At HUL we have been continuously working towards reducing the environmental impact across our operations. Refer to our ‘Climate Action’ page to know more about our key initiatives: Link

Not applicable, as we are not an energy-intensive industry as outlined under the Performance, Achieve and Trade (PAT) scheme of the Government of India.

We are addressing water scarcity through conservation, restoration, recharge, and reuse of water. In this pursuit, at the community level, we have implemented Water Stewardship Projects across 12 water-stressed locations (as per ground water resources and the World Resources Institute) in India. At our manufacturing sites, we have reduced our water usage by 47% compared to the 2008 baseline, focusing on less abstraction, rainwater harvesting, and maximising the use of RO plants. This has helped us in increased efficiencies, risk reduction, and stronger stakeholder relationships. We have also embarked on a journey to align our Water Stewardship Programme to the Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) standard at five sites. AWS is a global membership bringing together businesses, NGOs, and the public sector. In the International Water Stewardship Standard, members uphold local water-resource sustainability through their adoption and promotion of a universal framework. This standardizes good water stewardship practices, driving recognition and rewarding performance.

We set up the Hindustan Unilever Foundation (HUF) in 2010 to support and amplify scalable solutions that can help address India’s water challenges - specifically for rural communities that intersect with agriculture. HUF established its ‘Water for Public Good’ programme, which is anchored in the belief that water is a common good and must be governed by citizen communities. The aim was to catalyse effective solutions to India’s water challenges involving the government, communities, experts, and mission-based organisations. HUF’s programmes have reached over 15,000 villages since inception and have created a cumulative and collective water potential of over 3.2 trillion litres* since its inception. To underscore the importance of the water potential created by HUF, 3.2 trillion litres of water is more than the quantity required to meet the drinking water needs of India’s population for nearly two years. HUF also supports several knowledge initiatives in water conservation and governance.

We also have project Prabhat, our sustainable community initiative that has been implementing water conservation projects in water-stressed sites across the country. We constructed water conservation structures, such as check dams, farm ponds, farm bunds, and water absorption trenches in programme villages to enhance access to water. The programme also supports agricultural communities with water conservation solutions to help them achieve better water efficiency.

Our Climate Transition Action Plan outlines our plan to progress towards our near-term value chain emission reduction targets which includes nine priority action areas i.e. Supplier Climate Programme, reformulating products, forest-risk commodities, regenerative agriculture, chemical ingredients, packaging, logistics and ice cream cabinets. We are taking the following actions to support our goal of achieving zero emissions in our own operations:

1. To transition towards renewable energy and use it better, we have started buying renewable energy through solar power plants and invested in windmills to reduce the real-time requirement of grid power. We have also embarked on a journey to substitute the fossil fuel requirement with green fuels and already eliminated coal from our operations. We have introduced biomass instead of coal and biofuel instead of Furnace Oil and High-Speed Diesel (HSD). As of March 2024, the renewable energy percentage (for both Electrical and Thermal combined) is 96% for our own manufacturing sites. 100% of our electricity is from renewable sources with a combination of solar/wind and IREC green certification.

2. To become energy efficient, we have adopted various energy-saving projects, such as heat pumps, energy-efficient motors, and Variable Voltage and Frequency Drive (VVFD) usage, to reduce the overall energy requirement in the factories. We have significantly reduced our per tonne GHG emission by 98% and energy consumption by 45% in our own manufacturing operations in FY 2023-24 compared to 2008 baseline.

We are taking steps towards a waste-free world through various initiatives. We wish to create a waste-free future and are already taking preventive measures by minimising our use of plastic and reducing the waste from our factories. Refer to our ‘Waste Free World’ page for detailed initiatives: Link

Our zero-waste mindset means we look at waste materials as a resource. Where we have not been able to find ways to reduce waste, we look for routes to reuse or recycle it.

However, if these solutions aren’t available, in the absence of recycling infrastructure at most places, we recover energy from the waste ensuring best routes for our waste flows, so we can strengthen our circular economy approach – improving factory operations and reducing our environmental impact.

