John Keane, Milan Office Manager, Bord Bia – Irish Food Board

Unilever’s commitment to put sustainability at the heart of its business model is helping drive increased sales while reducing costs and risks according to the second Unilever Sustainable Living Plan progress report published at the end of April.

Brands that have made sustainability central to their brand proposition or product innovation have accelerated sales during 2012. Two examples  in particular are noteworthy e.g. certain dry shampoo products which result in 90% less greenhouse gas emissions compared with “wet” shampoo grew by nearly 20% in 2012  while  the  calorie controlled children’s ice cream,  Max & Paddle Pop, grew by high double digits in 2012.

Unilever is accelerating the integration of sustainability into the heart of many of its bigger brands. An example is Unilever’s biggest brand, Knorr, which recently  launched  a new soup product with  a ‘sustainably grown’ label on the pack and there is more to come.

According to the report eco-efficiencies in Unilever factories have enabled the company to take over €300 million out of the system since 2008. The more products help people live sustainably the more popular the brands become and the more the company grows.

The Unilever sustainable living plan was launched in 2012 with 3 key objectives all to be achieved by 2020 i.e. source 100% of agricultural raw materials sustainably; half the environmental footprint of its products across the value chain; and help more than 1 billion people take action to improve their health & wellbeing.