Unilever – Improving water efficiency in manufacturing

Unilever implements a global strategy to reduce water use and increase reuse, focusing on water-scarce areas and new operations. The company requires all sites to develop water reduction plans and monitors progress via an Environmental Performance Reporting system. Since 2014, Unilever has allocated nearly US$10 million to over 100 water efficiency projects, including a US$4.5 million ring-fenced water fund. These efforts have led to a 37% reduction in total water per ton of production since 2008 and cumulative cost avoidances of approximately €60 million. While manufacturing efficiency has improved, the company identifies consumer product use as the area of greatest water impact and aims to halve water associated with consumer use by 2020.

• Unilever's water efficiency program has achieved significant reductions in water use per production unit and absolute abstraction, including a 37% decrease in total water per ton of production relative to 2008 and a 6.8% decrease in absolute water abstracted by manufacturing sites in 2015 compared to 2014.
• The company has realized substantial financial benefits from water efficiency, with cumulative cost avoidance of around €60 million since 2008. Projects typically have an average payback period of less than two years.
• Unilever supports water efficiency through financial mechanisms, including a US$4.5 million ring-fenced water fund established in 2014 and a total allocation of nearly US$10 million for over 100 projects since 2014.
• The most significant opportunities for efficiency occur when water savings coincide with energy, waste, and chemical savings, as demonstrated by a Powders Plant in Brazil that became a zero-liquid discharge site, reducing annual costs by US$33,000.
• Despite manufacturing gains, Unilever identifies consumer use of its products as the primary source of water impact and has set a target to halve the water associated with consumer use by 2020.

APA

Crowe, B. (2017). Unilever – Improving water efficiency in manufacturing. We Mean Business Coalition. https://www.wemeanbusinesscoalition.org/blog/unilever-improving-water-efficiency-in-manufacturing/

Chicago

Crowe, Bethany. Unilever – Improving water efficiency in manufacturing. We Mean Business Coalition, 2017. https://www.wemeanbusinesscoalition.org/blog/unilever-improving-water-efficiency-in-manufacturing/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Crowe |first1=Bethany |title=Unilever – Improving water efficiency in manufacturing |publisher=We Mean Business Coalition |date=24 August 2017 |url=https://www.wemeanbusinesscoalition.org/blog/unilever-improving-water-efficiency-in-manufacturing/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{crowe2017unilever, author = {Crowe, Bethany}, title = {{Unilever – Improving water efficiency in manufacturing}}, institution = {We Mean Business Coalition}, year = {2017}, month = aug, url = {https://www.wemeanbusinesscoalition.org/blog/unilever-improving-water-efficiency-in-manufacturing/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }