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Unilever is merging its sustainability and external communications departments, months after scaling back its environmental targets as part of a shift in sustainability strategy.
The maker of Dove soap and Cornetto ice cream is in the midst of an extensive reorganization and cost-cutting program, merging two previously separate roles into one role: chief sustainability officer and global head of communications and corporate affairs. do. According to an internal email sent to all staff and seen by the Financial Times.
Since Chief Executive Hein Schumacher began a turnaround at Unilever last year, the company, once seen as a symbol of ethical and environmental problems, has cut its targets and made a commitment to sustainability. I started taking a more “realistic” approach.
“Given the increasing extent to which the external policy environment is having an impact on our commercial and sustainability ambitions, I have brought internal operations, external communications and sustainability into one leadership focus. “We have decided to consolidate under the following roles,” CEO Hein Schumacher said in an update last week.
Chief Sustainability Officer Rebecca Marmot, who previously worked in corporate affairs at Unilever, will take over responsibility for external affairs from Paul Matthews, global head of communications and corporate affairs, who has stepped down. Departments will also be integrated.
Jonathon Pollitt, who advised Unilever on sustainability issues for 28 years until March this year, said: “Corporate operations have to put the company’s interests first, so they always rotate accordingly.”
“Sustainability as a function must always keep in mind the interests of the world and its people as well as the company. Companies that take sustainability seriously should not try to integrate these two functions.” he added.
Unilever declined to comment.
After the 2015 Paris Agreement, many companies set ambitious climate change targets and groups appointed chief sustainability officers with corporate relations backgrounds to oversee rapidly growing functions. I started to attach more importance to it.
Many consumer goods groups, including Mars, PepsiCo, and Procter & Gamble, have dedicated CSO roles. Some companies, like Reckitt and now Unilever, combine the role with corporate operations, or with supply chain, like Diageo.
A consultant familiar with the company said merging the two functions isn’t a bad idea, but the new role should be part of the company’s executive committee. “If they don’t have a seat at the table, they’re not having an impact, they’re just executing,” they said.
In a recent interview with the FT, Schumacher said Unilever was shifting its focus from championing sustainability to “doing” and said scaling back its ambitions was not an option given rising environmental reporting obligations. he added.
The current sustainability strategy is “telling, not showing,” he said. “I think that’s more realistic,” he said.
Unilever has set an example for its peers on sustainability issues for more than a decade, but its new agenda has drawn criticism, with campaigners saying it is bad for other companies seeking to roll back their ambitions. He warns that it will set a precedent.
In April, the consumer goods giant announced it would implement a more “focused” strategy after its CEO concluded that some of the goals set by his predecessor were unattainable. The changes include extending deadlines and scaling back environmental goals such as the use of virgin plastic and circular packaging.
Schumacher told the FT that the company’s sustainability spending has increased year-on-year.
“We haven’t pulled out a single dollar. It’s sometimes reported that it’s become less important as we’ve become more focused on profits. . . . Our sustainability spending has been increasing year on year, and it’s decreasing. “We are not doing that,” he said, declining to share numbers.
Unilever is not alone in reevaluating its green agenda. Companies from Walmart to Shell are falling short of or missing emissions targets and other sustainability targets. Just this month, Coca-Cola came under fire from environmentalists for watering down its reuse and recycling goals.
At Unilever’s Capital Markets Day last month, when he announced his action plan for the next five years, Schumacher said his previous tagline of “making sustainable living the norm” was replaced by “brightening the everyday lives of everyone”. He also announced the purpose of the new company. ” was founded by former CEO and corporate sustainability advocate Paul Polman.
Schumacher said Polman “raised awareness more than anyone else,” but the goals he set were unattainable. “You know? He did the right thing because he set a very high bar, and even if we achieved 80 percent of that goal, if he didn’t do it, we “I never would have gotten this far,” he said.
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