Voices
ising signs of how business can
work better in future with both
governments and civil society. Over
1800 businesses were present,
resulting in about 200 concrete
proposals. The Natural Capital
Declaration was one such example
— a commitment by more than 30
companies to put a value on externalities like water, carbon and biodiversity — and we are now taking
a lead in the global discussions on
Integrated reporting. So was our
work on Food Security,which follows the work done for the G20
— an issue that is more important
than ever given the recent extreme
weather patterns in many parts
of the world. Another was the announcement by the US government
to form a public-private partnership with over 400 companies to
eliminate illegal deforestation from
their supply chains.
This latter partnership puts
one of the most powerful industrial coalitions ever built alongside the world’s most powerful
government. This is the kind of
scale at which we will have to
work if we are to successfully
tackle issues like deforestation a phenomenon that accounts for
17 percent of all greenhouse gases; that’s more than the entire
PAUL
POLMAN
HUFFINGTON
10.20.13
transportation sector.
We will need many more such
initiatives if we are to meet the
triple challenges of food, water
and accelerating climate change
that are hurtling toward us.
Success will require courageous leadership. We will need
companies that are prepared to
march in the vanguard and pioneer new ways of working and
build new business models. By
If business is to
regain the trust of society,
it must start to tackle
the big social and
environmental issues
that confront humanity.”
doing so they will rebuild trust
in business and, I am sure, grow
profitably. The B-team, a group of
leading business people, has come
together to help accelerate this
process for maximum impact.
Your contributions toward
this goal are more important
than ever. Small actions, big
difference. Yes, we all
have a role to play.
Paul Polman is the CEO of Unilever