“We still have many untapped opportunities to keep developing our markets, bring purpose into all of our brands, and that will translate into more opportunities for growth right across our considerable geographic footprint.”​Jope stressed the need to deliver “quality”​ growth that is consistent, competitive, profitable and responsible.“To have consistent growth, we need to use the breadth of our portfolio to avoid or minimize the impact of onetime shocks. Competitive growth is simple, growing ahead of our markets. Profitable growth is going to require that we get the right balance of price and volume mix in any period as well as keep delivering strong savings and efficiency programs.​“And finally, our growth will, of course, be responsible, which means putting purposes into our brands and making continued progress on the ambitious environmental and social roles that we set out in the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan.​“It is not purpose ahead of profits. It's purpose that drives better profits.”​

“Unilever believes that complete transparency is needed for radical transformation,” Engel said in a statement posted on Unilever’s website. Advertisement“This is a big step toward greater transparency, but we know there is more work to be done to achieve a truly sustainable palm oil industry and we will continue our efforts to make this a reality.”

Fair & Lovely is not the only Unilever product to shore up problematic ideas about skin colour. In 2013 the company drew criticism for a body lotion promotion campaign in Thailand, which appeared to portray lighter skinned female students as smarter than dark-skinned ones.  Its other brands such as Pond’s also contain whitening lotions.  Unilever’s wares are also not the only ones on the market to run counter to the spirit of the SDGs; every single product that implies that any skin colour is inferior is guilty of this. (One might argue that tanning products also sell a way for people to temporarily change their skin colour, but pale skin carries much less socio-cultural baggage than dark skin does). 

While there have been some valid feminist critiques about Dove’s emphasis on beauty and empowerment through consumerism, Dove and Unilever’s other Sustainable Living Brands have, by and large, lived up to the spirit of the Sustainable Development Goals.  But products such as Fair & Lovely contravene the goals on several counts. Goal 5, for instance, aims to empower all women and girls.  While Fair & Lovely ostensibly wants to “give women the confidence to overcome their own hesitations and fears to achieve their true potential”, it has spent decades portraying dark-skinned women as people who are overlooked romantically and professionally, until they buy their way to fairer skin.  If a company truly wants to empower women, surely a better way to do this is to break down stereotypes that perpetuate sexism and colourism—that is, discrimination on the basis of skin colour—rather than to sell people a product to pander to those insecurities?

Unilever cannot be faulted for its dedication and good intentions. And as long as sustainability equals efficiency, all is well. Both Unilever and the world benefit, exactly the way Paul Polman likes it. Reducing the use of pesticides is good for both the environment and the company’s shareholders. The more fruit a palm oil tree can bear, the less land will have to be cleared. But win-win scenarios are not often as clear-cut. Personal care product sales are up and while this means sustainability brownie points for Unilever, it also causes environmental problems in the emerging economies. And the Roundtable which was supposed to promote sustainability, has become a lightning conductor for an unsustainable production model. Unilever’s proud boast is that it has managed to ‘decouple’ or separate higher revenue from environmental impact. It is a first move towards the beacon of sustainable growth. A closer look at the company’s Sustainable Living Plan shows Unilever is on schedule in most areas (although deadlines are moved about), except when it comes to the environmental impact of consumer use. That is where the bullets on the sustainability dashboard turn an angry red. Greenhouse gas emissions ‘per consumer unit' went up eight per cent from 2010. That poses a problem, since two thirds of Unilever’s total CO2 emissions stem from consumer use. So the business is growing – but not in a very green way. People want to consume responsibly but not less. Authorities are willing to go green as long as the public purse does not suffer. And companies are no longer bogey men but part of the solution. Paul Polman is a welcome guest because his message is a comfortable one. As head of a transnational company he is making the world a better place. But unlike his idols Ghandi and Mother Theresa, the Unilever boss, while looking after People and Planet, must never lose sight of Profit, as the recent Kraft-Heinz takeover attempt attests.

