Unilever in partnership with the UK's leading sustainable development charity
Forum's team of business advisors provide Unilever with research support along with strategic sustainability advice. Unilever sees it as a critical partnership, as Forum for the Future helps to make sustainable development an integral part of our business practice.
The mission
Forum for the Future's main objective is to educate companies, local authorities, regional bodies and universities in sustainable development. Their aim is to accelerate the building of a sustainable way of life, taking a positive solutions orientated approach.
The Forum tackles issues as diverse as climate change, farming, finance and environmental accounting. And as a charity in a hurry to achieve change, they share the lessons learnt with decision-makers and opinion formers.
They aim to help deliver not only a healthy environment, but also a better quality of life, strong communities, and practical answers to poverty and disempowerment. In other words, a transformation in thinking and irreversible change.
The partnership
Our commitment to Forum for the Future isn't a newfound thing – it's a partnership that goes back eight years. During that time, we've worked with them to learn more about the integration of sustainable development into mainstream business activity.
Unilever supports Forum's core education work, and also its sustainability magazine – Green Futures. And to ensure our alliance continues to serve both parties well, the quality of the partnership is assessed annually through the Forum's Transformation Programme.
The lessons
In a recent project, we asked Forum for the Future to interview our employees from across the whole organisation. The employees were asked about their knowledge of, and their impact on, the activities that affect our performance in sustainable development.
The Forum's report highlighted factors that either help our hinder our efforts in the area of sustainable development. This report is now being used internally to further improve our performance in this area. Specifically, it resulted is the building of internal networks that help co-ordinate our approach to sustainable development.
