The FINANCIAL — Unilever has been named leader of the Oxfam Behind the Brands ranking. The Consumer Goods company, that produces brands such as Dove, Knorr, Hellmann’s and Wall’s ice cream, has improved its score for the themes of climate change, land rights, workers and transparency, and also retains the leading score for farmers.
Oxfam’s scorecard ranks the 10 biggest food and beverage companies, “Big 10” on their policies and commitments to improve food security and sustainability. This is updated twice a year and assesses companies on seven themes: climate change, land rights, workers, transparency, farmers, women, and water, according to Unilever.
As well as gaining high scores for climate change, land rights, transparency and farmers, Unilever gained a particular mention for efforts on workers’ rights. The Oxfam report states that: “Unilever moved ahead after publishing new commitments, including a Responsible Sourcing Policy that sets out new guidelines and requirements for its suppliers based on ‘continuous improvement’,” and that, “Unilever (is) ahead of the rest at the other end of the scale.”
Pier Luigi Sigismondi, Chief Supply Chain Officer, Unilever said: “We are committed to promoting human rights across our supply chain. Our employees are focussed on delivering this as part of the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan and work with many partners to push standards and boundaries where necessary. I am delighted this has been recognised by Oxfam. However, we are under no illusion about the scale of the challenge that remains and recognise where improvements can be made. One area of focus this year will be on empowering women in our supply chain. We will continue to drive change across our business and industry and call on others to do the same.”
Unilever’s score increased from 63% in February 2014 to 71% in March 2015.
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