Unilever and WRI partner on anti-deforestation initiative

Unilever has allied with the World Resources Institute (WRI) on a new project that aims to tackle tropical deforestation through better oversight of global supply chains.

The partnership will see Unilever and its suppliers use the Global Forest Watch (GFW) Commodities platform to monitor forest cover change around commodity supply areas and processing facilities, such as palm oil mills.

GFW Commodities provides a suite of online tools for companies to assess the impact of commodity production on forests, using the latest and most powerful data in near-real time. It will allow the firm to take more informed sourcing decisions, in line with defined sustainability goals.

This will help the company meet the targets set out in its Unilever Sustainable Living Plan, through which it hopes to source 100 per cent of its agricultural raw materials sustainably by 2020.

Pier Luigi Sigismondi, chief supply chain officer of Unilever, said: "This partnership will bring new focus to see where our risks are highest and to improve forest management."

Earlier this year, the company revealed that 75 percent of its factories worldwide have achieved the goal of sending zero non-hazardous waste to landfill, including all of its European and North American sites.