Working Wisdom: quote about sustainability

Paul Polman once said: “If we achieve our sustainability targets and no one else follows, we will have failed.”

Having previously worked for Procter & Gamble and Nestlé, Paul Polman (born 1956) became CEO of British-Dutch consumer goods company Unilever in 2009. With Polman at the helm, Unilever has developed an ambitious vision to “fully decouple its growth from overall environmental footprint and increase its positive social impact through the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan”.

Polman has received several awards for business leadership related to sustainable development including the Rainforest Alliance Lifetime Achievement Award (2014), the UN Environment Programme’s Champion of the Earth Award (2015) and, in 2016, France’s Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur in recognition of his efforts in galvanizing business action on sustainability and for his involvement during the historic 2015 UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris. Alongside his role for Unilever, Polman is chairman of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and a member of the Business and Sustainable Development Commission.