Unilever PLC

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Unilever PLC
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Quick Facts
TypePublic
sectorConsumer goods
Headquarters (Benelux Organization)Rotterdam, Netherlands
Year of Origin1930
Emissions (All Scopes)61,2 Megatons of CO2 (2020)
Net IncomeUSD$6,375 billion (2020)
Key People
  • Alan Joppe (CEO)
  • Graeme Pitkethly (CFO)
  • Nils Andersen (Chairman)
  • Youngme Moon (Vice-Chairmain/Senior Independent Director)
Subsidiaries
Unilever has over 400 brands worldwide

Unilever PLC, stylized as Unilever, is a British multinational consumer goods company. Their products sell in over 190 countries and are used by 2.5 billion people every day. They have over 400 brands of which 13 had a turnover of more than €1 billion in 2020. The company consists of three divisions; Beauty & Personal Care with a turnover of €21.1 billion; Foods & Refreshments with a turnover of €19.1 billion; and Home Care with a turnover of €10.5 billion. The company has 149.000 employees.

Company Structure

Board of Directors

Unilever Leadership Executive (ULE) [1]
Name Function Remuneration x1000 EUR [2]
Alan Jope Chief Executive Officer 3447 [3]
Graeme Pitkethly Chief Financial Officer 2961
Conny Braams Chief Digital & Marketing Officer
Reginaldo Ecclissato Chief Supply Chain Officer
Hanneke Faber President, Foods & Refreshment
Sunny Jain President, Beauty & Personal Care
Sanjiv Mehta President, Unilever, South Asia and Chair and Managing Director, Hindustan Unilever
Nitin Paranjpe Chief Operating Officer
Richard Slater Chief Research & Development Officer
Ritva Sotamaa Chief Legal Officer & Group Secretary
Peter ter Kulve President, Home Care
Unilever Board [4]
Name Function Remuneration x1000 EUR [5]
Nils Andersen Chair and Non-Executive Director 778
Andrea Jung Vice_Chair and Senior Independent Director 135
Alan Jope Chief Executive Officer
Graeme Pitkethly Chief Financial Officer
Laura Cha Non-Executive Director 134
Dr Judith Hartmann Non-Executive Director 129
Adrian Hennah Non-Executive Director
Susan Kilsby Non-Executive Director 129
Ruby Lu Non-Executive Director
Strive Masiyiwa Non-Executive Director 138
Professor Youngme Moon Non-Executive Director 168
John Rishton Non-Executive Director 150
Feike Sijbesma Non-Executive Director 138

Accountant

KPMG is Unilevers accountant since 2014.

Operations

Unilever has legally become an entirely British company. They own over 400 brands and are divided into three main divisions: Foods and Refreshments; Home Care; and Beauty & Personal Care. They were formed from a merger between Margarine Unie and Lever Brothers. They are listed on the London Stock Exchange and has a holding company named Unilever PLC and N.V. with an Anglo-Dutch structure. They did not receive the royal status. They also did not receive NOW support during Corona times.[6]

Paris Agreement to Today

Unilever has pledged to be carbon positive by 2030. This is how organisations describe climate positive and carbon negative. It's mainly a marketing term. Unilever has collaborations through international alliances. They have been experimenting with different forms of internal carbon pricing schemes, this is the concept of applying a cost to each tonne of carbon emitted. They will not finance assets within their operations which are inconsistent with achieving a 100% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030.[7] Scope 3 is not included in this measure. Unilever has pledged to halve their use of virgin plastic by 2025 and to design all their packaging to be fully reusable, recyclable or compostable.[8]

Scandals and controversies

The Indian arm of Unilever (HUL) was forced to shut its thermometer factory in 2001 after authorities found the company was contaminating the environment by dumping tonnes of toxic waste [9]. The same thermometer plant was already moved from New York to India in 1984 over environmental concerns. Although Unilever reached a financial settlement with a workers association of the defunk factory, the site was not decontaminated. In 2005 environmental activists launched a global campaign to force Unilever to clean the toxic waste. Unilever finally agreed to initiate pre-remediation work in 2009 [10] and the cleansing of the site has yet to be completed [11].

