HINDUSTAN LEVER LIMITED

Unilever set up its first Indian subsidiary, Hindustan Vanaspati Manufacturing Company, followed by Lever Brothers India Limited (1933) and United Traders Limited (1935).

7,000 stockists, covers the entire urban population.

About 250 million rural consumers.

Rural India already covers about 50,000 villages, reaching about 250 million consumers, through about 6000 substockists.

HINDUSTAN LEVER BECOMES HINDUSTAN UNILEVER

Balance between maintaining its heritage and the future benefits and synergies of global alignment with the corporate name of Unilever It retains the companys continued commitment towards local roots while leveraging the global scale and reputation of Unilever with its consumers and other stakeholders in India."

 Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) is India's largest Fast Moving Consumer Goods Company with a heritage of over 75 years in India and touches the lives of two out of three Indians.

Diverse portfolio of leading brands

AWARDS & RECOGNITION

HUL Orai unit received the Gold Excellence award and the Khalilabad unit received the Silver Excellence award in the environment category by Greentech Foundation in 2009. HUL's Goa factory won a Gold Trophy at the Greentech Awards in 2009 the manufacturing sector category for their outstanding work in Safety Management. Received CNBC AWAAZ Consumer Awards in six categories for 2010:- Green Company of the Year.

ENVIORNMENT POLICY
Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) supplies high quality goods and services to meet the daily needs of consumers and industry. In doing so, the Company is committed to exhibit the highest standards of corporate behaviour towards its consumers, employees, the societies and the world in which it lives.

THE COMMITTMENT
The company recognises its joint responsibility with the Government and the Public to protect environment and is committed to regulate all its activities so as to follow best practicable means for minimising adverse environmental impact arising out of its operations. The company is committed to making its products environmentally acceptable, while fulfilling consumers' requirements for excellent quality, performance and safety. The aim of the Policy is to prevent or minimise the risk of an adverse environmental impact arising from processing of the product, its use or foreseeable misuse.

VISION AND POLICY

The Vision HUL vision is to continue to be an environmentally responsible organisation making continuous improvements in the management of the environmental impact of their operations. The Environment Policy HUL is committed to meeting the needs of customers and consumers in an environmentally sound manner, through continuous improvement in environmental performance in all our activities. Management at all levels, jointly with employees, is responsible and will be held accountable for company's environmental performance.

AIMS OF HUL
Ensure safety of its products and operations for the environment by using standards of environmental safety, which are scientifically sustainable and commonly acceptable.

Develop, introduce and maintain environmental management systems across the company to meet the company standards as well as statutory requirements for environment. Verify compliance with these standards through regular auditing.
Assess environmental impact of all its activities and set annual improvement objectives and targets and review these to ensure that these are being met at the individual unit and corporate levels.

Contd..
Reduce Waste, conserve Energy and explore opportunities for reuse and recycle. Encourage suppliers and co-packers to develop and employ environmentally superior processes and ingredients and cooperate with other members of the supply chain to improve overall environmental performance. Work in partnership with external bodies and Government agencies to promote environmental care, increase understanding of environmental issues and disseminate good practice.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF HUL
Corporate Set mandatory standards and establish environmental improvement objectives and targets for HUL as a whole and for individual units, and ensure these are included in the annual operating plans. Formally review environment performance of the company once every quarter. Nominate: - A senior line manager responsible for environmental performance at the individual HUL site. - HUL environmental coordinator.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF HUL
Individual Units Designate a unit environment coordinator who will be responsible for co-ordinating environmental activities at unit, collating environmental statistics and providing / arranging for expert advice. Agree with the Management Committee Member responsible for the unit, specific environmental improvement objectives and targets for the unit and ensure that these are incorporated in the annual objectives of the concerned managers and officers and are reviewed periodically. Ensure that the unit complies with Unilever and HUL mandatory standards and the relevant national and state regulations with respect to environment.

RESEARCH AND INNOVATION CENTRES

Ensure that a formal and systematic risk assessment exercise is undertaken during the process/product development stage with specific reference to environmental impact. Transfer technology to the pilot plant and main production through a properly documented process specification which will clearly define environmental impact and risks associated with processes, products, raw material and finished product handling, transport and storage. Ensure that treatment techniques are developed for any wastes generated as a result of the new product/process and is incorporated into the process specifications.

ECOSYSTEM

SUSTAINABLE LIVING
A large amount of the raw materials needed is derived from agriculture, so the Sustainable Agriculture Programme plays a key role in managing its upstream impact.

In operations, the company aim to improve the ecoefficiency of our manufacturing operations, minimize resources used and waste created. To manage downstream impact, research and product development teams work towards reducing the environmental impact of our products and packaging through reformulation and innovations.

SUSTAINABLE SOURCING
Since HUL depend on agriculture and forestry for a large part of our raw materials, sustainable sourcing has become a strategic issue for its business and brands. HULs long-term aim is to buy all our key agricultural raw materials from sustainable sources, so that:
Farmers and farm workers can obtain an income they can live on and improve their living conditions Soil fertility is maintained and improved Water availability and quality are protected and enhanced Nature and biodiversity are protected and enhanced

SUSTAINABLE SOURCING
Palm Oil Unilever is one of the largest buyers of palm oil in the world, as well as in India. Unilever purchased GreenPalm certificates that supports the production of sustainable palm oil, certified according to the standards set by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). Tea HUL are working closely with key tea producers (in North and South India) and Rainforest Alliance (RA), an international certification body in the area of sustainable agriculture. Nine tea estates in the Nilgiris (Tamil Nadu), and ten tea estates in Assam were certified 'Sustainable Estates' by RA in 2008 and 2009. This certification is currently sought for 52 other tea estates in Assam and Darjeeling.

