Unilever’s green sustainability bond is the first green bond in the sterling market, and the first by a company in the FMCG sector.
Jean Marc Huet, Unilever’s Chief Financial Officer, explains: “We have a clearly defined ambition in Unilever, articulated by our Sustainable Living Plan. By issuing our first Green Sustainability Bond, our intention is to invite investors to support our vision for sustainable growth, while investing in the Unilever credit.”
Unilever has worked with DNV GL, an independent leading environmental consultancy, to develop a Green Sustainability Bond framework, based on the Green Bond Principles. This framework, which is based on the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan, provides clarity and transparency around the use of proceeds. It includes a set of clearly defined criteria on GHG emissions, water use and waste disposal for the projects selected; and outlines a yearly reporting structure to provide full traceability of the funds.
The current pipeline of projects in which the proceeds of the bond will be invested includes: a laundry liquid detergent factory in Johannesburg, South Africa; a laundry powder facility in Sichuan, China; a Home and Beauty & Personal Care factory in Selcuklu-Konya, Turkey; an ice cream factory in Johannesburg, South Africa; the expansion of a spreads factory in Kansas, US; and the ‘Lean & Green Freezer’ cabinets project in Turkey, Russia and the US.
Notes to editor
The criteria for project selection are as follows:
- Greenhouse Gas Emissions - The design of the project will result in operational reduction in CO2 emissions from energy of 50% for new factories and 30% for retrofitted factories. Where achievable, energy used for the operation of the factory will in part be sourced from renewables, contributing to the company target to source 40% of energy from renewable sources. The project will replace HydroFluoroCarbon (HFC) freezer cabinets with cabinets using natural hydrocarbon refrigerants, significantly reducing GHG emissions compared to the HFC based 2008 baseline model.
- Water - The design of the project will result in operational reductions of water used of 50% for new factories and 30% for retrofitted factories.
- Waste - The design of the project will result in waste generation reductions of 50% for new factories and 30% for retrofitted factories. The operational phase of the project will result in sending zero non-hazardous waste to landfill.
About Unilever
Unilever is one of the world’s leading suppliers of Food, Home and Beauty & Personal Care products with sales in over 190 countries. We work with 174,000 colleagues around the world and generated annual sales of €49.8 billion in 2013.
Over half of our company’s footprint is in the faster growing developing and emerging markets (57% in 2013). Working to create a better future every day, we help people feel good, look good and get more out of life. Our portfolio includes some of the world’s best known brands, 14 of which - Knorr, Persil / Omo, Dove, Sunsilk, Hellmann’s, Surf, Lipton, Rexona / Sure, Wall’s ice cream, Lux, Flora / Becel, Rama / Blue Band, Magnum and Axe / Lynx - now generate a turnover of €1 billion or more.
Our ambition is to double the size of our business, whilst reducing our overall environmental footprint (including sourcing, consumer use and disposal) and increasing our positive social impact. We are committed to helping more than a billion people take action to improve their health and well-being, sourcing all our agricultural raw materials sustainably by 2020, and decoupling our growth from our environmental impact. Supporting our three big goals, we have defined seven pillars, underpinned by targets encompassing social, environmental and economic areas. See more on the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan at www.unilever.com/sustainable-living/.
Unilever has been recognised in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Indexes for 14 consecutive years. We are included in the FTSE4Good Index Series and attained a top environmental score of 5, leading to inclusion in the FTSE4Good Environmental Leaders Europe 40 Index. Unilever has been named sector leader of the CDP’s Forests programme for three consecutive years, and in 2013 led the list of Global Corporate Sustainability Leaders in the GlobeScan/SustainAbility annual survey - for the third year running. Unilever was named LinkedIn’s third most sought-after employer worldwide in 2013.
For more information about Unilever and its brands, please visit www.unilever.com.
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