Having environmental targets is no longer enough: ex-Unilever chief

Sally PattenBOSS editor

Jun 5, 2023 – 1.22pm

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Companies are falling behind consumer demand for environmentally friendly products, the former chief executive of Unilever says.

Establishing net zero emission targets and goals to reduce the use of plastics, or targets for greater ethnic diversity on boards, were now merely “hygiene” factors that fail to impress consumers and employees, Paul Polman told The Australian Financial Review ESG Summit on Monday.

Sally Patten edits BOSS, and writes about workplace issues. She was the financial services editor and personal finance editor of the AFR, The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald. She edited business news for The Times of London.