HUL renewed its commitment to put sustainable and equitable growth at the heart of its business model at the Unilever Sustainable Plan – Two years in. The event that was organized and managed by Vibgyor Brand Services saw HUL India chief Nitin Paranjpe release the second Unilever Sustainable Living Plan Progress Report. Held at the Taj Man Singh in New Delhi, it provided an overview of HUL’s work towards meeting the goals of Unilever Sustainable Living Plan launched in 2010.

The round-table conference highlighted the achievements from the previous year that led to accelerating the integration of sustainability into the heart of many of its biggest brands. At the same time, eco-efficiencies in Unilever factories from reducing energy, water, materials and waste have enabled the company to take over €300 million out of the system since 2008. Unilever has also reduced risk at a time of volatility in food commodity prices by increasing its purchases of agricultural raw materials from sustainable sources from 14% in 2010 to 36% in 2012.

Nitin Paranjpe, CEO, HUL said, “Last year, we brought to market, innovations like Magic water saver and Comfort 1 Rinse to help cut water usage by our consumers while using our products, where a large part of our footprint lies. Many more such solutions are needed to drive change. We need to work with more partners and help bring the fruits of sustainable growth to society. And above all else, we have to enlist the support of people to influence behavior change at the consumer-end because only then can we make an impact across the value chain. This remains a big challenge.”

Ankur Kalra, CEO, Vibgyor Brand Services said, “HUL has been one of our key clients for over seven years and we are extremely happy to have been selected to organise both their Sustainability Conferences held so far. The commitment that HUL has towards the cause of sustainability is laudable and inspires all their partners and vendors to do their part towards a better future for all. We, on our part, do our bit by using LED lights instead of conventional ones, not running the event on a standby genset, using eco-friendly printing techniques etc.”