around unpaid domestic work, which is
hampering women’s access to opportunities outside the
home, holding individuals back and contributing to the
gender gap. For Unilever, unpaid care work is a priority
area given that it directly impacts women every day in our
workplace, supply chain and distribution network, as well
as our consumers.
Unilever is taking its responsibility towards its own
employees seriously, for example through
progressive diversity and inclusion policies, as well as tackling
this through some of our brands. We believe our laundry
and other Home Care brands have a big part to play in
helping to recognise, reduce and redistribute the amount
of time spent by women and girls on household chores.
One example is WE-Care − a three-year partnership
between Surf and Oxfam that works to enable women to
have more choice over how they spend their time, and
greater opportunity to claim their rights and engage in
social, personal, economic and political activity.

June 2021 48
Annex 4: The We set a clear ambition in our USLP to have 50% women in
COP contains management positions by the end of 2020. We achieved
or refers to this target in 2019 and maintained it in 2020, when 50% of
sex- our total management were women (2019: 51%), up from
disaggregated 38% in 2010.
data
At the most senior levels however, we know we have more
to do as women are still underrepresented at senior
management level: at 42% on our Board (2019: 38%), 31%
on the Unilever Leadership Executive (2019: 33%) and 22%
of senior management (2019: 20%).
Improving female representation in the workforce is linked
to the performance goals of our leaders.
We run programmes across the business aimed at
attracting, retaining, and developing female talent. These
are based on a global framework and tailored to meet the
needs of individual countries and regions.
Our hiring managers must use ‘balanced slates’ (which
means an equal number of qualified female and male
candidates) to make sure there’s a level playing field of
talented people to promote. We’ve designed a range of
initiatives to enable both women and men to reach their
full potential. Our agile working policy, for example, allows
people to work anytime, anywhere, as long as business
needs are being fully met. More details on our policy
commitments to diversity and inclusion are included in the
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion section of our online Planet &
Society Hub.
If economic growth is to be inclusive and sustainable,
workers need to receive fair compensation. Not only is this

June 2021 49
core to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, it’s
vital to our ongoing success as a responsible, sustainable
business. As part of the USLP, in 2014 we set ourselves the
target of creating a structured way to define and assess
how the elements of our compensation packages deliver
compensation to our employees which is open, fair,
consistent and explainable.
The result was our Framework for Fair Compensation,
which we finalised in 2015 and rolled out across our
business in 2016. It’s a key part of our commitment to
developing an inclusive culture and respecting the
contribution of all employees regardless of gender, age,
race, disability or sexual orientation. We fulfilled the
Framework’s living wage element by the end of 2020. This
meant that worldwide, all our direct employees were paid
at or above a certified living wage. In 2021 we increased
our ambition further when we announced that one of our
new Unilever Compass goals is to ensure that everyone
who directly provides goods and services to Unilever will
earn at least a living wage or income by 2030.
We review our pay structures in each country annually as
part of our Framework’s compliance process. If our analysis
indicates any average pay differences between genders at
a country or grade level (a ‘gender pay gap’), we will
support and identify opportunities to address gaps via our
diversity and inclusion initiatives. This will help us achieve
our ambition for our Framework for Fair Compensation to
support full equal opportunities for all.

June 2021 50

You might also like