We believe that business growth should not be at the expense of people and the planet. That’s why we’re changing the way we do business, and why we want to change the way business is done.

Our Unilever Sustainable Living Plan (USLP) is a bold ambition to achieve change within our company. Launched in 2010, it is creating sustainable growth through our purpose-led brands, cutting business costs, reducing risk and helping us to build trust.

We have long known that growth and sustainability are not in conflict. Each year, we're gathering more evidence of the benefits our USLP is bringing to our business, as well as to society and the environment.

Our own research shows that over half of all consumers already buy or want to buy sustainably. This is why we developed our ‘sustainable living’ brands, which have a clear purpose relating to a social or environmental concern and contribute to the USLP.

We now have 26 sustainable living brands – including Dove, Lipton, Hellmann’s and Seventh Generation. They have continuously outperformed the average growth rate of Unilever.

By cutting waste and reducing the use of energy, raw materials and natural resources, we create efficiencies and cut costs, while becoming less exposed to price volatility.

Improvements in eco-efficiency have contributed to a cumulative cost avoidance of over €600 million in energy since 2008.

Operating sustainably helps us to future-proof our supply chain against the risks associated with climate change and sourcing materials.

By the end of 2018, 56% of our agricultural raw materials were sustainably sourced.

Placing sustainability at the heart of our business model helps us stay relevant to consumers and strengthens our relationships with stakeholders.

We are the number one FMCG graduate employer of choice in around 50 countries.

We’ve had some great results from our Sustainable Living Plan. We know it contributes to business growth as we see consumers choosing our brands with purpose – such as Dove, Hellmann’s, Ben & Jerry’s and Omo.

We’ve also learnt a lot about what does and doesn’t work, and we’ll keep making changes to get things right. One of our biggest challenges is our ability to influence change outside our business, where we don’t have direct control.

We are continually looking for new ideas and ways to influence our wider value chain. We know that collaboration with others holds the key to tackling many sustainability challenges and we will be focusing even more on this in the years ahead.

As a business we keep one eye on the future, adapting and evolving to stay one step ahead.

Taking what we’ve learned to be the change we want to see.

Together, we will reinvent how business is done.

Are you with us?