Unilever PLC, the maker of brands ranging from Ben & Jerry’s ice cream to Dove soap, is trying to win over customers with a socially responsible makeover, but advocates say that some of it is just cosmetic.
The Anglo-Dutch consumer giant has introduced a series of initiatives aimed at making it, in its own words, the world’s most sustainable company, while also taking a position on issues such as racism.
The firm, which releases third-quarter results this week, has promised to halve its use of plastic by 2025, eliminate the use of fossil fuels in cleaning products by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2039.
However, the multinational behind Marmite yeast spread, Lipton tea and Knorr soups is "still a big polluter," said Meike Rijksen, campaigner for plastic at Greenpeace Netherlands.
"We recognize that Unilever is doing more than most companies, but it is by far not enough," she told reporters.
Unilever remains the fourth-biggest producer of plastics polluting the planet, behind Coca-Cola Co, Nestle SA and PepsiCo Inc, according to a report last year by Break Free from Plastics, a global coalition of non-governmental organizations.
Greenpeace urged the firm to invest in renewable materials across its activities and to eliminate single-use plastics.
Unilever has argued that "responsible" corporate behavior is good business, since it would attract young, more environmentally conscious customers.
"We make sure that our brands take action on the issues that consumers care about," Marlous den Bieman, media relations manager for Unilever Benelux, told reporters.
Chief executive Alan Jope has said that "woke-washing is beginning to infect our industry," warning against companies promising action on social and environmental causes without following through.
Unilever was one of the first major firms to join a boycott on advertising on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram in the US until the end of this year due to the "polarized election period" there.
That same month Unilever said its Indian and Bangladeshi arms would rename their locally marketed "Fair & Lovely" skin-lightening cream in the face of the global "Black Lives Matter" protests.
Meanwhile, the group has also been adding some more "green" to its stable of 400 brands. It has bought the eco-friendly US detergent maker The Laundress and the Dutch "vegetarian butcher" De Vegetarische Slager.
"Climate action is mainstreaming and companies prioritizing it today can gain a competitive advantage," said Steven Tebbe of CDP, a London-based organization that runs a platform for companies and cities to share environmental information.
"Not only consumers, but also investors and big corporate buyers are increasingly expecting companies to be transparent and take more urgent responsibility for their environmental impacts," Tebbe told reporters.
Unilever has also announced a zero-deforestation policy and a "responsible" method of choosing suppliers for meat, palm oil and soya, three products notorious for contributing to the problem.
"Their commitment to environmental disclosure and ambitious emissions target shows that climate action is deeply integrated into their overall strategy," Tebbe said.
However, Greenpeace feared that Unilever was effectively "greenwashing" its image.
"Their whole business model is still based on environmental destruction. In the meantime, they are being praised internationally for their action on sustainability — that is worrying," Meike Rijksen said.
As one of the world’s biggest producers of food and consumer goods, Unilever had to set a genuine example in bringing about a "fundamental change in the broken system,” she said.
"They can and they should take this responsibility," Rijksen added.
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