Unilever’s focus on maintaining a deforestation-free and traceable supply chain

Unilever is one of the world’s largest consumer goods companies, with a global portfolio spanning five business groups: Beauty and Wellbeing, Personal Care, Home Care, Foods and Ice Cream. With sales in over 190 countries, Unilever is known for household names such as Persil, Dove, Knorr and Hellmann’s. The company has made sustainability a core element of its business strategy, with ambitious goals around climate, nature, plastics and livelihoods, including to maintain no deforestation across its primary deforestation-linked commodities. 

This goal means that the palm oil, paper and board, tea, soy, and cocoa entering its direct supply chain meet Unilever’s deforestation-free requirements, through compliance with the European Union Regulation on Deforestation-Free Products (EUDR), certification, third-party verification, or if deemed as having negligible risk of deforestation as per the Negligible Risk Protocol. These commodities contribute to more than 65% of Unilever’s total impact on land and are the crops most often linked to deforestation and conversion of natural ecosystems to farmland. A key aspect of Unilever’s strategy is ensuring that smallholders have a place in the multi-national’s supply chain.

3Keel’s role: from pilot partner to strategic adviser

3Keel has worked with Unilever since 2021, as reporting partner.

Since 2021, our work has evolved from a focused data collection contract to a long-term strategic partnership. Initially brought in to support Unilever’s palm oil traceability through a small proof-of-concept project, 3Keel has become an embedded reporting and advisory partner across palm oil, soy, cocoa and coconuts. 

Our collaboration has grown with Unilever’s ambition: initially targeting a 100% deforestation-free supply chain by the end of 2024 and now maintaining its progress, while also preparing for compliance with emerging global regulations like the EUDR.

Establishing baselines and building trust (2021–2022)

Our relationship with Unilever began in 2021 through our work with the Consumer Goods Forum Forest Positive Coalition. They were seeking a new partner to support the delivery of their work on palm oil, and our contribution to that forum demonstrated our aptitude in engaging, assessing and supporting global commodity training companies. Our initial programme of work focused primarily on traceability and deforestation, focusing on three metrics:

• Traceability to mill (TTM)
• Traceability to plantation (TTP)
• Overall deforestation-free and conversion-free (DCF) status

Through the pragmatic and focused delivery of this initial programme, Unilever extended our partnership to create a long-term dedicated team that would support regular monitoring and reporting against these core metrics.

Wider reporting and improved methodologies (2022–2023)

Following the success of our palm reporting, we were referred internally to support Unilever’s soy and cocoa teams. We replicated and adapted our approach to these other commodities, helping Unilever establish a single point of contact for suppliers for all Unilever forest-risk commodity engagement.

Will Schreiber, 3Keel Director, explains why Unilever’s strategy is paying dividends: “There are many ways that companies can achieve their no-deforestation ambitions. Unilever is unique in taking a constructive approach aligned throughout their supply base. It’s amazing to work with an ambitious organisation that is committed to not just transforming their supply chain but working with their suppliers to promote wider sector transformation.”

Regulation readiness and plotting the course (2023–present)

By the end of 2023, 97% of Unilever’s order volumes for palm oil, paper & board, tea, soy and cocoa were verified as deforestation-free. Unilever maintained this progress in 2024. Our work to attain the engagement and evidence needed for Unilever to deliver, helped demonstrate that no-deforestation sourcing of commodities is possible. 

In parallel with this work, new requirements from the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) came onto the horizon. Unilever turned to us to build on our existing supplier and procurement team relationships for strategic support on supplier preparedness and readiness activities.

We conducted a six-month global EUDR assessment of Unilever’s supply base, covering palm, soy and cocoa. Our risk matrix included:

• Supplier-declared preparedness
• Volume-level exposure
• Potential supply disruptions
• Mitigation actions and cost implications

We delivered a comprehensive insight into suppliers’ ability to comply, and a risk forecast that directly informed Unilever’s strategy. This support has now expanded into EUDR-specific teams and a full-time 3Keel secondee is currently embedded within Unilever’s global sustainability function to provide further implementation resource and coordination.

A partnership defined by impact

The greatest impact of our work is in providing consistent and credible touch points for Unilever suppliers. By acting as an extension of its sustainability team, we ensure continuity, supplier accountability, and high-quality reporting capabilities.

We’ve enabled Unilever to:

• Establish robust commodity-level DCF reporting systems
• Maintain supplier inclusivity, particularly for smallholders
• Prepare its global supply chain for EUDR implementation
• Benchmark and adapt its approach

Our partnership ensures not just compliance, but leadership – embedding resilience and traceability at the heart of Unilever’s commodity sourcing strategy.

Looking ahead

With deforestation still occurring in the world – and emerging regulatory requirements that will further prescribe due diligence practices (e.g. Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive) – we are now looking to answer the question together regarding what comes next. We continue to refine methodologies to balance ambition with operational practicality. The question we’re helping Unilever explore is not just how to maintain high standards, but how to scale them efficiently across the sector.