After water, tea is the world’s most popular drink, so the global tea market is enormous – valued at over $55 billion USD. Consumer goods giant Unilever sells more tea than anyone else, controlling nearly 30% of the global branded tea business (including Lipton), and buying 12% of the world’s tea.
The Problems with Tea
Tea production can cause significant environmental damage and creates social issues as well. Tea production changes tropical forests into agricultural land – reducing biodiversity and causing soil degradation. Logging the firewood needed to dry tea leaves further exacerbates the de-forestation problem.
On the social side of the equation, tea workers are often poorly paid, with limited access to health benefits, educational opportunities, adequate housing or pensions.
In 2010 Unilever, responding to these problems, committed to source only sustainably produced tea by 2015 as certified by NGO giant Rainforest Alliance. At the time, this was a bold step towards making the world a better place. As 90% of Unilever’s tea was purchased from external suppliers, meeting this commitment required a major effort with supply chain partners, including the training and certification of over 500,000 small-scale farmers in Kenya.
Unilever Creates a Sustainable Business Model
Unilever created a roadmap to sustainability ten years ago with the launch of the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan (USLP) – with the goal to become the world’s most sustainable business.
Unilever CEO Alan Jope (right) recently provided an update to the flagship Sustainable Living Plan as it enters its 10th and final year.
“The Unilever Sustainable Living Plan was a game-changer for our business. Some goals we have met, some we have missed, but we are a better business for trying. It has required immense ingenuity, dedication and collaboration to get to where we are now. We have made very good progress, but there is still more to do.”
The consumer goods giant’s Sustainable Living division, which aims to integrate sustainability into the group’s products and values has proved that sustainability can drive business profitability. The brands in the division grew 69% faster in 2018 than the rest of the business. Seven of the consumer goods giant’s largest brands – Dove, Knorr, Persil, Sure, Lipton, Hellman’s and Wall’s Ice Cream – notably fall within the Sustainable Living brands division.
Unilever has reported progress targets in its Sustainable Living Report. Some of the achievements include:
• Reaching 1.3 billion people through their health and hygiene programs.
• Reducing the total waste footprint per consumer use of their products by 32%, and achieving zero waste to landfill across all their factories.
• Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from their manufacturing by 50%, and achieving 100% renewable grid electricity across their sites.
• Reducing sugar across all Unilever sweetened tea-based beverages by 23%, and 56% of their foods portfolio now meets recognized High Nutrition Standards.
• Enabling 2.34 million women to access initiatives aiming to promote their safety, develop their skills or expand their opportunities, Unilever has moved towards a gender balanced workplace in which 51% of management roles are held by women.
Rebecca Marmot, Unilever’s Chief Sustainability Officer, explained, “There are many highlights from the last ten years…We have avoided over €1.0 bn in costs, by improving water and energy efficiency in our factories, and using less material and producing less waste. The USLP has also become a decisive factor to attract the best talent; and has been instrumental to forging strong partnerships with NGOs, government organizations and other businesses.”
Unilever has received numerous awards & recognitions for its sustainability efforts, including inclusion in the Gartner Supply Chain Top 25, and the environmental impact reporting firm CDP’s Forests, Climate and Water A-lists. Following on from the USLP, Unilever is committed to continuing to be a sustainable leader and has developed a new, fully integrated corporate strategy: the Unilever Compass.
The Unilever Compass is based on three core beliefs: that brands with purpose grow, companies with purpose last, and people with purpose thrive.
It’s clear that Unilever was able to “read the tea leaves” in terms of creating and executing a world-class sustainability effort, which is proving that it is possible to do well by doing good.
