Targets & performance

Our commitment

Halve the water associated with the consumer use of our products by 2020.* 

Our performance

Given the complexity of calculating the impacts of our product portfolio, we are investing in an automated process to allow us to measure progress regularly.

An interim sample of 2010 data shows that our water footprint has remained broadly unchanged.

What matters most

Reducing water use when doing laundry, showering and washing hair.

*Our environmental targets are expressed against a baseline of 2008 and on a 'per consumer use' basis. This means a single use, portion or serving of a product.

  • 0 achieved
  • 3 on-plan
  • 3 off-plan
  • 0 missed target

Our approach

Water is a basic human need. The United Nations estimates that each person needs 20–50 litres per day for drinking and daily tasks like cooking and washing.

The average North American uses 550 litres daily, while in the poorest countries people live on as little as 10 litres a day. Worldwide, some 70% of total water consumption is used for agriculture.

Water shortages are increasingly common and already touch many parts of the world, from China to India to the United States. Their growing frequency is the result of population growth, improving incomes and climate change. The amount of water available per head of population has halved over the last 30 years and is predicted to halve again in the next ten. It is estimated that the world will face a 40% global shortfall between demand and supply by 2030.

Our products rely on water at all stages of their lifecycle. To grow our business sustainably, we must reduce the total amount of water used across our value chain. Our Sustainable Agriculture Programme helps farmers reduce their water use. We are reducing the water used in our manufacturing processes. And we can make a big difference by designing products which require less water in the home.

We are making some progress. Our Comfort One Rinse fabric conditioner reduces the water needed for rinsing clothes from three buckets to one. We have also learnt more about current showering and bathing habits which will help us develop new product solutions. But transformational change will only come when water is priced and there is a financial incentive to encourage new behaviours.

Our footprint

Our baseline for water is calculated in seven countries which we have defined as water-scarce, accounting for around half the world’s population.

Our analysis shows that around 38% of our water footprint comes from the laundry process – a significant proportion of this is washing laundry by hand in the developing world.

A further 44% of our footprint comes from showering, bathing and washing hair with our products.

Reducing waste use in agriculture

4.1We will develop comprehensive plans with our suppliers and partners to reduce the water used to grow our crops in water-scarce countries.

  • In 2011 we made good progress in assessing the water used to grow our key crops.

More on reducing water use in agriculture

Analysing the water used to grow our ingredients is a complex task as water impacts vary enormously according to the crop and the country where they are grown. Using data from the Water Footprint Network, we made estimates of the water requirements of our key crops.

We will use the data to identify where the biggest risks are in terms of agricultural water and to develop plans with suppliers and growers.

Reducing water use, increasing yields

gherkin-218We have been promoting drip irrigation to our suppliers and growers. This system can dramatically reduce water use while at the same time increasing yields. We are making steady progress with our key suppliers, whose use of drip irrigation has risen from 39% in 2009 to 52% by the end of 2011.

Tomatoes have been one of our biggest successes. For example in Australia, tomatoes have been grown using up to 70% less water and in India, a set of drip irrigation trials on gherkins produced an average water saving of 40% (pictured).

In the United States, we have found that the most striking aspect of conversion to drip irrigation for tomatoes is the significant yield increase of over 25%. Drip irrigation also helps create improved growing conditions with fewer fungal and bacterial diseases. In humid climates fungicide application rates have been reduced by as much as 50%.

Reduce water use in the laundry process

We will reduce the water required in the laundry process by:

4.2Making easier rinsing products more widely available.

4.3Providing 50 million households in water-scarce countries with products that deliver excellent cleaning but use less water by 2020.

  • In 2011 we launched Surf One Rinse in the Philippines and expanded the Comfort One Rinse range in Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam.
  • Our One Rinse products are now used in 12.5 million households worldwide, a 60% increase on 2010.

More on reducing water use in the laundry process

In water-scarce countries, around 38% of our domestic water footprint comes from washing clothes. In many of these markets people do their laundry by hand. A few years ago we developed a fabric conditioner called ‘One Rinse’. With this product consumers only need one bucket for rinsing out detergent residues rather than three buckets, saving time, effort and up to 30 litres of water per wash.

We increased the availability of single-rinse products through the launch of new variants as well as making them available through more sales outlets.

The product has been successful. After three years, Comfort One Rinse accounts for one-third of the fabric conditioner market in Vietnam and a fifth of the market in Indonesia.

