Unilever has announced that its Sustainable Living Brands grew 50 percent faster than the rest of the business over the six years since the company’s Sustainable Living Plan was created.

Discussing the progress of its plan to create brands with ‘purpose and sustainability at their core’, the Sustainable Living Brands delivered over 60 percent of the company’s total growth in 2016, with 18 of these brands in the company’s top 40, as opposed to 12 in 2015.

The continued growth of these brands is said to be boosted by continued consumer demand for products with a ‘strong social or environmental purpose’, with Dove and Axe among the high-performing brands.

Paul Polman, Unilever CEO, said: “We have made great progress. Our results show that sustainability is good for business, with increasing evidence that our ‘sustainable living brands’ do better.
“There is no doubt that the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan is making us more competitive by helping us to build our brands and spur innovation, strengthen our supply chain and reduce our risks, lower our costs, and build trust in our business. It is helping Unilever to serve society and our many consumers, and in doing so, create value for shareholders.
“By continuing to work with others, we hope to mobilise a new kind of growth, one that taps into the economic opportunities that the Sustainable Development Goals present.”

The company has also confirmed that it is on track to meet most of the 50 plus targets set out in the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan. The company said it has also ‘avoided costs of $700 million ‘through eco-efficiency measures in its factories since 2008, of which its waste programme had contributed to cost avoidance of around €250million.’