Consumer goods giant Unilever has announced that its most sustainable brands now account for 70% of the company’s turnover.
This is the fourth consecutive year of growth for its ‘sustainable living’ brands, which grew 46% faster than the rest of the business.
The group now has 26 brands defined as 'sustainable living', including some of its best-known SKUs, such as Dove, Lipton, Ben & Jerry’s, Hellmann’s and Knorr.
Unilever Sustainable Living Plan
Unilever first launched its Unilever Sustainable Living Plan (USLP) in 2010 with the purpose of decoupling its environmental impact from company growth.
Unilever said it is on track to reach around 80% of its commitments, such as improving health and wellbeing for one billion people, reducing environmental impact by half and enhancing livelihoods for its millions of employees, suppliers and retailers.
Progress
Paul Polman, Unilever CEO said, “Ever since we launched the USLP in 2010 we have reported openly on our progress. We have made great strides in meeting many of the ambitious targets we set ourselves and the fact that our sustainable living brands are continuing to deliver growth shows that this is a business model that works.
“We also want to be transparent about how much more there is still to do. This is critical because transparency is what gives our business its most important asset – trust.
"At a time when there is a crisis of trust in many institutions across the world, there has never been a more important time for business to play a leading role in restoring it.”
For example, earlier this year, Unilever entered into a partnership with Ioniqa and Indorama Ventures to develop new technology that will convert PET waste back into virgin grade material for use in food packaging.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Aidan O'Sullivan. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
