Our position on
We are committed to transparency and action on key global challenges. Here you’ll find details on our positions on critical topics like climate action, nature, human rights, and sustainable practices, showcasing our efforts to drive positive change across our operations and value chain.
A-Z listing
Animal testing
We do not test on animals and believe that animal testing is not needed to make sure that our products are safe for people to use and safe for our planet. We use leading edge safety science, not animals, to evaluate the safety of our products and ingredients for consumers, our workers and the environment.
We pro-actively share our non-animal safety approaches with others, collaborating with partners across the world to help bring about an end to animal testing for consumer products, now and in the future. That’s why we also develop and advance the use of ‘next generation’ safety assessment approaches, based on modern science, that do not rely on new animal data (for details see: Safety & Environmental Sciences).
View Unilever's position on Alternative approaches to animal testing (PDF 83.16 KB)
Find out more about our alternative approaches to animal testing
Artificial intelligence (AI)
Artificial intelligence (AI) has been part of Unilever’s technology ecosystem for more than a decade and underpins our digital transformation.
It has huge potential to drive productivity, creativity and growth across the business. However, the power and potential of AI brings with it new legal and ethical issues including bias, misinformation, data privacy and intellectual property (IP) rights. To deploy AI responsibly and ethically, we’ve developed a comprehensive assurance process which reviews AI use cases and projects to enable us to identify, manage and mitigate any foreseeable risks.
Since 2019, we’ve been scaling this up in response to the generative AI boom, and it’s now part of how we do business. In this fast-moving landscape, ongoing vigilance and scalable processes that can adapt to developing regulations are the most effective ways to ensure compliance. This is where our AI assurance system has the advantage. Our practical guidance, training sessions, and ‘Responsible AI’ principles help educate the business on the importance of using AI responsibly.
Climate
Climate action has long been part of how we do business. But the world must move faster to avoid the worst effects of climate change, so we’ve set more ambitious targets and identified clearer actions to respond to this challenge. There are no quick fixes, especially given the complex nature of our business and value chain. But we firmly believe more urgent action can strengthen Unilever, and our updated Climate Transition Action Plan focuses on ten areas where we can best make an impact by 2030.
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (ED&I)
We’re working to create a fairer, more socially inclusive world – through our brands, and through our influence in wider society. We want our business to support the transformations in society that will tackle social inequality and end the marginalisation of individuals and groups who are under-represented simply because of who they are. Equity prompts us to consider measures that compensate for systemic bias or barriers that prevent individuals from reaching their full potential.
Find out more about the actions we’re taking to deliver our Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion goals
Green claims and greenwashing
We strive for the highest standards when communicating on sustainability at the corporate level. We are open and transparent on our targets and our progress. See our Climate Transition Action Plan and our Annual Report and Accounts 2023.
Human rights
Respect for human rights is non-negotiable for Unilever’s business. We work with our suppliers to address any issues found and disengage when improvements can’t be made. Our human rights due diligence approach includes communicating our expectations, understanding where our risks are, acting where appropriate, and tracking and reporting progress. We prohibit discrimination, forced, trafficked and child labour.
In our own operations, we’re committed to safe and healthy working conditions, the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining, and to effective information and consultation procedures.
Livelihoods
The impacts of inequality go far beyond income – to health, human rights and economic growth. We want to help the people who grow, make and sell our products have a decent livelihood. This includes earning a living wage so they can afford the essentials of daily life and have work that’s secure, dignified and fair. We’re helping people in our value chain enhance their livelihoods – strengthening their economic resilience, as well as the resilience of our business.
Find out about our ambition to improve livelihoods throughout our global value chain
Nature
The world – and our business – needs resilient natural and agricultural ecosystems to thrive. We’re committed to contributing to the protection and regeneration of nature, within and beyond our value chain. We have goals in place to help us become a better steward of nature; these focus on the areas where we can have the greatest impact, and which also help mitigate the effects of climate change.
Find out about the actions were taking to protect and regenerate nature
Nutrition
Everyone should be able to enjoy a nutritious diet. Through our portfolio and brands, we want to help people adopt healthier and more sustainable diets without compromising on enjoyment. This means making our foods and beverages nutritionally better, inspiring people to cook more nutritiously and encouraging people to make better food choices.
We’ve set ourselves clear goals and priorities. In 2022, we set a new goal for 85% of our portfolio to meet ‘Unilever's Science-based Nutrition Criteria’ (USNC) by 2028. In the same year, we were the first global food company to publicly disclose on the performance of our product portfolio against six externally endorsed Nutrient Profiling Models and we continue to do so on an annual basis.
