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Unilever Tops The Tomorrow's Value Rating For Sustainability In The Food And Beverage Sector
17/03/2010
By Lea Pachta
Consumers' social and environmental concerns, as well as companies' worries about the security of their food supplies, are the motivation for the food and beverage industry's sustainability efforts, says new research from The Tomorrow's Value Rating.
Social and environmental concerns, as well as growing worries about the impacts of climate change and water scarcity, encourage the industry's increasing efforts in this area. Furthermore, growing numbers of potential customers in emerging markets motivate companies to develop new products and distribution models for challenging socio-economic circumstances.
The Tomorrow's Value Rating has studied the ten largest companies in the food and beverage industry (based on the Fortune Global 500). Researched and produced by Two Tomorrows, the leading sustainability consultancy, the Tomorrow's Value Rating uses publicly available information to assess companies on how well they manage their most pressing social and environmental issues.
The Rating identifies how leading companies such as Unilever, Nestlé and Danone have come a long way in addressing water as a key issue alongside climate change - well ahead of many other industry sectors.
While supply chain impacts receive considerable attention from companies, they nevertheless continue to present some of their biggest challenges. Most recently, the media has highlighted human rights issues within the UK meat supply chain, as well as endangered species of fish being served as sushi in California. Some commentators see this increasing media attention as forcing a step-change in the sector's approach to supply-chain management, not unlike the response branded clothing manufacturers have taken over the last decade, which followed a series of revelations about child labour amongst their suppliers.
There are also notable gaps in most companies' sustainability reporting, for example the subject of genetically modified organisms. Whilst this is a major issue and remains a potential touchstone for consumer activism, the sector stays... continued on page two >
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