How Unilever applies LCA/LCM in a business context
Transcript of How Unilever applies LCA/LCM in a business context
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How Unilever applies LCA/LCM
in a business context
Nicole Unger
Bath, July 2008
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How we are organised
Household and personal care Food
Categories Categories
Brands Brands Brands Brands Brands Brands
Categories Categories
SEAC
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Unilever and sustainability
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Changes in the World Around Us
Climate Change Soil Degradation
Biodiesel Draught
Water Scarcity
Declining Oil Reserves
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Consumer ConcernsGlobal Warming Greenhouse Gases Natural Disasters
Rainforest Destruction Health Epidemics Mass Migration of People
Gap between
Rich & Poor
Chemicals in
products; how /
where they’re
made
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Our external drivers
SuppliersLogistics
Providers
Competitors /
Trade Associations
Investors
Government /
Regulation e.g. IPP
NGO campaigning
e.g. WW, Greenpeace
Customers (e.g.
Walmart & Tesco)Consumers
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The Unilever Mission
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Where does sustainability sit?
Sustainability
Nutrition
Safety
EconomicSocial
HygieneWell being
Environment
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Social:
� Search for fulfilment & well-
being
� Animal Testing
� Labour issues/human rights
� Women’s issues
� Diversity/equal rights
� Hunger/malnutrition
� Wars/security/terrorism
� Health, illness and disease
� Loss of natural habits
� Obesity and weight
� Chemicals in the body
� Natural/organic
� Product safety
� Good causes/charity
fundraising Ethical behavior
/Responsible marketing
� Disaster relief/social migration
Economic:
� air trade/wages/pricing
� Poverty
reduction/wealth
creation/ wealth
disparity
� Economic migration
� Developing local
communities e.g.
education, infrastructure
� Employment
� Transparency/corruption
� Cost of consumption
e.g. taxes/congestion
charges on CO2
emissions or high fuel
costs
� Cost of recycling
Environment:
� Water usage
� Sustainability
� Ingredients/chemicals
� Climate change/CO2
emissions/pollution
� Energy use
� Transport/ food miles
� Genetic modification
� Excess packaging
� Deforestation/Biodiversity
� Recycling/Reuse
� Waste/ Land fill/
Biodegradability
� Pollution
Typical Life Cycle Considerations
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LCA/LCM in Unilever
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Unilever LCA Studies
g Household &Personal Care
n Laundry
n Dishwash
n Wipes
n Deodorants
n Toothpaste
n Shampoo
n Soap
n Shower Gel
g Foods
n Ice Cream
n Frozen Peas &
Spinach
n Tomato Sauces
n Margarine
n Tea
n Savoury
n Dressings
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The Life Cycle Focus
expanding to include aspectsSEAC
H+O3
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Applications of LCM
externalinternal
tactical
strategic
Industry
Benchmarking
Technology
Assessment
Sales
Support
GHG
Measurement
Performance
Improvement
Product Design
Sustainability
Review
Labelling
Environmental
Reporting
Marketing
Generic
Data Sets
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LCA/LCM in Innovation
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Facts
Unilever wants to reduce the Greenhouse Gas impact
per tonne of production by 25 % by 2012.
It is assumed that about 80% of all environmental
effects associated with a product are determined in
the design phase of development (UBA, 2000)
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LCA as an Innovation Support Tool
Ideas Feasibility Capability Rollout
Launch
Level of Detail HighLow
Screening
LCAStreamlined
LCA
Full LCA
Guidance
Tools
Checklists
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LCA in the Innovation Process
g Product/Process Comparisons
n assess product/process options and improvements
n explore design alternatives (e.g. materials,
recycling, in-use habits, disposal, etc.)
g Category Assessments
n improve understanding of product environmental
performance
n identify “hot-spots”
LCA as guidance and in decision support!
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Example ice cream
PACKAGING
DISTRIBUTION
RETAIL
HOME USE
DAIRY
INGREDIENTS
OTHER
INGREDIENTS
MANUFACTURING
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Common issues when conducting
LCAs
g Data availability and relevance
g Scale of operation/complexity
g Timing/cost
g Often applied post-product development
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LCA/LCM for strategic decisions
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Brand imprint
BI is a tool designed to
gain deeper insights on
the SEE forces that can
fuel or present barriers to
brand growth.
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LCA in Communication
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Communicating Environmental
Performance
g We use life cycle approaches to communicate
environmental information to key stakeholders
(e.g. NGOs, legislators, customers)
n to support product launches (used both
defensively and promotionally)
n to assist lobbying activities
n to inform the public
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Brochures
see www.unilever.com
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Current LCA challenges for Unilever
g Land issue (biodiversity, soil degradation…)
n Food
n biofuels
n bioplastics
g ‘Carbon neutral’, offsetting
n System boundaries in biotic systems
g Data availability (literature and site specific)
g Labelling
n Carbon labelling in the UK (Tesco)
g B 2 B tool
n Wal-Mart packaging scorecard (US)
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Reference
UBA Umweltbundesamt (German federal Environmental
Agency) (Ed.) (2000) “How to do EcoDesign?”, a guide for
environmentally and economically sound design, Verlag form.
In Commission of the European Communities (2003)
Proposal for a Directive of the European parliament and of
the council on establishing a framework for the setting of Eco-
design requirements for Energy-Using Products and
amending Council Directive 92/42/EEC, Brussels