Environmental management system

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 our Unilever Environment Policy for full details.

Our strategy

As part of the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan, we have committed to several targets to reduce the environmental impact of our manufacturing.

Products like ours rely on an increasingly constrained set of natural resources, whether it is fuel or other raw materials. We know that if we are to achieve our ambitious growth objectives we must reduce the total environmental impacts of the business. We want our own factories to be exemplary in our target to cut emissions. We are asking our suppliers to change the way they produce our raw materials, and our consumers to use our products in more sustainable ways. It is only right that we lead the way by continuing to improve our own manufacturing processes and performance.

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 decreased from 138 in 2009 to 127 in 2010 (based on the number of physically separate Unilever sites). This represents 49% of our manufacturing sites worldwide. During the year, a further site was certified,but four ISO certified sites were closed or sold, and a further eight 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 2010, 79% of our manufacturing sites had a trained environmental manager. A further 7% of the 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.

The information below provides an account of our journey in the training area.

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), was run throughout Unilever between 2003 and 2008. The course aimed to give employees the tools, techniques and awareness needed to reduce the environmental impact of our manufacturing operations, and provided a forum where good environmental practices (GEP) could be shared and discussed for implementation. Special emphasis was put on reducing water use, waste and energy consumption. The course was 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 and Africa), and the award-winning Project Medusa (water saving in Latin America). During 2008, for example, eco-efficiency training workshops were held in Indonesia, China, the UK, Côte d'Ivoire, Israel and South Africa. Much of our progress has been achieved by good manufacturing practice at our factories, which we continued to promote in 2009 and 2010 through an environmental roadmap that includes an awareness-raising programme called ‘Simple Solutions’.

In addition, implementation of Project Neutral during 2010 – a site-by-site assessment process – has further driven improvement and provided a platform for our manufacturing operations to meet the 2020 targets in our Sustainable Living Plan.

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 that 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 2010, 86% 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.

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 (currently Deloitte LLP) to review each site’s environmental and occupational safety data collection, collation and validation processes.