Applying Life Cycle Thinking in Unilever

Dr Peter Shonfield

Overview
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Introduction to Unilever Life cycle assessment (LCA) n what is LCA? n applying LCA to innovation n integrating LCA into strategy development Sustainability Initiatives

Unilever... facts and figures

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240 000 employees 2003 turnover ~ 43 billion 400 manufacturing sites reporting in 76 countries Develops, manufactures and sells n foods and tea-based drinks n home and personal care products Every day 150 million consumers buy a Unilever product

Unilever: Foods
Our foods brands include: g Knorr g Bertolli g PG Tips g Magnum g Liptons g Hellmans g Colemans

Unilever: Home and Personal Care

Our home and personal care brands include: g Dove g Cif g Persil g Domestos g Sunsilk g Comfort g Lux

What is Life Cycle Assessment?

LCA is a tool for evaluating the environmental burdens associated with a product, process or activity over its entire life cycle

Scope of LCA
Cradle
Ingredients Manufacture Distribution Use

Grave
Disposal

Environmental Impacts Using renewable materials? Choice of technology for extracting raw material? Polluting production processes?

Environmental Impacts How will product get to customers? How much energy will the product use?

Environmental Impacts What happens when the product is finished with? How will it be disposed of? Can it be reused/recycled?

LCA Methodology
Raw material and energy consumption

Raw Material

Manufacturing & Distribution

Use

End of Life

Emissions to air, water and land

LCA Methodology
Build Model
Define Scope & Boundary Model Processes & Activities

Life Cycle Inventory

Inputs: Raw Materials, Energy Carriers, Water Outputs: Airborne & Waterborne Emissions, Solid Waste

Life Cycle Impact Assessment

Global Warming Acidification Resource Depletion Eutrophication Etc.

Output: Eco-profile

Value and Benefit of LCA

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LCA is a holistic technique Helps avoid the problem of burden shifting Used to identify where impacts occur in the supply chain and where major improvements can be made LCA can assist with developing strategy to reduce impacts

But there are drawbacks...

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Time consuming Requires large amounts of data Data quality is important Results are often dependent upon the assumptions made Not suitable for assessing all environmental impacts

Applications of LCA
strategic
Environmental Reporting Marketing

Sustainability Review Technology Assessment GHG Measurement

internal

Industry Benchmarking

Generic Data Sets

external

Labelling Performance Improvement Product Design Sales Support

tactical

LCA in the Innovation Process

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Product/process comparisons
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Assess product/process options and improvements Explore design alternatives (e.g. materials, recycling, in-use habits, disposal, etc.) Improve understanding of product environmental performance Identify hot-spots

Category Assessments
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Unilever LCA Studies

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HPC
n n n n n n n n

Foods
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Laundry Dishwash Wipes Deodorants Toothpaste Shampoo Soap Showergel

n n n n n

Ice Cream Frozen Peas & Spinach Tomato Sauces Margarine Tea Savoury Dressings

SURFACTANT

BUILDER

STAIN REMOVER

FOAM CONTROL AGENT

ANTICORROSION AGENT

SOIL SUSPENDER

MINORS

ENERGY CARDBOARD PLASTIC GLUE PACKAGING

MANUFACTURING PLANT FW POWDER FABRIC WASHING PRODUCT WASHING MACHINE

ENERGY SCRAP

SOLID WASTE

WATER-BORNE EFFLUENT

RECYCLE

LANDFILL

INCINERATE

SEWAGE WORKS

Sludge Solids

Discharge to Environment

Identifying Areas for Improvement

80 70

% of life cycle total

60 50 40 30 20 10 0
Ingredients Packaging Production Transport Use Disposal

Energy

Global Warming

Fabric washing product

Identifying Areas for Improvement

60

% of life cycle total

50 40 30 20 10 0

Ingredients

Packaging

Production

Transport

Use

Disposal

Solid Waste

Eutrophication

Fabric washing product

Actions taken
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Development of unit dose products such as tablets and liquid capsules to prevent over-dosing The Wash-Right campaign to reduce impacts during the consumer use phase
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avoid under-filling the machine use lowest temperature use correct dose of detergent dispose of packaging properly

Brochures

see www.unilever.com under Environmental Management/LCA

Measure Environmental Improvements

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Look at European washing powders 1976-1996 Product changes

n n n n

formulation packaging dose compacts wash temperature water consumption electricity mix improved sewage treatment

Other changes
n n n n

LCA Profile of Fabric Washing

Comparison at Recommended dose

1.2
Relative Contribution

1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0

Energy Acidification Nutrification Solid waste GWP Phot Smog Ecotoxicity Chemical load 1996 Conventional 1986 Conventional 1976 Conventional

1996 Compact

Strategic Studies

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Overall Business Impact Assessment (1997) Water Volume Imprint (2001) Greenhouse Gas Emissions Assessment (2003)

Overall Business Impact Assessment (OBIA)

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LCA of Unilevers annual global business Using generic product life cycles adjusted for production tonnage Aims: n to estimate the scale of Unilevers environmental footprint vs. global impacts n to identify key environmental issues n to improve understanding of our business and products

Unilevers Water Volume Imprint

Ingredients

Packaging

Manufacture

Use

% Water Use by Life Cycle Stage

Water Scarcity in Africa

UNEP Global Environmental Outlook Report 2000

Example of a Regional Assessment

Country Unilever Consumer % Total Unilever Factory % Total 0.69 0.47 0.78 0.16 0.17 0.06 0.63 0.38 Annual Resource m3/capita 5265 1607 696 1690 1815 1011 1829 19001 9229 1182 Potential Scarcity

Cote d'Ivoire Ghana Kenya Malawi Nigeria South Africa Uganda Zaire Zambia Zimbabwe

Sustainable Development Initiatives

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Unilever has committed to three sustainable development themes n Sustainable Fisheries

n n

Sustainable Agriculture Clean Water Stewardship

LCA and the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (SAI)

Detailed LCAs have been conducted on each sustainable agriculture pilot crop n Provides understanding of environmental impacts across agricultural supply chains n Places agricultural stage in context with rest of supply chain n Aids in the development of sustainability indicators

Scope of SAI and LCA

LCA
Primary Raw Material Extraction Production of Fertiliser/Pesticide/etc Planting/Growing/Harvesting Distribution Factory Processes Retailer Consumer Use Disposal

SAI

Summary
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Environmental issues are becoming increasingly important Failure to address these issues can damage brand reputation LCA is a useful tool to measure, understand and communicate environmental performance n innovation process, product design n communication with external stakeholders n extend life cycle thinking into strategy development