ECO-EFFICIENCY
HUL aim to improve the eco-efficiency of our manufacturing operations, minimising resources used, and residual waste created. HUL has continuous improvement targets for all environmental parameters and specific goals with respect to water and carbon.
- CO2: Reduce C02 from energy in manufacturing operations per tonne of production by 25% by 2012 (against the 2004 baseline). - Water: Implement rainwater harvesting facilities in manufacturing sites where it has the potential to yield results.

Contd..
All HUL manufacturing sites have implemented Unilever's Environmental Care Framework Standards, which require all Unilever operations to establish a formal environmental management system. The framework is modelled on ISO-14001 and OHSAS 18001 international standards and is ultimately applicable to all manufacturing sites. Some units are also ISO-14001 and OHSAS-18001 certified.

Our environmental performance is periodically reviewed by the Central Safety, Health and Environment Committee (CSHEC).

PERFORMANCE ON KEY ENVIRONMENTAL PARAMETERS

HUL have been able to reduce their footprint across key environmental parameters even though production at our own sites has increased by 24% from 2004.

Contd..

* measured per tonne against 2004 baseline

WASTE
The quantity of hazardous waste generated in manufacturing operations is small and has been reducing over the years. HUL abide by the Ministry of Environment and Forest's guidelines, which require the disposal of all hazardous waste in authorized and approved Treatment, Storage, and Disposal Facility sites only. In 2008-09, TSDF sites were set up in the states where HUL had operations and they were able to dispose the accumulated hazardous waste. However, the actual current generation of such waste has in fact been reducing in their units.

Contd..
100% of non-hazardous waste is recycled in environmentfriendly ways. The supply chain waste is sent for co-processing at cement plants to ensure its eco-friendly disposal. The waste is combusted at very high temperatures and the heat is utilized in the cement clinker.

International agencies has helped HUL confirm that no undesirable gases such as dioxin/furan are released during their process.

ECO-EFFICIENCY INITIATIVES
Low carbon technology: The plough share mixer technology eliminates the need for steam in soap making, cutting carbon emissions by 15,000 tonnes per year. HUL are the first in the world to be awarded carbon credits under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).

Carbon neutral fuels and renewable energy: Manufacturing operations at Chiplun, Puducherry, and Hosur use boilers that utilise bio-mass as fuel. The reduction per annum in C02 emissions in the Chiplun factory is 11,000 tonnes and in the Puducherry factory is 10,000 tonnes.
Mysore and Hosur manufacturing operations source green electricity from windmills.

ECO-EFFICIENCY INITIATIVES
Water sustainability in manufacturing operations: Their strategy for water is based on the 4-R Principle reduce at source, reuse within process, recycle wherever possible, and renew groundwater with rainwater harvesting projects. At select units they have applied technologies like reverse osmosis to treat effluents and reuse water after treatment. More than 75% of our units are zero discharge sites. As part of long-term water strategy, in 2008, they initiated rainwater harvesting projects at 14 sites to scientifically recharge the underground aquifers or store and reuse the rainwater from the catchments.

Contd..
More than 50% of manufacturing units have rainwater harvesting facility and five HUL sites have the potential to return more water to the ground than is being consumed by them thus becoming water positive units. They plan to install rainwater harvesting structures in more manufacturing sites, where it has the potential to yield results, to ensure sustainable water supply and thus increase the share of water returned to the ground as compared to the fresh water consumed.

COMPLIANCE AND AUDIT

All manufacturing units comply with local and national laws. Necessary environment clearances and all their conditions as applicable are being complied with. External audits for Unilever's Environmental Care Framework Standards are conducted once every three years for manufacturing operations. Apart from this, quarterly checks are conducted by the Corporate Safety and Environment team and TPM (Total Productive Maintenance) hub leaders on a quarterly basis at all sites to keep track of the environmental performance of the sites. In 2009, no prosecution or fine was reported for environmental non compliance by their manufacturing units.

HUL INITIATIVES FOR DISTRIBUTION, CONSUMER USE, AND DISPOSAL

Climate-friendly refrigeration:
Ice cream business uses deep freezers for storage in retail and vending operations. They are technologically advanced Hydrocarbon (HC) instead of Hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) that saves energy and power consumption upto 9%.

Safe drinking water without consuming energy eg Pureit water purifier which enables consumers to save drinking water without using too much energy. Reducing water footprint eg Surf Excel which saves upto 2 buckets of water as it provides quick wash to consumers.

SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING
The approach to sustainable packaging of some of their products involves: Considering the whole product, not just the packaging. Adopting leading-edge design techniques and choosing materials to minimise impact. Working with others, through partnerships, to strengthen the recycling and recovery infrastructure. This approach is dictated by five principles - remove, reduce, reuse, renew and recycle. The environmental impact of different materials varies significantly, so they consider the impact of the packaging at each stage of the product's lifecycle.

WATER
They conserve water by working on a wide range of locally relevant initiatives and partnerships for water conservation and spread awareness about the issue amongst the consumers and communities. They are working with specialised NGO partners in the field of water conservation, and use various models with specific performance indicators and evaluation procedures.

Contd..

Successful water conservation pilot projects

Project Silvassa: In April 2004, HUL started a project in Silvassa. Till March 2010, the project had made an impact on water and soil conservation. This project ensured sustainable development of water and land resources, locals have attained self-sufficiency in basic needs of food, water, fodder and fuel, and local employment opportunities which have been generated through increased economic activity.
The other highlights are: - More than 67 million litres of water have been harvested since

2004. - Additional income of Rs.160 lakhs was accrued to villagers during project period. - 325 families have benefited under various programmes. - Soil conservation treatment has been carried out on 282 hectares of land. - 12,000 mango seedlings have been planted - 22 bore wells and 20 open wells were recharged.