09 Feb 2010
UNILEVER

04 Feb 2010
SYNGENTA

24 Jul 2009
NATIONAL GRID

24 Jul 2009
Green Investing

28 Jan 2009
Green News



UNILEVER

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  • Balancing growth and the environment - Feb 2010

    Balancing growth and the environment - Feb 2010

  • The reasons for sustainable practices - Feb 2009

    The reasons for sustainable practices - Feb 2009

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You've said that you want to double the size of the business. How can you do that and not add to your environmental impact? How do you balance the two?

Yes, we have launched a very challenging vision for the company, that I was able to share at various podiums in Davos and which has been received extremely positively, which is to double our business whilst reducing the environmental impact.

It's very clear to many people and especially consumers to whom we cater that we cannot continue to live off more than the current planet that we're in. In fact, WWF would predict that we're currently living off 1.3 planets. With the lifestyle of the UK, we would be living off three planets already, so that's unsustainable. And I think consumers are increasingly disappointed by the role of governments and businesses in taking charge of some of the issues that we have in poverty and malnutrition, in climate change. So they want to take charge themselves.

I think the only companies that have permission to grow long-term are companies that can do that in an environmentally responsible way, i.e. growing your business whilst reducing your environmental impact.

Now we're doing that in many areas already. We've built it into our innovation programme, our brand imprint. We're taking the lead on things like sustainable tea. We're trying to move the world to sustainable palm oil; we're one of the founding members of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil. We're moving to sustainable sourcing. Then obviously with plans like in the laundry brands, our greener planet plan and many others, we're trying to change consumer behaviour to get there.

I cannot tell you how enthusiastically our employees have grabbed onto this and how motivating and energising it is for them. So I'm sure that we will get that back in the business results as well over time. It is in fact the only permissible model to grow, in my opinion, as we move forward.

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