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London & Paris
June 2008
Gavin Neath CBE: Senior Vice President Communications
Unilever’s Integrated Approach to Responsible Business Practice and Sustainability
“Doing well by doing good”
This presentation may contain forward-looking statements, including 'forward-looking statements' within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as 'expects', 'anticipates', 'intends' or the negative of these terms and other similar expressions of future performance or results, including financial objectives to 2010, and their negatives are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based upon current expectations and assumptions regarding anticipated developments and other factors affecting the Group. They are not historical facts, nor are they guarantees of future performance. Because these forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, there are important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements, including, among others, competitive pricing and activities, consumption levels, costs, the ability to maintain and manage key customer relationships and supply chain sources, currency values, interest rates, the ability to integrate acquisitions and complete planned divestitures, physical risks, environmental risks, the ability to manage regulatory, tax and legal matters and resolve pending matters within current estimates, legislative, fiscal and regulatory developments, political, economic and social conditions in the geographic markets where the Group operates and new or changed priorities of the Boards. Further details of potential risks and uncertainties affecting the Group are described in the Group's filings with the London Stock Exchange, Euronext Amsterdam and the US Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Annual Report & Accounts on Form 20-F. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this presentation
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Unilever is a global company
with operations in over 100 countries
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We market a broad range of brands
covering food, home & personal care products
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World Number 1
World Number 2
Local strength
Savoury
Spreads
Dressings
Tea
Ice Cream
Laundry
Household Cleaning
Daily Hair Care
Mass Skin
Deodorants
Oral Care
Foods Home & Personal Care
Many of these have strong market positions. 13 have annual revenues of over $1 billion
The Billion Dollar Brands
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4and are present in half the households on the planet
Our brands are sold in nearly every country
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We have deep roots in the developing world…
1903 South Africa
1933 Indonesia1910 Congo
1930 Brazil
1918 Nigeria
1888 India
1911 China
1918 Ghana 1929 Kenya
1918 Cote d’Ivoire
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….which today accounts for 44% of our sales
Western Europe
38%
D&E36%
2004
Otherdeveloped
26%
Western Europe
33%
D&E44%
Other developed
23%
2007
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We have distribution in depth…
from the favelas of Sao Paolo to the villages of India
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…that suit different pockets and lifestyles
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Have lots
Haves
Have nots
D&E population 2007(billions)
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…through a differentiated brand portfolio
Hair, Indonesia
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12Synthesis of the Brand Imprint MODEL
•Our size
•Our geographical breadth
•Our distribution reach
•The number of consumer contacts we make daily
Give us a great capacity to do good (and to do harm)
So What?
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Corporate responsibility has been central to our way of doing business….
William Lever – one of the great “social entrepreneurs” of late Victorian England
…since we started making soap and margarine a
century ago
Samuel van den Bergh and Anton Jurgensshared Lever’s views on the role of business
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Lever’s success in making low-cost soap widely available to the urban poor
made a big contribution to Public Health in Victorian Britain
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Health has always been part of Unilever’s corporate purpose
“To make cleanliness commonplace, to lessen the work for women; to
foster health and contribute to personal attractiveness that life may be more enjoyable and rewarding for
the people who use our products”.
Our Mission in 1890 Our Mission in 2008
“Unilever's mission is to add Vitality to life. We meet everyday needs for nutrition, hygiene and
personal care with brands that help people feel good, look good and
get more out of life”.
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16Synthesis of the Brand Imprint MODEL
Brand Imprint
Today our approach to sustainability is to embed it into our brands
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The Brand Imprint tool forces brands to take a broad view of their impacts on the world
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The result is an approach to CR built on 4 pillars that reflect our brands and our heritage
Sustainable Development Brands with “Social Missions”
HygieneNutrition and Health
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Nutrition and Health covers four main areas
Our Nutrition Enhancement Programme
Innovating to create new, healthier foods
The problems of under nutrition
The Choices stamp
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Since 2005 reformulation changes have eliminated at least: 15,000 tons of trans-fats
10,000 tons of saturated fats 2,000 tons of sodium and
10,000 tons of sugars from our portfolio
Saturated fats being reduced
by up to 40%
in Heart brand ice creams
in Europe
Family Goodness spreads
now virtually free of trans fats
Ketchup sugar levels reduced by 10%
Soups sodium
levels reduced
by 10% (Europe)
20-25% reduction in sugar levels in US RTD teas completed.