In 2009 SOMO produced a report about more Unilevercontroversial practices. First about precarious and deteriorating working conditions for Pakistani Lipton Tea factory workers. Also about pressing issues at Unilever’s (Rainforest Alliance Certified) Tea Estates in Kenya

A 2019 audit of plastic waste by NGO GAIA revealed Unilever as the second worst pollutor in terms of collected plastic pollution in the Phillipines and she was number 7 in a global brand audit in 2018, which represented 239 cleanups spanning 42 countries. Despite the company claiming that it has reduced its overall waste footprint per consumer, Unilever's volume of single-use plastic and other packaging has remained the same since 2010 and so has her use of post-consumer recycled plastic [12].

Current Policies and Emissions

GHG emissions by activity [13]
Name 2020
Scope 1 (tonnes CO2e) 606771
Scope 2 (tonnes CO2e) 171906
Total Scope 1 and 2 (tonnes CO2e) 778677
Total Scope 3 (tonnes CO2e) 60388592

As is shown above the GHG emissions from Scope 3 are extremely high. Therefore it is questionable that Unilever is mainly targeting the emissions that are from Scope 1 and 2. Especially considering the fact that ingredients and packaging contribute with 14239918 tonnes of CO2e. In their Annual Report they mention that they have reduced Scope 1 and 2 emissions from energy and refrigerant use by 60% since 2015 and they want to reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 100% from their operations by 2030. The biggest problem however seems to be the emissions resulting from Scope 3. Still it appears as if the company has no concrete plans to reduce these emissions stemming from Scope 3.

Climate Plans

Unilevers climate plans include achieving net zero by 2039 across Scope 1, 2 and 3 emission. They plan on spending 1 billion EUR on climate and nature fund.The largest part of their emissions stems from their Scope 3 footprint. The measures they plan on taking are using 100% renewable grid electricity, which they achieved in January 2020. They also plan to transition to 100% renewable heat by 2030, halve the food waste in their operations by 2025, and align capital expenditure with their 1,5 degrees pathway.[14]

Conclusion

Unilever has admirable ambitions and some concrete plans. As it turns out however most of their emissions stem from their Scope 3 whereas most of their measures and plans are targeting Scope 1 and 2 emissions. For Unilever to achieve actual net zero and follow the 1,5 degrees pathway they must take their Scope 3 into more thorough consideration and revise their actions to achieve their goals.

References

  1. https://www.unilever.com/our-company/our-leadership/
  2. https://assets.unilever.com/files/92ui5egz/production/e665693f2bd2efbbde5658baf84043df7937cfd7.pdf/annual-report-and-accounts-2020.pdf
  3. https://assets.unilever.com/files/92ui5egz/production/e665693f2bd2efbbde5658baf84043df7937cfd7.pdf/annual-report-and-accounts-2020.pdf p. 90
  4. https://www.unilever.com/our-company/our-leadership/
  5. https://assets.unilever.com/files/92ui5egz/production/e665693f2bd2efbbde5658baf84043df7937cfd7.pdf/annual-report-and-accounts-2020.pdf
  6. https://www.uwv.nl/overuwv/Images/uwv-register-now-vijfde-aanvraagperiode.pdf
  7. https://www.unilever.com/planet-and-society/climate-action/using-our-voice-for-a-zero-carbon-future/
  8. https://www.unilever.com/news/news-search/2022/why-dont-you-just-stop-using-plastic-altogether/
  9. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/mar/09/unilever-settles-dispute-over-mercury-poisoning-in-india
  10. https://web.archive.org/web/20140204012333/http://www.unilever.com/sustainable-living/Respondingtostakeholderconcerns/India/
  11. https://www.hul.co.in/our-company/our-position-on/kodaikanal-mercury-factory-contamination/kodaikanal-the-cleanup-of-the-former-factory-site/
  12. https://www.greenpeace.org/static/planet4-netherlands-stateless/2019/03/b4d9ed80-factsheet-unilever-greenpeace.pdf
  13. https://assets.unilever.com/files/92ui5egz/production/e665693f2bd2efbbde5658baf84043df7937cfd7.pdf/annual-report-and-accounts-2020.pdf p. 56
  14. https://assets.unilever.com/files/92ui5egz/production/bbe89d14aa9e0121dd3a2b9721bbfd3bef57b8d3.pdf/unilever-climate-transition-action-plan-19032021.pdf