Extreme weather caused by climate change is already lowering crop yields and increasing water scarcity. And it risks disrupting supply chains and raising the price of raw materials.
Without a healthy planet, you can’t have a healthy business. Making the shift to sustainability makes business sense, giving companies a chance to help address the root causes of climate change while simultaneously building their own resilience to its impacts and delivering competitive growth.
What is business sustainability?
Business sustainability is when a company conducts its business without harming people or planet, safeguarding its future business in the process.
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions, protecting nature and delivering social governance are all ways that businesses can make the shift towards sustainability.
Unilever’s purpose is to make sustainability commonplace, by way of our enterprise mannequin, the merchandise we promote and the affect now we have on wider society. We additionally imagine {that a} really sustainable enterprise doesn’t simply give attention to limiting unfavorable impacts: firms also needs to intention to create optimistic impacts the place attainable. By defending and regenerating nature, for instance, companies aren’t solely decreasing emissions and bringing again biodiversity, they’ll additionally help native communities by encouraging smallholder farmers to make use of higher farming practices that profit individuals and planet.
What are the advantages of a sustainable enterprise mannequin?
Sustainable companies are future-fit. Corporations that embrace sustainability are exhibiting management in tackling local weather change and getting forward of the curve of carbon taxes. They’re working to fulfill client calls for, whereas boosting productiveness and probably slicing prices.
Listed below are 4 methods a sustainable enterprise mannequin can equal financial progress.
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Leading the charge
Smart companies are recognising the opportunities presented to early adopters of business sustainability. A 2023 report by Deloitte
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) confirmed 84% of enterprise leaders agree that world financial progress could be achieved whereas additionally reaching local weather change objectives and 75% say their organisations have elevated their sustainability investments over the previous yr, indicating a probable groundswell of motion inside trade.Corporations making the shift to a sustainable enterprise mannequin now have an opportunity to mark themselves out as leaders within the area, moderately than threat being left behind.
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Assembly client demand
Customers today expect transparency, responsibility and action from the brands and companies they buy from. According to Kantar’s Who Cares, Who Does
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) 2023 report, 22% of households are actively making extra sustainable shopping for selections and ‘eco-active’ persons are price an estimated $456 billion (€426 billion) to the fast-moving client items trade. -
Creating operational effectivity
Becoming more sustainable usually demands that businesses significantly change their manufacturing processes, supply chains and other aspects of their business model. The actions undertaken, such as switching to cleaner and smarter energy, saving water and reducing journeys travelled, can also lead to greater efficiency.
Research by McKinsey and Co
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) discovered that executing new insurance policies to sort out useful resource efficiencies may, in sure instances, positively have an effect on a enterprise’s working income by as much as 60%. At Unilever, now we have averted prices of round €1.5 billion from our power and water effectivity measures since 2008. -
Creating progress by way of function
There’s clear evidence to suggest that being purposeful can help companies attain growth, while also serving as a future-minded sustainable business strategy. A study from Kantar
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) discovered that purpose-driven companies grew by 175% between 2008 and 2020, in comparison with simply 70% progress for low-purpose manufacturers.The Unilever Compass
(PDF 501.03 KB) is designed to help progress, to align all our merchandise with clear environmental and social advantages, and to assist make sustainable dwelling simpler and commonplace for everybody.
Why we’re collaborating to create change
For a lot of firms, Unilever included, a big a part of our environmental footprint is generated exterior our personal operations, so working in isolation won’t assist scale back our affect at scale. However by way of strategic partnerships, we will speed up the change that’s wanted to shift to sustainability and supply higher financial certainty for us all.
Unilever is working with an unlimited vary of stakeholders to assist defend and restore biodiversity and sort out local weather change, from jurisdictional landscape projects taking sensible motion on the bottom, to our Provider Local weather Programme helping suppliers who contribute most to our footprint to maneuver ahead with their local weather journeys.
We additionally work in coalition with worldwide boards such because the World Financial Discussion board’s (WEF) Alliance of CEO Local weather Leaders which advocates formidable motion on local weather change throughout the personal sector, and we’re interesting for mission builders, co-funders and innovators to companion with us to speed up options by way of Unilever’s Climate & Nature Fund.
