It’s hard to imagine every meal we prepare can be part of a sustainable solution for our planet. As the world’s population keeps growing, Unilever is leading the charge with the goal of ensuring that we’re protecting the earth’s resources that we heavily rely on.
For Unilever and its food brands like Knorr®, this means that sourcing ingredients is no longer just about great taste. It is about ensuring the use of ingredients that have been sustainably grown in ways that help protect the environment in some small way, or to the farmers who grow them. For people, it means making sustainable choices in the supermarket aisles.
Knorr® believes that ingredients taste delicious when they are grown with care. We work closely with some of the world’s most talented chefs, who, like us, are passionate about cooking with sustainably-sourced ingredients. Chef Einav Gefen is a self-confessed food fanatic, who has worked with Knorr® for many years.
She helps develop tasty products and recipes that make mealtimes easier and more enjoyable, all while making a difference to the livelihood of farmers worldwide. Chef Einav believes that future generations rely on sustainable living, “If we were not being responsible for where our ingredients come from and how they’re grown, my kids would suffer the consequences,” she says.
By 2020, 100% of vegetables, meats, herbs and spices used in Knorr®’s sides, sauces and soups will be sustainably sourced. To help accomplish this, Unilever and Knorr® have invested more than $1 million annually around the world into the Knorr® Sustainability Partnership Fund, which helps farmers face the challenges of climate change while growing their crops and businesses sustainably. In the U.S., we have helped two large California farms deal with the ongoing water crisis affecting the state, working with farmers during the drought through irrigation improvements and other water conservation methods.
The aim of the fund is to support farmers on complex sustainable agriculture projects that they may be unable to complete alone. For every project, Knorr® offers to invest 50 percent of the budget required. Whether in California or Argentina, these projects are changing the way our products are sourced for the better.
The Knorr® Sustainability Partnership Fund also invests in projects that help Knorr® farmers to meet the requirements of Unilever’s Sustainable Agriculture Code – with the goal to have all suppliers fully compliant with this by 2020.
We all have an important role to play in supporting sustainability. For every small choice, there is the potential to make a big difference. Some say we are what we eat – but what we eat can also help change the world!