Sodium in (US) Ragu Old World Style Sauce reduced by 25%
Many US vegetable oil spreads reformulated to 0 g trans fat per serving
Our Nutrition Enhancement Programme is improving the nutritional profile of our existing product range
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Not only have we eliminated “baddies”…
Virtually trans fat-free Up to 25% less sugar Up to 30% less salt
Promise spreads US
Lipton Ice TeaUS
Knorr soupsEurope
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Improved natural ingredients:
• More vegetables and herbs
• Extra virgin olive oil• Organic variants
…we have upgraded the profile of core ranges
Ragu sauces Knorr bouillon
Now with a full serving of vegetables in every half cup
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Front-of-packlabelling
Product optimisation
Trans fatSaturated fat
SodiumSugars
Healthy products recognised at a glance
Products that meet the NEP standards qualify for the Choices stamp and can make a “health claim”
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Already 1/3 of Unilever products qualify for the Choices logo
Belgium
FranceGreece
Netherlands
Poland
SouthAfrica
USA
Thailand
Czech
Chile
Switzerland
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Our Foods innovation programme is targeting five key benefit areas…
BeautyHeart Health
Immunity and
StrengthWeight
ManagementBrain
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…and five natural ingredients…
Oils
Tea
Fruit and vegetables
Soy
Milk
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pro.activSpreads, milk, yoghurt and mini-drinks clinically proven to lower
cholesterol
Example: Flora/Becel and Heart Health
Omega 3 plusPacked with more omega 3
than any other spread or minidrink
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Example: Blue Band – “The Goodness of Margarine”
“Goodness of Margarine”
Communication on healthy oils and fats in Europe and Africa
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Example: Hellmann’s - The Real Goodness of Mayonnaise
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Example: Knorr – Chilled soups packed with vegetables
Healthy, premium ingredients
Delicious recipes
New packaging for a fresher taste
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Example: Lipton and the Health benefits of tea
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Even ice cream can deliver positive nutrition
+ =
Delicious ice cream for kids with as much calcium as two glasses of milk
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We are also committed to a fortified foods programme
Iodised salt in India, Malawi, Ghana and
Nigeria
Combating Iodine Deficiency
Partnership for Child Nutrition
Reducing child malnutrition in India
Working with Partners
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Hygiene is the second pillar of our CR strategy
Hand Washing
Water Purification
Oral Hygiene
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Our hand washing education programmes are extensive
They are reaching over 100 million people and growi ng the marketfor soap
Lifebuoy’s hand washing programme in India is well established
The programme has been launched in Pakistan and Bangladesh
“The second biggest killer of children in the world is diarrhoea.Hand washing can cut diarrhoeal diseases by 48%”
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Our partnership with FDI World Dental Federation involves over a million dentists in a global campaign – Live, Learn, Laugh
In Nigeria our Schools Campaign will educate 2 million people about
oral health over 5 years
Dental disease is painful and a key cause of children missing school, especially those on low incomes
Our oral care programmes also reach millions
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4 billion people do not have access to clean drinking water
Pureit can provide this…
•Reliably– tested by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and the Indian National Institute of Epidemiology
•Cheaply– half a € cent per litre– costs less than boiled water
•Test Marketed in Chennai
•Now being rolled out across India
•Already protecting 5 million Indians
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Distribution systems like Shakti in India act as platforms for consumer education
• 45,000 Shakti entrepreneurs covering over 100,000 villages
• Servicing 125 million rural consumers
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Sustainable Development is our third pillar: it has four thrusts
Agriculture
Water
Climate change
Packaging
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Climate Change
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We have measured our greenhouse gas footprint
40m tonnes 4m tonnes 4m tonnes 120-240m tonnes
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CO2 reductions in our own factories have declined by c.35%
2012 Target: Further reduction of 25% vs. 2004
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In refrigeration we have made good progress
• Our ice cream is stored in c.2 million freezers
• We have developed refrigerants with naturalHC’s with a lower global warming potential
• By the end of 2007 we had replaced 200kfreezers
• Formed “Refrigerants Naturally” – apartnership with McDonalds, Coca-Cola,Carlsberg, Ikea, Pepsico and Greenpeace
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Product design offers the greatest potential for CO 2 reduction
• Concentration
• Less Packaging
• Laundry powders which wash at low temperatures
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Agriculture is our second sustainability thrust
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2/3rds of our raw materials come from agriculture
• Value chain
• Energy
• Water
• Social capital
• Local economy
• Animal welfare
We have 11 sustainability indicators
• Soil fertility and health
• Soil loss
• Nutrients
• Pest management
• Biodiversity
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We have built an impressive body of knowledge and expertise
www.growingforthefuture.com 48
We have done this in partnership with others
SAAB - Sustainable Agriculture Advisory Board Unilever
SAI Platform
RSPO - Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil
RTRS - Roundtable on Responsible Soy
SFL - Sustainable Food Laboratory49
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We are soon to reap the business benefits
We will sell more tea and will improve the livelihoods of >2 million people
By 2015 all of our tea will be sustainably sourcedCertified by the Rainforest Alliance
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We are now addressing Palm Oil
• Global demand for palm oil is soaring
• The burning of S.E. Asia’s peat forestsreleases 2 billion tonnes of GHGs p.a.
