What makes a brand sustainable?
A sustainable brand isn't one that runs a recycling campaign or publishes a glossy ESG report. It's a brand that combines real environmental and social action with credible communication – and earns the trust of the consumers who buy from it. Here's how the Sustainable Brand Index breaks it down.
1.Environmental responsibility
How a brand reduces its climate impact, manages resources and waste, sources materials, and protects nature across its value chain. This includes emissions, packaging, water, biodiversity and circularity.
2.Social responsibility
How a brand treats people – employees, suppliers, customers and the communities it operates in. Working conditions, supply-chain ethics, diversity, human rights and the brand's contribution to society all count.
3.Credibility & transparency
Whether the brand can demonstrate, with evidence, what it claims. Targets, third-party audits, public reporting and consistent action over time separate substance from greenwashing.
4.Consumer perception
Sustainability lives in the minds of consumers. A brand can hold strong internal practices, but if customers don't perceive it as sustainable, that perception still shapes preference, trust and growth.
How we measure it
The Sustainable Brand Index has run consistently for 16 years. Each year, more than 80,000 consumers across Finland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands evaluate brands on environmental and social responsibility. Brands are scored, then ranked within their industry and country. Because the methodology hasn't changed, every brand can be compared not just against peers but against its own past performance.
Read the full methodology →The most sustainable brands by country
Sustainability perception varies by market. A brand that ranks #1 in Sweden may rank outside the top 50 in Finland. Browse the official 2026 rankings for each country:
Look up a specific brand
Wondering whether a specific brand is sustainable? Search 1,000+ measured brands and see their historical rankings across every market.
Search all brands →In short
A brand becomes sustainable when environmental responsibility, social responsibility, credible transparency and consumer perception all line up. The first three are what a brand does. The fourth is what the market believes – and that's what the Sustainable Brand Index has measured, year after year, since 2011.