Global consumer brands company Unilever announced today a new series of commitments, including pledges to disclose progress on its goals to improve the health and nutrition profile of its portfolio of food products, and to set more ambitious nutrition targets.

The announcement follows an investor campaign led by responsible investment NGO ShareAction, and engagement with ShareAction’s Healthy Markets Initiative. In January, ShareAction that it had coordinated the filing of a shareholder resolution at Unilever, urging the company to disclose the proportion of its sales linked to healthier products, in alignment with government-endorsed nutrient profiling models, and to set 2030 targets to significantly increase the share of healthier products, with a progress reviews to be published annually. The resolution was co-filed by institutional investors including Candriam, ACTIAM, and Castlefield Investment Partners, among others, along with over 100 individual shareholders. Unilever launched a series of food-related sustainability initiatives in 2020, under its “Future Foods” ambition, aimed at helping people transition towards healthier diets and reducing the environmental impact of the global food chain. Commitments and goals included in the program included targets to reach €1 billion from plant-based meat and dairy alternatives within 5 – 7 years, double the number of products delivering positive nutrition globally by 2025, and lowering calorie, salt and sugar levels across its food products. While Unilever reported last year that over 60% of its food and drink sales were derived from products with High Nutritional Standards, ShareAction said that an independent review indicated that only 17% of the company’s food and beverage sales were derived from healthier products.

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Unilever stated that it will publicly report the performance of its product portfolio against at least six different government-endorsed Nutrient Profile Models (NPM), and against its own Highest Nutritional Standards (HNS) benchmark. The company has committed to publish an assessment on an annual basis, both globally and for its key strategic markets, reporting both by volume of product and by sales revenue. Unilever also said that it will update and strengthen its targets, considering both its HNS benchmark and “at least six different NPMs to determine which is the most stretching target benchmark to increase sales of healthier products in a way that maximises positive impact for global consumer health.” NPMs include classifications such as High Fat Salt Sugar (HFSS) used in the UK, Nutri-Score used in countries including Germany and France, and Health Star Rating, used in Australia and New Zealand.

Source: Talkmarkets.com