Experts estimate that in Africa alone, conservation efforts have created 14 million "conservation refugees" since the colonial era. In this model, some of the indigenous people, if they were lucky enough, could work as park wardens, preventing their relatives from entering the protected zones.

You might expect global food conglomerates to resist such a diversity push. But Dorothy Shaver, who is head of sustainability for Knorr, says the company wants to be part of this movement. She says the shift in the amount and types of food people eat is inevitable and will also open new markets. "This actually gives us a major opportunity to identify some of the flavors that people are missing out on," she says. "And then we can get them on people's plates. We can get people to switch out one of their white potatoes that they eat potentially four or five times a week with a purple yam. Or in Indonesia make it an Indonesian sweet potato instead of white rice." Shaver says doing this all over the planet would have an enormous impact on the environment. She says Knorr will try to mainstream 10 or 15 of these so-called future foods in its dishes. She says its popular cheddar and broccoli rice dish will soon have versions featuring black beans and quinoa instead of rice.

WWF wishes to convene stakeholders from across the food system and integrate decisions that will ensure human and planetary health. Together, we have the power to bring food to the top of the conservation agenda and help deliver tangible results which protect our future. Our goal is to create sustainable food systems that safeguard the variety of life on Earth while ensuring food security, now and in the future. To achieve this, WWF works to improve how our food is produced, to change the way we eat, and to ensure food goes in our bodies not in the bin. Together with others, we are focusing on three key outcomes by 2030: - Half of the area used for agriculture and aquaculture is sustainably managed, with no new areas being converted - Global food waste is halved and post-harvest loss is reduced - Half of food consumption is in line with World Health Organisation dietary guidelines in target countries:

The unwashed masses will not be moved by this stunt which validates the idea that it’s okay to peddle fake news for a just cause. Sitting on the opposite end of the spectrum, Joseph Barratt, CEO of Mutant Communications lauded the campaign for the impact it had. “It provoked emotions and discussions in households and workplaces around Singapore in an area where it is typically difficult to break through the noise. The outrage at the faux business drove awareness with limited resources,” he said, adding: Any allegations that the campaign spread fake news is misrepresenting a real issue in the media today.

A yearlong BuzzFeed News investigation across six countries — based on more than 100 interviews and thousands of pages of documents, including confidential memos, internal budgets, and emails discussing weapons purchases — can reveal:Villagers have been whipped with belts, attacked with machetes, beaten unconscious with bamboo sticks, sexually assaulted, shot, and murdered by WWF-supported anti-poaching units, according to reports and documents obtained by BuzzFeed News.The charity’s field staff in Asia and Africa have organized anti-poaching missions with notoriously vicious shock troops, and signed off on a proposal to kill trespassers penned by a park director who presided over the killings of dozens of people.WWF has provided paramilitary forces with salaries, training, and supplies — including knives, night vision binoculars, riot gear, and batons — and funded raids on villages. In one African country, it embroiled itself in a botched arms deal to buy assault rifles from a brutal army that has paraded the streets with the severed heads of alleged “criminals.”The charity has operated like a global spymaster, organizing, financing, and running dangerous and secretive networks of informants motivated by “fear” and “revenge,” including within indigenous communities, to provide park officials with intelligence — all while publicly denying working with informants. { "id": 122412833 } Jorge Silva / Reuters World Wildlife Fund activists demonstrate on the sidelines of the UN Climate Change conference. { "id": 122247237 } WWF has launched an “independent review” led by human rights specialists into the evidence uncovered by BuzzFeed News. “We see it as our urgent responsibility to get to the bottom of the allegations BuzzFeed has made, and we recognize the importance of such scrutiny,” the charity said in a statement. “With this in mind, and while many of BuzzFeed’s assertions do not match our understanding of events, we have commissioned an independent review into the matters raised.” The charity declined to answer detailed questions sent by BuzzFeed News.

