Our approach to water sustainability
Unilever is committed to using water responsibly and
sustainably.
As well as longstanding programmes to reduce our direct
water use in manufacturing, we also work with others in the
supply chain to reduce our indirect impacts.
Many of our Home and Personal Care products, for example,
help consumers reduce their water consumption through
innovations in their design and formulation. For most
Food products, however, the greatest water use occurs in
production of the raw materials.
Water management therefore forms a key part of our
sustainable agriculture programme. As we aspire to obtain
all agricultural raw materials from sustainable sources
we ask our suppliers to conform either to our internal
standards (Unilever Good Agricultural Practices or GAPs) or
to externally-audited standards (eg. Rainforest Alliance for
tea). While the programme started with our most important
raw materials it is gradually expanding to cover the entire
portfolio