All our factories are equipped with pre-processing facilities, such as waste segregation and waste reduction at source, thus improving recyclability. Further, we are constantly devising newer ways to eliminate usage of hazardous chemicals used for cleaning and disinfection processes by upgrading the hardware with the latest technologies. We have been successful in achieving zero non-hazardous waste to landfills status across all our factories and offices by maximising the reuse and recycling of all non-hazardous waste in environmentally friendly ways, such as reusing jumbo bags, carbon cartons, and process waste, such as soap; reusing sludge waste as boiler fuel; upcycling plastic; and using food waste for animal feed.

For hazardous waste, we adhere to the regulations outlined in the ‘Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management and Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2016’ and comply with the conditions set by the State Pollution Control Board’s ‘Authorisation’. Additionally, the R&D teams are improving materials selection and product design to reduce waste at the source. We also use recycled materials in our packaging and collect and safely dispose plastic waste (per our EPR). As a result, the total waste generated from our factories in FY 2023-24 has decreased by 58% (per tonne of production) compared to the 2008 baseline.

Yes, the Company’s operations and offices comply with the country’s applicable environmental laws and regulations and operate as per Consent to Operate conditions from the Central and State Pollution Control Boards. Our dedicated, trained, and qualified Environment, Health, and Safety representative at each site coordinates the overall implementation of the site environmental management system. This includes the environmental performance of individual activities, coordinating environmental matters within the organisation, advising line management in environmental matters, and contacting regulatory authorities and residents.

(i) Name of the area: As per the Central Ground Water Authority, the below locations are in water-stressed areas: Chhindwara, Nabha, Rajpura, Sonipat, Pondicherry, Amli, Dapada, and Nashik.

(ii) Nature of operations: Manufacturing

(iii) Water withdrawal, consumption, and discharge in the following format:

Measuring GHG emissions is a significant challenge and relies on many estimates and on information from third parties. We have estimated our Scope 3 emissions across each of the 15 GHG Protocol Scope 3 emission categories relevant to our business. We measure our most material emissions from procured goods and services, using data on real volumes of procured raw materials/packaging and services combined with standard emissions factors for these materials, applying the latest guidance on the use of emissions factors (IPCC AR6) and the draft GHG Protocol Land Sector guidance. Under the GHG Protocol, indirect consumer use-phase emissions are an optional part of a company’s Scope 3 emissions. Our GHG emissions in scope of our Net Zero by 2039 ambition do not include these optional indirect emissions sources.

We have duly complied with the conditions laid down by the Dadra & Nagar Haveli Planning and Development Authority. During FY 2023-24, there was no significant impact on biodiversity due to our manufacturing operations.

We have a standardised procedure to maintain business continuity and ensure robust and effective management of incidents. It is based on the principles of prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery. We follow a riskbased approach to identify credible business risks and review the management plan regularly to ensure that it is up-to-date and effective.

In addition, to safeguard our data and IT systems, we have a Data Recovery Capability Standard for designing, operating and managing any device or technology solution that stores or processes our data. The purpose of this standard is to specify controls to ensure that our data, applications, and systems can be recovered to meet business operational requirements following a disruptive cyber incident.

We have set specific sustainability targets, serving as our strategy to deliver consistent, competitive, profitable, and responsible growth. We have set an ambitious sustainability agenda to tackle the issues that our consumers and stakeholders care deeply about. The details of our mitigation measures can be reviewed on the following websites: Link and Link

Our plan to progress towards our near-term value chain emission reduction targets has nine priority action areas which include Supplier Climate Programme, reformulating products, forest-risk commodities, regenerative agriculture, chemical ingredients, packaging, logistics and ice cream cabinets.

We conduct periodic risk assessments of our suppliers using country risk and commodity risk data from external third-party risk data providers. As of 31st March 2024, 82.7% of the suppliers (by value of business done) have undergone risk assessment and are compliant.

Our RPP and its Fundamental Principles embody our commitment to responsible, transparent, and sustainable business. Each fundamental principle of the RPP provides guidance on what we expect from responsible and sustainable business partners. We are committed to working with our suppliers on this journey of continuous improvement.

We also verify alignment to and implementation of the RPP’s mandatory requirements using supplier selfdeclarations, online assessments and independent verification, including third-party audits which are performed for designated high-risk countries and supplier types.