The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) has been named an official ‘Accelerator’ of the UN’s Race to Zero campaign, which encourages faster progress on carbon reduction across its global membership.
The announcement came at COP26 in Glasgow as part of the ‘Net Zero Industry Transition with The Consumer Goods Forum’ event, which recognised the CGF’s contribution in recruiting companies into the Race to Zero and explored industry progress towards a low carbon future.
Senior leaders speaking at the event included Wai-Chan Chan, managing director of the CGF; Alan Jope, CEO of Unilever and board vice co-chair of CGF; Frans Muller, CEO of Ahold Delhaize and board vice co-chair of CGF, Magnus Groth, CEO of Essity, among others.
Race to Zero is a UN campaign rallying non-state stakeholders – including companies, cities, and educational institutions – to halve global emissions by 2030 and deliver a fairer zero-carbon world.
'Forefront Of Driving Change'
Wai-Chan Chan commented, “While the scale of the climate challenges we face are unprecedented, they are also shared – so our approaches to tackling them must also be shared. This ethos is core to how CGF operates. The consumer goods industry must be at the forefront of driving change – and we must collaborate to drive it.
“We’re proud to have become a Race to Zero Accelerator as part of this commitment to sharing thinking and resources. Through coordination, open dialogue and tangible action, we can drive lasting positive change for people, planet and businesses.”
As an 'Accelerator', CGF has committed to support its members’ decarbonisation efforts and use its reach to increase awareness of the UN campaign.
The Consumer Goods Forum is a CEO-led organisation that represents consumer goods manufacturers and retailers globally, bringing together senior leaders from more than 400 organisations across 70 countries.
Earlier this year, the CGF teamed up with Accenture, Walmart and Unilever to create a Race to Zero Taskforce to encourage members without a current net-zero pledge to commit to Race to Zero.
Over the last six months, the proportion of the 57-member CGF board in the Race to Zero has more than doubled from 22% to 52%.
Overall, 41 CGF members have already pledged to cut their emissions by half by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050 at the latest.
'Greater Industry Action'
Wai-Chan Chan added, “We want to recognise those members who have already become part of Race to Zero, but of course, there is so much more to do. We need to increase greater industry action – encouraging those who have not yet signed up to do so and working together to achieve a fairer, zero-carbon world more quickly.
“For the consumer goods industry, this includes ensuring better agricultural production, better operations, and transparent measurement and reporting. I would also like to give special thanks to our partner, and CGF member, Accenture, for all of their support in getting us to this point.”
Earlier this week, the CGF welcomed the commitment of over 100 world leaders at COP26 to pledge an end to deforestation by 2030.
Currently, 4,475 businesses around the world are part of the Race to Zero campaign, the CGF added. [Image: UNFCC/Kiara Worth]
