Unilever has defined a new category within its brand portfolio, and calls one group ‘sustainable living brands,’ which it defines as brands that contribute to one or more of the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan goals, and also have a sustainable living purpose. Dove is included in this group, and these brands are achieving above average growth, Unilever says, reporting high single and double digit sales over the past three years.

These findings were shared with sustainability specialists from NGOs, government, academia and business gathered at Unilever’s London headquarters, to review progress on the fourth year of the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan.A detailed report on the progress made against the targets set out in the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan and Unilever’s approach to transformational change is available online.

Paul Polman, Unilever CEO, said: “In a volatile world of growing social inequality, rising population, development challenges and climate change, the need for businesses to adapt is clear, as are the benefits and opportunities. This calls for a transformational approach across the whole value chain if we are to continue to grow. Consumers are recognising this too, increasingly demanding responsible business and responsible brands. Our experience is that brands whose purpose and products respond to that demand – ‘sustainable living brands’ – are delivering stronger and faster growth. These brands accounted for half the company’s growth in 2014 and grew at twice the rate of the rest of the business.”

Sustanable Sourcing

More than 55% of Unilever’s agricultural raw materials are now sustainably sourced, reducing the risk to supply – more than half way to its 2020 target of 100%. It has achieved its target of zero non-hazardous waste to landfill across its factory network, and is making significant reductions in CO2 from energy and water in manufacturing, reducing them by 37% and 32% per tonne of production respectively since 2008.

Against the ambitious target to help improve the health and well-being of over 1 billion people by 2020, Unilever is nearly 40% of the way (397 million) to reaching it. The Company has also enhanced the livelihoods of over 1 million people so far, having helped and trained 800,000 smallholder farmers since 2010 and provided 238,000 women with access to training, support and skills.

‘Sustainable living brands’ now represent half of Unilever’s growth and are growing twice as fast as its other brands. A growing number of its leading brands have integrated sustainability into the contribution they make to the world – their purpose – and into their products’ ingredients and lifecycle. The ‘sustainable living brands’ are evidence of Unilever’s Purpose in action – making sustainable living commonplace.