World’s Leading Businesses to Convene at The Consumer Goods Forum’s Global Summit to Accelerate Positive Change for Business, People and Planet

• Senior leaders from hundreds of businesses gear up for The Consumer Goods Forum’s Global Summit, the flagship event uniting retailers, manufacturers and other companies in collaboration for a better world
• Summit will be held virtually from 21 – 24 June, with session hosts including Alan Jope, CEO of Unilever, Laxman Narasimhan, CEO of Reckitt and Mark Schneider, CEO of Nestlé
• Industry leaders will discuss biggest issues facing businesses today, sharing insights to help ensure thriving companies and communities by doing business in the best way possible

PARIS, 2nd June 2021 — The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) is gearing up for its annual Global Summit from 21 – 24 June, which will unite senior leaders from the world’s biggest companies for collaborative discussions on how to secure better lives through better business.

The four-day Summit provides a major opportunity for CEOs, industry experts, and opinion leaders to reflect on pressing challenges for the consumer goods industry, including the impacts of Covid-19 and how to really build back better to ensure strong, resilient businesses and communities.

Under the overarching event theme of ‘Now What?’, leaders across the industry will discuss the biggest questions that businesses face amid the uncertainty of the ongoing pandemic – including the impacts of Covid-19, changes in consumers’ needs, and what the new normal means for supply chains and employees.

The wide range of senior leaders set to deliver sessions includes Alan Jope, CEO of Unilever, Laxman Narasimhan, CEO of Reckitt, Mark Schneider, CEO of Nestlé, James Quincey, Chairman & CEO of The Coca-Cola Company, and Daniel Zhang, Chairman & CEO Alibaba Group, as well as top-level speakers from the UN and senior leaders from Strauss, Ocado and Grupo Bimbo.

Attendees will hear inspiring examples of leadership, ingenuity, and innovation – with a focus on how to address common challenges. The event will also reflect on the progress being achieved by CGF’s Coalitions of Action on eight urgent issues: forests, human rights, plastics, healthier lives, food waste, food safety, supply chains and product data.

Wai-Chan Chan, Managing Director of The Consumer Goods Forum, said:

“The challenges facing businesses, society and our environment have become even more pressing in the last year, and the Global Summit provides an important chance to reflect on all we have learned, to catalyse even greater collective action. To seize the opportunities for positive progress, the world needs business at its best – and we know that leadership from our sector is vital as we build back better.

“Our members believe businesses must look after the planet, care for communities and earn the trust of consumers through genuine openness and innovation. The Global Summit is a vital part of us pushing ourselves to continually go further and do more, with members setting themselves up to succeed in a transformed industry where sustainable business is not just an ambition but an expectation”.

Highlight sessions across the four-day program include:

• What’s Next for the Industry and How Will CGF Contribute – with the following speakers: Emmanuel Faber, Former Danone Chairman & CEO, James Quincey, Chairman & CEO The Coca-Cola Company, Özgür Tort, CEO Migros Ticaret, Daniel Zhang, Chairman & CEO Alibaba Group
• A Year of Major Milestones: When Climate Change, Food & Health Meet – with Dr Agnes Kalibata, UN Secretary General Envoy to the UN Food Systems Summit and Alan Jope, CEO of Unilever
• “E-everything” as the Shopping New Normal? – led by Tim Steiner, CEO Ocado Group
• Ways to Build Resilience in Tough Times – panel with Frans Muller, President & CEO Ahold Delhaize and Mark Schneider, CEO of Nestlé
• What can manufacturers and retailers learn from the biggest pandemic of our lifetimes? – with Laxman Narasimhan, CEO of Reckitt
• The Role of Technology in Global Sustainability – led by Safra Catz, CEO of Oracle

Discussions at the Global Summit will be held via speaker sessions and panels, tech talks, coalition meetings and more. As part of the virtual experience, filled with networking opportunities, the program has been built around prime-time content slots, where delegates from multiple time zones will be able to connect and participate in live sessions.

The Global Summit, reserved exclusively for members of the CGF, comes ahead of the UN Food Systems Summit and COP26 – which are putting even greater focus on what businesses are doing to secure sustainable food systems, protect the planet and look after employees and consumers.

To find out more about the Global Summit and register to secure your ticket, visit: theconsumergoodsforum.com/events/global-summit/register/

For more information, please contact: georgie@forster.co.uk

Notes to editors

Visit CGF on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Facebook to be the first to hear updates and new programme confirmations.

About The Consumer Goods Forum

• The Consumer Goods Forum (“CGF”) is a global, parity-based industry network that is driven by its members to encourage the global adoption of practices and standards that serves the consumer goods industry worldwide.
• It brings together the CEOs and senior management of some 400 retailers, manufacturers, service providers, and other stakeholders across 70 countries, and it reflects the diversity of the industry in geography, size, product category and format.
• Its member companies have combined sales of EUR 3.5 trillion and directly employ nearly 10 million people, with a further 90 million related jobs estimated along the value chain. It is governed by its Board of Directors, which comprises 57 manufacturer and retailer CEOs.
• For more information, please visit: theconsumergoodsforum.com

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