8/12/2019 Case Study Environment

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Case Study: Unilever

Conducting sustainability audits to drive performance improvement and ensure data accuracy for reportin

g

Background

Unilever has been the Food & Beverage super-sector sustainability leader on the Dow Jones Sustainabilit

y Index (DJSI) for 12 straight years. Launched in 1999, the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes are the first

global indexes tracking the financial performance of the leading sustainability-driven companies worldwi

de. Based on the cooperation of Dow Jones Indexes and SAM they provide asset managers with reliable a

nd objective benchmarks to manage sustainability portfolios.

Investors perceive sustainability as a catalyst for enlightened and disciplined management and thus, DJSI

is a crucial business success factor. Highly regarded by influential investors all over the world, the DJSI h

elps shape the increasingly popular sustainability-driven investment portfolios.

The Unilever Sustainable Living Plan is Unilevers groundbreaking and ambitious roadmap to achieve its

growth vision in a way that increases the social value of its brands while simultaneously reducing its envir

onmental impact. Unilever will report its progress to achieving the goals set forth in the USLP and theref

ore Unilever wanted to ensure that the Sustainability data collected and reported by its manufacturing site

s was accurate.

Our Approach

As a pilot exercise, ERM offered to extend its existing audit to a Unilever facility. This work involved co

mpleting a detailed review of the Environment, Health and Safety sustainability data that had been reporte

d, and comparing this data to the situation on site. As a result, ERM made a series of recommendations w

hich Unilever adopted.

The sustainability related audit took one day to complete and, following its success, has now become a sta

ndard process for all Unilever sites across the Americas. ERMs involvement will enable sites to ensure th

e accuracy of the data collation and reporting.

As a long-term partner, ERM has completed 82 audits for Unilever in the last three years.

Benefits and Value

Integrating ERMs recommendations on sustainability into Unilevers existing audit program will help U

nilever in:

Reporting against its new sustainability goals

Safeguarding the accuracy of EHS data being reported across the Americas

Drive performance improvement

Leveraging ERMs experienced auditors

Note: The DJSIs are the world's most important and widely-recognized indexes for tracking the performa

nce of sustainability-driven companies. They are calculated and published by the Swiss investment boutiq

ue SAM Group in cooperation with Dow Jones Indexes