Shikharam’s alleged murder in 2006 was no isolated incident: It was part of a pattern that persists to this day. In national parks across Asia and Africa, the beloved nonprofit with the cuddly panda logo funds, equips, and works directly with paramilitary forces that have been accused of beating, torturing, sexually assaulting, and murdering scores of people. As recently as 2017, forest rangers at a WWF-funded park in Cameroon tortured an 11-year-old boy in front of his parents, the family told BuzzFeed News. Their village submitted a complaint to WWF, but months later, the family said they still hadn’t heard back. { "id": 122251936 } Tsering Dolker Gurung for BuzzFeed News People living near Nepal's Chitwan National Park. { "id": 122247237 } WWF said that it does not tolerate any brutality by its partners. “Human rights abuses are totally unacceptable and can never be justified in the name of conservation,” the charity said in a statement.But WWF has provided high-tech enforcement equipment, cash, and weapons to forces implicated in atrocities against indigenous communities. In the coming days, BuzzFeed News will reveal how the charity has continued funding and equipping rangers, even after higher-ups became aware of evidence of serious human rights abuses.

WWF Funds Guards Who Have Tortured And Killed People

The focus areas that were addressed in the methodology for this report were nutritional value, relative environmental impact, flavour, accessibility, acceptability and affordability

REFERENCES

n writing this report, Knorr, WWF and Adam Drewnowski are grateful for input and review from experts at Bioversity International, Crops For the Future, EAT Foundation, Edelman, Food and Land Use Coalition (FOLU), Food Reform for Sustainability and Health (FReSH), GAIN, Global Crop Diversity Trust, Gro Intelligence, Oxfam GB, SDG2 Advocacy Hub, Wageningen University and Yolélé Foods. This report ultimately reflects the views of Knorr, WWF and Adam Drewnowski.

"Polman's corporate social responsibility agenda certainly did gripe with a number of investors and so we shall watch with interest to see if continuity persists in this arena; we would expect evolution rather than revolution though," Clive Black, the head of research at UK stockbrokers Shore Capital, says. Jefferies' Deboo agrees there will be some changes – and argues Jope should look to do so. "My logic would be it would be hard not to be less sustainability-focused than Polman. Polman was the absolute high priest. My sense of Jope is that he comes across as this sort of, straight-up, affable guy, who looks to me to be more of a commercial pragmatist. My sense is you'll probably see it dialled down. That's my instinct," Deboo says. "It may be my personal prejudice but I think it had gone too far anyway. Not only was it alienating shareholders but I also think the marketing execution at Unilever had become far too leaden and earnest and purpose-driven. The Sustainable Living Plan was squeezing the joy out of the marketing, in my view. I would hope that Jope would dial that back a bit."

Polman was perhaps the most vocal advocate for the food industry – and business in general – to embed sustainability in how companies operate. On issues from climate change and water scarcity to energy use and ethical trading, the Dutchman was almost Polman the preacher. In 2010, Unilever launched its Sustainable Living Plan, a ten-year programme to reduce the company's impact on the environment and "decouple" that impact from its growth. "It's our business model. This is the way we do business. This is our permission to operate ten, 15 years from now," Polman just-food in an interview in 2012. Not everyone in the investor community welcomed Polman's position (nor, for that matter, those of peers like Danone CEO Emmanuel Faber), arguing the purpose-led approach to running the business was in danger of being at the expense of shareholders.

Unilever brand Knorr is testing a new video ad format that allows viewers to choose a charity to benefit from the revenue it derives if they view an ad for at least 15 seconds.The technology was built by Good-Loop, which describes itself as an “ethical online video advertising platform seeking to fix the problems experienced in ad tech."

