Unilever waters down targets on plastic packaging, employee pay and diversity amid investor backlash against ‘woke’ policies

Unilever has watered down its targets on plastic packaging, employee pay and diversity amid investor backlash against its “woke” policies.

In a major shift in strategy, consumer group boss Hein Schumacher said he must “drive performance” while backing away from sustainability pledges.

The £95 billion giant, which owns brands including Dove and Hellmann’s, has promoted the idea that companies should do good in the world.

But the British-Dutch company has come under fierce criticism from shareholders for prioritizing a “woke” agenda over profits.

Unilever’s shares have underperformed rivals such as Nestle and Proctor and Gamble in recent years.

The company, which also owns Domestos, Comfort and Knorr, yesterday scrapped a pledge to halve its use of virgin plastic by next year. Instead, Unilever – one of the biggest users of plastic packaging in the world – has pledged to reduce its use of virgin plastic by a third by 2026.

It has also watered down a pledge to ensure all supply chain workers are paid fairly.

In 2021, the company said it would refuse to do business with companies that did not offer a living wage at least by 2030.

But by 2026, only 50 percent of Unilever’s purchasing spend must go to suppliers who have signed the ‘living wage pledge’.

And the company has dropped its commitments to halve food waste in its operations by next year and ensure that disabled workers make up five percent of the workforce by 2025.

Other abandoned promises include spending £1.7 billion a year on various companies worldwide by 2025.

Most of the policies were introduced under Schumacher’s predecessors Alan Jope and Paul Polman.

“I think that was a time when they had to imagine a world where great ambitions were possible,” Schumacher told Bloomberg. “And that was probably true at the time, but I have to bring it back now to something that I think we can all really deliver on. I have to drive performance within the company.’

Christ Beckett, head of equity research at Quilter Cheviot, said the decision “reflects a pragmatic shift towards more achievable short-term goals.”