Sustainable sourcing for suppliers

At Unilever we have set industry leading benchmarks for responsible sourcing to deliver on our commitment to sustainable growth.

Please visit our sustainable sourcing strategy page to find out more. Unilever intends to deliver on our commitments and help you deliver on yours. That’s why we set out in the Unilever Sustainable Agriculture Code (PDF | 3MB) our mandatory requirements for supply partners, along with the standards we set for ourselves, and how, by working together, we can meet our sustainability goals.

The sourcing of our agricultural raw materials is a big contributor to our environmental footprint, so working in close alliance with supplier partners who share our values and want to grow sustainable businesses with us is vital.

Certification vs. self verification

Collecting harvest yield information in Turkey

Our sustainable sourcing programme uses external certification, or self-assessment and verification against the Unilever Sustainable Agriculture Code.

Knorr Sustainability Partnership

Teaching gherkin farmers climate resiliance in India

Each year we will co-invest €1 million with suppliers and farmers to accelerate the implementation of sustainable practices.

Sustainable sourcing tools

Financial planning tool on an iPad

Find online tools that can help agricultural suppliers meet Unilever’s sustainability standards.

Barry Callebaut CIO Hans Vriens

Our partnership with Barry Callebaut

Hans Vriens, Chief Innovation Officer at Barry Callebaut talks about how having a long term partnership agreement with Unilever enables them to go out and make long term commitments with farmers, enabling farmers to move towards sustainable farming and as a result improve their livelihoods.

The Morning Star Packing Company

Sustainable sourcing with our suppliers

Ron Dalforno of The Morning Star Packing Company talks about the sustainability programme they have been working on with tomato growers in California over the past 10 years with a focus on drip irrigation to reduce water consumption and increase yields.

Kenya Tea Development Agency

The farmer field school initiative

Lerionka Tiampati, CEO KTDA, talks about the farmer field school initiative set up in Kenya together with Unilever, DFID, IDH and the Rainforest Alliance to train tea farmers in good agricultural practices.