The potential water saving is huge. Around 500 billion litres of water would be saved if all our laundry consumers in Asia and South Africa used One Rinse, and used it in the right way. Although the potential is large, the use of these products is still relatively small and we have much to do to hit this target.

'Seeing is believing’ promotes more sustainable habits

Viet Ibiza2_02 Blue-218When we launched Comfort One Rinse in Vietnam, people liked the product but most stuck to their old habit of three buckets for rinsing. TV commercials created high awareness but did not change behaviour. We found people needed to see with their own eyes the proof of washing out detergent residues after just one rinse.

Using Unilever’s Five Levers for Change approach to behaviour change, we made it easy for people to see that one rinse really is all that is needed.

We ran ‘seeing is believing’ demonstrations on a massive scale – even taking over the National Stadium in Vietnam, which was seen by a broadcast audience of 30 million people. This helped to build confidence that the new way of rinsing was enough to remove all residues and showed the convenience in saving time and water.

We have also used role models to encourage adoption. In Indonesia we employed celebrity TV presenter Rina Gunawan to demonstrate the product’s benefits and make it desirable to save water. We even went so far as to create a national ‘One Rinse Movement’ in partnership with Indonesia’s National Women’s Movement. This involved training 95,000 women to become ‘Water Warriors’ to encourage good water saving habits in their communities.

Quantitative studies in Vietnam show we are making some progress, with an increasing number of people cutting down their water consumption.

Reduce water use in skin cleansing and hair washing

4.4By 2015 we intend to reach 200 million consumers with products and tools that will help them to use less water while washing and showering. Our goal is to reach 400 million by 2020.

  • We are making a start on this target.

More on reducing water use in skin cleansing and hair washing

Around 44% of Unilever’s domestic water footprint is associated with our soaps, shower gels and shampoos. So the largest gains will come from people modifying their showering and bathing habits.

We are struggling to make a dent in this target. The starting point is to understand current behaviour. To that end we have initiated research in water-stressed countries to understand behaviour and what could motivate people to change.

Reducing water use in our manufacturing process

4.5By 2020, water abstraction by our global factory network will be at or below 2008 levels, despite significantly higher volumes.This represents a 78% reduction per tonne of production and a 65% absolute reduction, versus a 1995 baseline. We will focus in particular on factories in water scarce locations.

4.6All newly built factories will aim to abstract less than half the water of those in our 2008 baseline.

  • 10.5 million fewer m3 of water abstracted† in 2011 than in 2008 (a reduction of 17% per tonne of production†).Compared to 1995, this represents a 72% reduction in absolute terms.††2011 data is preliminary. See Assurance.
  • During 2010–11 we incorporated sustainability improvements into every aspect of the design specification for our new factories. These improvements will be incorporated in all new designs from 2012 onwards.

More on reducing water use in our manufacturing process

Our 17% reduction per tonne of production†compared to 2008 represents steady progress. It has been driven by continuous improvements across the majority of our manufacturing sites and also by the disposal of a number of high water-use sites in 2011.

Better effluent treatment plants will deliver our biggest improvements in water reduction. In addition, we are piloting a new technology for process water treatment in four European countries. We estimate it could deliver 3–5% water savings.

†2011 data is preliminary

Saving water in South Africa

South Africa-218Our new food factory in Durban, South Africa opened at the end of 2011 following an investment of around €70 million. It is designed to produce half the greenhouse gas emissions of the previous site and to send zero waste to landfill. Just as importantly in a water-stressed region, it aims to be ‘water neutral’ by harvesting rainwater and recycling to avoid taking water that would otherwise be consumed by the community.

Future challenges

Water is scarce today and becoming more so. This puts Unilever’s sourcing of agricultural raw materials at risk.

Equally, a large part of our footprint is associated with showering, bathing and hair washing, just as our greenhouse gas footprint is associated with heating that water for showers.

To reduce water use we will need to develop new products and tools which help people use less water. But we have learnt that while creating new product technology is important, it is not enough. We still need to motivate people to adopt the new water-saving behaviour. Unilever’s Five Levers for Change methodology is helping our marketers take a systematic approach to reducing water use when rinsing laundry by hand. We plan to apply the same approach to changing habits in the shower.

In the end it will require water pricing and water metering alongside consumer education to drive the right behaviours. At that point we will need to be ready with products and tools that help people make their water go further.