Unilever ramps up sustainability drive with Global Citizen and Live Earth partnerships

Unilever will partner with Live Earth on its Road to Paris project, a series of events in the lead up to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s 21st Conference of the Parties, COP21 in Paris in December. The conference will attract world leaders who will sign an emissions reductions agreement. Unilever will support Live Earth in delivering a ‘Take Climate Action Now’ message to the leaders thought a year-long awareness and activation campaign.

It will also support Global Citizen, is a movement to end extreme poverty by 2030, in its ambitious goal of building the world’s largest, most effective social activism campaign – ‘Unlock Your Power – to help address global sustainable development.

This is the first time that the consumer goods giant has partnered with two global movements on this scale.

Keith Weed, chief marketing and communications officer, said: “To us, climate and development issues are intertwined. We cannot have a healthy business in an unhealthy world - these are issues that business must play a part to help solve.

"Unilever reaches 2 billion consumers every day through our brands which gives us a real opportunity to encourage action, empowering people to be part of the positive change they wish to see.”

Paul Polman, chief executive, added that this was a “critical time and opportunity” to take action.

“As a business we can deploy our resources, expertise and scale to help our consumers to take action. Today, we are adding our support for the growing movement of citizens and businesses demanding change.”

The Unilever Sustainable Living Plan aims to decouple the company’s growth from its environmental footprint and increase its positive social impact.