Unilever seeks to engage about 120 suppliers in its Climate Program in 2023

08 / 04 / 2023

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Unilever seeks to bring between 100 and 120 suppliers onboard its Climate Program in 2023 and the aim is to have engaged the full 300 suppliers it initially identified by the end of 2024.

Last year, Unilever ran a pilot with 35 of its suppliers to test out tools and resources designed to help suppliers build their climate capabilities and accelerate their climate journey, Giulia Saladino, Climate Specialist in the Business Operations Sustainability team at Unilever, said.

Unilever wanted to understand whether these tools matched their needs. It also looked at data gathering and sharing – when suppliers have product carbon footprint data and what does it look like, she added.

Unilever has around 52,000 suppliers. Of these, 300 contribute significantly to its upstream emissions. When it began researching how to work with them on emissions reduction, it discovered that two-thirds of this group didn’t have a climate target yet. This presented a huge opportunity for Unilever to offer support. That’s what the Climate Program is all about, she said.

Earlier this month, Unilever brought 100 of its target suppliers together with the suppliers from the pilot. It wanted its new batch of Climate Program suppliers to hear from the pilot suppliers first hand, to show them what is possible and that it is important to work together because this is too big a challenge for any of us to overcome alone, she said.

So far with the Climate Program, Unilever has focused a lot on engaging suppliers to collect data. But data is just a means to an end, and the end-goal is emissions reduction, so the company needs to make sure suppliers are working on plans to reduce their emissions too, she added.

Unilever has got a huge challenge ahead of it to bring down emissions from raw materials and ingredients and packaging and it will take time before it sees the results.

The Unilever Supplier Climate Program is supporting the company in becoming future fit. It is helping to build a resilient supply chain, readying itself for climate legislation, and meeting consumer needs for more sustainable products. Ultimately, it’s helping the business do the right thing, for people and the planet.