Consumers rank Valio as the most sustainable brand in Finland. The dairy and food company received the recognition for the fifth consecutive year in the Nordic’s largest brand study on sustainability. Issues of particular importance to consumers included securing the vitality of rural Finland and the dairy farm livelihood, locally produced food, and animal wellbeing.
The Sustainable Brand Index 2018 surveyed consumers for their views on the sustainability of prominent companies and brands in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, and the Netherlands. Valio was ranked first among the 164 brands evaluated in Finland and received a higher score than in the previous year.
“The world’s highest quality milk, healthy animals, and safe and premium quality products are a matter of honor to us. This award is a wonderful recognition to the 5,500 dairy farm entrepreneurs around Finland and to all Valio employees for the long-term sustainability work we do every day,” says Kristiina Kiviharju, Valio’s Senior Vice President of Quality & Sustainability.
According to the survey, eco-friendly packaging, the reduction of food loss, and healthy products are important factors for Finnish consumers when talking about sustainable food production.
“For Valio, sustainability means concrete actions from the dairy farm to the store shelf. In 2017 we implemented the historically most extensive quality and production reform to improve animal wellbeing. We started paying a responsibility bonus to the farms that commit to preventive healthcare for cows, among other things. Another good example of a sustainability action is the world’s first entirely plant-based packaging. The renewable material doesn’t use any oil whatsoever as a plastic raw material, so the carbon footprint is 58 percent smaller compared to a container made from fossil raw materials,” says Kiviharju.
According to the survey, a total of 54 percent of Finns are of the opinion that Valio does good work in environmental and climate issues, and 52 percent believe that the company performs well in social issues.
How was the study conducted?
Sustainable Brand Index is the Nordic’s largest brand study on sustainability, and it has been conducted annually since 2011. The goal of the survey is to distribute and increase information related to sustainability. In the 2018 survey, some 40,000 respondents were interviewed in the Nordic countries: 16,600 in Sweden, 6,200 in Norway, 7,000 in Denmark, and 9,600 in Finland. The target group of the survey in these countries was people 16–70 years old. The sample represents the population structure of each specific country. The surveys were conducted in January-March 2018.
Top 10 – Sustainable Brand Index 2018
| Rank | Brand | Industry |
| 1 | Valio | Food & Beverage |
| 2 | Kotimaista | Food & Beverage |
| 3 | Fazer | Food & Beverage |
| 4 | Tesla | Cars |
| 5 | Partioaitta | Clothes & Beauty |
| 6 | Prisma | Grocery Stores |
| 7 | Fiskars | Furniture, Decoration & Leisure |
| 8 | Myllyn Paras | Food & Beverage |
| 9 | VR | Transport |
| 10 | S-market | Grocery Stores |
