Unilever has revealed plans to better promote its green projects to investors, after chief executive Paul Polman claimed that climate change impacts were already costing the company €200m a year.

Speaking at an event in London today, Polman revealed he was hoping the company’s annual report next year will combine information on the organisation’s financial, non-financial and sustainability performance.

He also estimated that the impacts of climate change such as drought or flooding had cost Unilever an additional €200m in 2011 alone.

“The financial sector and multinational companies like ourselves and governments have to really question the way we do business or the way we exercise our rights to what some have called capitalism,” he said.

“I believe we need a new sustainable model of capitalism, one in which business hopefully sits as part of society not separate from society. Where the focus is on the long-term, not on the quarterly earnings.”

BusinessGreen has also learnt Polman is to launch a project aiming to promote the company’s numerous green activities to investors, amid concerns that some investors are failing to grasp the economic benefits of developing a more sustainable supply chain, reducing energy bills, and building new green markets.

Roger Seabrook, vice-president of Unilever investor relations, told BusinessGreen that few of the company’s large investors ask questions about its environmental impact.

“We’re much better at being able to look at the cost savings these efforts translate into, but the real challenge now is how we are focusing these efforts on growing the company,” he said. “The project will look at how we get the message across to investors.”

The news emerged as Unilever today announced a new goal to buy all of its palm oil from traceable and sustainable sources by 2020, as well as plans to build a €100m palm oil processing plant in Sumatra, Indonesia.

Unilever is in advanced talks with the Indonesian government to build the plant, and is hoping to break ground on the site later this year.

The company hopes the project would make it easier to source its palm oil from reliable sources, while also reducing transport costs.

A spokesman for Unilever said the plant would process 140,000 tonnes of palm oil a year, accounting for one-tenth of the company’s annual consumption.

The new target builds on a previous goal to source 100 per cent certified palm oil covered by Green Palm Certificates by the end of 2015, which it now expects to achieve three years early.

Unilever’s initial commitment was launched after it became the target of a major campaign by green groups, which maintained its palm oil policy was leading to the destruction of rainforests, reducing biodiversity, and increasing greenhouse gas emissions.

Polman today hinted that the growth of social media was making it impossible for companies and governments to ignore green demands from campaigners and customers.

“It’s very clear that if people feel the economic system is unjust or does not work for them, they ultimately will rebel against it. And increasingly they have the tools, including social media, to organise themselves and do that,” he said.

“We organise ourselves on Facebook, we communicate on Twitter and we show the world what we’re doing on YouTube. Increasingly that force needs to be harnessed for good, and that is where the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan comes in.”

He added that there was a strong commercial rationale behind the company’s evolving sustainability strategy.

“It’s very clear that if we continue to consume key imports like food, water and energy without thought to their long-term sustainability, then none of us will prosper,” he said. “A company like Unilever will also not be successful. We cannot operate in a world that doesn’t function.”