How ethical is Unilever?
Our research highlights several ethical issues with Unilever including high director pay, criticism for the use of “highly-polluting” plastic packaging, allegations of sexual abuse in its Kenyan supply chains and its actions to prevent subsidiary Ben & Jerry’s from withdrawing ice cream sales from occupied Palestinian territory.
Below we outline some of these issues. To see the full detailed stories, and Unilever's overall ethical rating, please sign in or subscribe.
Unilever and high executive pay and tax avoidance
Multinational Unilever appears to have dubious ethics when it comes to pay, tax conduct and other financial issues.
In 2025, Unilever's highest paid member of staff, CEO Fernando Fernandez, received over €5.5 million in total (including benefits). This is over 60 times more than the average UK worker at the company. While Unilever reports on its pay ratios (the comparison between the highest and lowest paid staff), it does not appear to have any robust policies to limit the difference in pay.
Unilever has a policy on tax avoidance, which states: "Secrecy jurisdictions, or so-called ‘tax havens’, are not used for tax avoidance". While it did state that its subsidiaries in Isle of Man and Jersey were subject to UK tax, it was not found to have backed up this statement with adequate explanations for all of its subsidiaries located in tax havens.
Unilever's environmental record
Unilever has a mixed approach to addressing its climate impacts.
The company had taken meaningful steps towards cutting its emissions, for example through reformulating laundry products for cold-washes, switching to plant-based ingredients and pursuing a deforestation-free supply chain. It reports comprehensively on its emissions, and has set a target to cut emissions from its supply chain and the use of its products by 39% by 2030 (compared with 2021) – in line with vital international climate goals.
However, more recently Unilever has also been criticised for scaling back its climate commitments.
It also receives criticism in relation to its packaging. In 2023 Greenpeace accused the company of “fuelling the global plastic pollution crisis and dumping huge amounts of waste on countries in the Global South” through its sale of plastic sachets. The company did not appear to have responded to the report.
Does Unilever use unethical ingredients?
The company has taken some steps towards phasing out toxic chemicals, removing triclosan in its products and phasing out phthalates. However, it continues to use parabens – chemicals that are believed to disrupt hormones in the body – in its products or packaging.
The company is a major user of palm oil. Despite this just under 20% of its palm oil remained uncertified according to 2024 reporting. Unilever has been criticised for human and environmental abuses taking place in its palm oil supply chain. For example, in 2023 Friends of the Earth reported that Unilever palm supplier, Astra Agro Lestari, was linked to "land conflicts with local communities, illegal deforestation, and soil, air and water pollution”.
Workers' rights at Unilever
Unilever was accused of silencing Ben & Jerry’s social mission over the steps it took to prevent its ice cream subsidiary withdrawing sales from Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory, despite previously agreeing to the stance. This action led to Unilever being named in Corporate Justice Coalition’s Joint Statement on Palestine, resulting in the loss of 90 marks in our Israel-Palestine rating.
While Unilever has some positive policies when it comes to workers’ rights, it has also faced multiple criticisms for abuses in its supply chains.
For example, the company has set a target for 2026, that suppliers representing 50% of its procurement will have committed to pay at least the living wage in its supply chains. Its subsidiary Ben & Jerry's has also made legally binding commitments to protect workers as part of the Milk with Dignity programme.
However, in February 2023, the BBC published an investigation into allegations of sexual abuse on tea plantations in Kenya, which found that “more than 70 women had been abused by their managers at plantations operated, for years, by two British companies, Unilever and James Finlay”. The investigation led to an inquiry by Kenya’s parliament.
According to the BBC, Unilever had faced similar allegations 10 years earlier and "launched a 'zero tolerance' approach to sexual harassment as well as a reporting system and other measures". But the BBC investigators "found evidence that allegations of sexual harassment were not being acted on". According to the article, Unilever said it was "deeply shocked and saddened" by the allegations. It had sold its operation in Kenya while the BBC was filming.
What are Unilever's policies on animal rights?
Unilever scores poorly in Ethical Consumer’s animals ratings.
Unilever has no company-wide cruelty-free certification and it still permits animal testing for medical or legal purposes. Companies can choose to avoid legal requirements for animal testing by avoiding sale of products in markets which require this. In 2021 Animal Rebellion protested Unilever’s continued sale of cosmetic products to China despite the country’s requirement for animal testing.
Some of its brands, like Dove and TRESemmé were certified cruelty-free by PETA. Its subsidiary Wild Cosmetics was certified by Leaping Bunny, which has even higher standards.
Despite actions to increase plant-based ingredients across its range, Unilever’s product offering still relies heavily on animal products, particularly dairy.
In 2024 the Business Benchmark on Farm Animal Welfare reduced Unilever’s impact rating from an E to F, meaning that they had found little to no evidence that it was “delivering improved welfare impacts for farm animals in their operations and/or supply chains.”
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The text above was written in May 2026 and most of the research was undertaken in spring 2026.