Questions

Sustainability and Unilever

Unilever has published its Sustainable living progress report. It has made good progress. Most of the progress really impresses me, like the 24% of agricultural raw materials and 64% of palm oil that are now sustainably sourced.

The fact that 100% of energy is from renewable sources is less impressive as at least some of it is from Norwegian and Swedish hydro sources. We all know that this is nothing but “green washing”. Norway has sold so many of its green certificates (proving that the power was generated by hydro) that one could say that it has, in fact, the dirtiest energy mix of Europe.

But most important to me is the rationale behind the plan. It is a rationale that should inspire all CEO’s to follow Unilever’s lead. Unilever states that it is pursuing its sustainability goals because:
1. consumers want it
2. retailers want…