Unilever's Sustainable Living Brands fueled 70% of its turnover growth last year

Consumer goods company Unilever has said that its Sustainable Living Brands grew 46% faster than the rest of its business and deliver 70% of its sales growth last year.

The fast-moving consumer goods giant said that brands such as Lipton, Hellmann’s and Knorr, designated as its most sustainable brands, outperformed the rest of the business for the fourth consecutive year in 2017.

Today, Unilever has 26 sustainable living brands, up 18 from the previous year.

This sustainable portfolio includes Unilever’s top six brands including Lipton, Hellman’s and Knorr as well as its B-corp certified brands like Ben & Jerry’s and Pukka Herbs. 

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Paul Polman, Unilever’ CEO, says the performance of the brands demonstrate the business case for sustainability and highlights that Unilever’s sustainable living plan (USLP) is working. 

Launched in 2010, the USLP has set ambitious targets to dissociate the company’s growth from its environmental impact, whilst enhancing the firm’s positive social impact. 

Today, the firm says it is on track to meet around 80% of its commitments, which improving health and wellbeing for 1 billion people, reducing environmental impact by half, and enhancing the livelihoods of its employees, suppliers and retailers. 

“Ever since we launched the USLP [Unilever sustainable living plan] in 2010 we have reported openly on our progress,” said Paul Polman. “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.”