Read more about our approach to nutrition including our positions on Diet and Health topics
Ultra-processed foods
Processed foods play an essential role in sustainable and healthy diets as they increase accessibility, provide affordability, taste, enjoyment and enhance food safety. We believe that healthiness of foods, whether fresh, prepared at home, or made in a factory, should be evaluated on scientific evidence-based factors like nutritional quality and role in the diet. The current (NOVA) definition of ultra-processed foods (UPF) lacks scientific consensus and therefore should not be used in policy and regulations. We support further research into mechanistic insights of the observed associations between UPF consumption and health, as UPFs constitute a wide variety of food products. We are always improving and adapting our approach as regulation changes based on scientific insights.
Read more about our approach to nutrition including our positions on Diet and Health topics
Palm oil
Palm oil is the most land-efficient oil crop and is also highly versatile, used in an array of consumer and household products. We take a holistic approach to ensuring the palm oil we buy is free from deforestation. We’re going beyond certification and investing in training, landscape initiatives and infrastructure to transform and strengthen our deforestation-free supply chain and the wider industry. We work with innovative technology partners to drive exponential progress in traceability and transparency.
By the end of 2023, 97.1% of the palm oil we bought was independently verified as deforestation and conversion-free.
Plastics
Our ambition is an end to plastic pollution through reduction, circulation and collaboration. Packaging is essential for bringing Unilever brands into the hands of people around the world and serving their needs. But the fact is that a large amount of plastic packaging – including our own – is ending up as waste in the environment. Given the size of this challenge, we’re using our innovation capabilities to find new, scalable solutions. We need to change the way plastic packaging is sourced, used and disposed and this will take more time, bolder innovations and systemic change. But we now have more knowledge and insights that we’re applying to update our approach.
Find out about how we are tackling plastic pollution
Plastic sachets
For hard-to-recycle flexible plastic, like sachets and pouches, we’re working on a range of solutions to reduce our use and replace them with alternative materials, formats and models. This will require more time as we develop and scale new technologies. We have a world-class team of packaging experts, material scientists and digital modellers at our Global Packaging R&D Centre who are dedicated to developing next-generation flexible packaging materials.
Read more about our investment in packaging R&D and materials science
Quality
Unilever’s reputation and success is built on providing safe, high-quality products that meet all applicable standards and regulations. Wherever and whenever mistakes occur, we investigate them fully.
Find out more about our commitment to product safety and quality
See also: Safety and Environmental Science
Sustainability strategy
We’ve been driving an ambitious sustainability agenda for over two decades. Now, in the face of ever-growing economic, environmental and social challenges, we’re evolving our approach. Now’s the time to focus on delivering impact by making sustainability progress integral to business performance. Our updated goals remain very stretching, but they are unashamedly and intentionally realistic. We're determined to deliver consistent and competitive performance, while transforming our business to achieve our sustainability goals.
William Lever
William Lever (1851–1925) was one of Unilever’s founders and a widely recognised industrial reformer. He did much to drive progress on women’s rights, workers’ wellbeing and other social causes. His progressive values set the foundations for our commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion in our own business and the communities we serve.
However, there was also illegal use of forced labour and other mistreatments on plantations set up overseas by William Lever’s business – Lever Brothers – to supply palm oil for his soap factories. To obtain a secure supply of the oil, Lever’s Pacific Plantations was formed in 1902 in the Solomon Islands. In 1911, the company also started sourcing palm oil in what is today the Democratic Republic of Congo, through a company called Les Huileries du Congo Belge (HCB).
Although HCB was set up three years after the despotic regime of King Leopold II in Congo had ended in 1908, the country was still in turmoil and some practices of HCB were far from William Lever’s explicit instructions that workers be well treated and paid fairly. We abhor any and all forms of racism, discrimination and worker abuse. The fact that such behaviours occurred in a different age does not excuse them – we deeply regret this part of our company’s history.
We know that Lever was made aware of this abuse, and it’s unclear how forcefully he tried to stop it. To ensure we can tell a truthful and balanced story about his legacy, we’ve commissioned researchers to investigate the history of the Lever companies in the Solomon Islands and the Democratic Republic of Congo. An independent panel is overseeing the research work to ensure it’s accurate and transparent, and the findings will be published once the research is complete.