The firm, behind more than 400 brands from Ben & Jerry's ice-cream to Dove soap, has pledged to remove sexist stereotypes from its own ads and called on rivals to follow suit.Some 40% of women did not identify with their portrayal in adverts, it said.The firm spends £6bn a year on adverts.The figure makes it the second-biggest advertiser globally and chief marketing officer Keith Weed told the BBC this gave it a responsibility to push the change "on a broader society level". /**/ (function() { if (window.bbcdotcom && bbcdotcom.adverts && bbcdotcom.adverts.slotAsync) { bbcdotcom.adverts.slotAsync('mpu', [1,2,3]); } })(); /**/ He said the campaign, dubbed Unstereotype, was the culmination of two years of research.

In January 2017, corporate behemoth Unilever unveiled a new commitment to ensuring that all of its plastic packaging is fully reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025. The commitment was built on a recognition that the global plastics market was broken; nine months later, Blue Planet 2 aired, alerting the public to the environmental hazards of plastics.

Animal welfare group Compassion in World Farming has welcomed a decision by Unilever’s Knorr brand to become the first company to sign up to the European Broiler Ask. The European Broiler Ask is calling on suppliers to meet a range of welfare requirements covering all fresh, frozen and processed chicken across the supply chain. These include: • Complying with all EU animal welfare laws and regulations, regardless of the country of production; • Implementing a maximum stocking density of 30kg/square metre and if practised thinning must be limited to one thin per flock; • Adopting breeds that demonstrate higher welfare outcomes – breeds should meet the RSPCA Broiler Breed Welfare Assessment Protocol; • Meeting improved environmental standards on natural lights, perch space and air quality. No cages or multi-tier systems are allowed; • Adopting controlled atmospheric stunning using inert gas or multi-phased systems, or effective electrical stunning without live inversion; • Demonstrating compliance with the standards through third-party auditing and annual public reporting.

The city of New York’s Building Healthy Communities initiative, Unilever and Green City Force came together to find a solution.Instead of trying to get fresh food in, they decided to grow it right where it was needed. By creating six urban farms, access to fresh produce in underserved neighbourhoods has increased, as has the knowledge of local residents about how food is grown, and healthy eating. This is community impact in action!Unilever have taken a step further, creating Growing Roots - an organic, plant-based food snack that donates half of its profits to urban farming programmes, whilst allowing others to join and dig in to help grow a better future for communities across the US.

Knorr claims that addressing water waste is therefore “more important than ever,” and launched its new campaign during World Water Week in partnership with the Water Footprint Network (WFN). The brand is encouraging consumers to make simple changes to their buying habits and offers advice to help them be more water conscious. Knorr is offering a list of alternative food items with a lower water footprint, as well as asking consumers to buy food that is certified as sustainably sourced and limiting their food waste.

For its part, Knorr has been working closely with farmers in its supply chain to meet sustainable agricultural standards and to implement new techniques for mitigating water waste in its crop production, such as drip irrigation. Farmers who have been participating in Knorr’s program for three years have saved an average of 10.6 kilotons of water.

The veteran marketing executive is not new to values-led business. At Unilever he has increased the social impact of a number of the company's leading brands, including Hellmann's, which has led the industry in using certified cage-free eggs in its mayonnaise. The project was executed three years ahead of plan and earned McCarthy and his team a Corporate Progress Award from the Humane Society of the US. The executive also committed Unilever's Knorr brand to higher welfare standards for its chickens, in collaboration with the Global Animal Partnership and Compassion in World Farming NGOs. Most recently, McCarthy and his team created Growing Roots, Unilever's first organic snacking brand with a mission to support urban farming in underserved communities. McCarthy also founded the Men's Working Group for Gender Equality at Unilever.

r. Adam Drewnowski is a world-renowned leader in the study of obesity and social disparities in diets and health. He is Professor of Epidemiology and the Director of the Center for Public Health Nutrition at the School of Public Health. He is also the Director of the University of Washington Center for Obesity Research, which addresses the environmental, social and economic aspects of the obesity epidemic. Dr. Drewnowski is a Joint Member of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.