• Indonesia accounts for 90% of theseemissions – making it the 3 rd highest emitterbehind USA and China
• Some (but not all) of this deforestation is dueto the palm oil industry
• It is unnecessary. There is ample unforestedland to meet demand
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Unilever’s commitments on Palm Oil
Unilever has committed itself to:• Draw all of its palm oil from certified
sustainable sources by 2015
• Have segregated supplies of “straight”palm oil available in Europe by 2012
• Support an immediate moratorium onany further deforestation in Indonesia
How will we do this?• Build a big global coalition of users,
processors, retailers, banks and NGOs
• Exert leverage over the growers
• Establish systems for traceability
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Water is our third sustainability thrust
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Our water footprint is large
We are minimising our impact across our value chain
50% 5% 45%
in raw materials in manufacturing in consumer use
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We have had most success in our own factories – water use has declined by 62%
1995-2007
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Consumer use of water is greatest in the laundry category
Laundry products function under a very wide range of conditions but always rely
upon large amounts of WATER
~ 30% of water ~ 70% of water is used washing is used rinsing
Water Use
Handwash• 70 -105 litres / wash
Fully Automatic• 50 – 150 litres / wash
Semi-Automatic• ~120 litres / wash
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Technology can help reduce water consumption
Surf Excel Quick Wash, launched in India in 2004
Low Lather formulation saves two buckets of water per wash
We estimate potential savings of 14 BILLION litres of water a year
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We launched 'easy-rinse' fabric softeners in seven countries in Central & Latin America
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Packaging is our fourth sustainability thrust
Our packaging footprint is largeUnilever uses >2 million tonnes of packaging annually, much
of it branded
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Packaging has a crucial role in the FMCG Industry ….
Protection
FunctionalityAesthetics
Preservation
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But packaging’s visible waste makes it a target for consumers, NGOs and legislators
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10 X stronger1960 Tons
of less plastic per year globally
Reduction of ~6M of KWH globally
..and €15m p.a. cost saving!
Recent successes - Deodorants
Top load
15% plastic reduction
40% Cycle time reduction
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Will save approximately 7,000 Tons
of resin from entering landfills vs. our previous offering
Plastic/Load
Pack total
Bottle Wt
Spout Wt
Cap Wt
Volume
92.8g156.9g
2.9g/ld4.9g/ld
70gLabeled
119gLabeled
8.8g13.9g
14g24g
50oz100oz
2X1X
41% Reduction
Recent successes – Liquids Concentration
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Our packaging priorities
Eliminate PVC Solve Sachet Litter Sustainable Paper
15 billion sold p.a.
Make sachets someone’s raw material
PVC used on 2bn packs
NGOs consider it to be a source of dioxins
Customers getting out
800,000 tonnes p.a.
Goal = 100% sustainable
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The fourth pillar of our CR strategy is “brands with social missions”
Ben & Jerry’s: Climate Change
Flora: Heart Health Dove: Campaign for Real Beauty
Hygiene: Hand Wash Education
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Dove Evolution
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What is the business case for sustainability?
It will:
1. Fuel innovation
2. Help us win with customers
3. Help us win in D&E markets
4. Address consumers’ needs as “citizens”
5. Differentiate and build the Unilever brand
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Business case:Win in D&E markets
D&E markets will suffer the worst effects of climat e change:
• Acute shortages of water
• Desertification of agricultural land
• The winning companies will anticipate these trends with products that address changing consumer priorities
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Business case:Address consumers’ needs as “citizens”
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Business case:Differentiate & build Unilever brand
Some thoughts to finish
• Unilever’s social and environmental impacts come from its brands
• To make a real difference on the world around us we have to embed responsible business practice and the principles of sustainability into the marketing and R&D plans of our brands
• Social and environmental benefits can not be delivered at the expense of economic ones –otherwise they will not be sustainable inside the company
• It has to be a “win-win” – “doing well by doing good” 74