The Consumer Goods Forum Becomes UN Race to Zero Accelerator at COP26

PARIS and GLASGOW, Scotland, 5th November 2021 — The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) today announced it is an official “Accelerator” of the UN’s Race to Zero campaign, to encourage faster progress on carbon reduction across its global membership.

Race to Zero is the major 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. As an Accelerator, CGF has committed to support its members’ decarbonisation efforts and to use its influential reach to increase awareness of the UN campaign.

CGF is the only CEO-led organisation that represents both consumer goods manufacturers and retailers globally, bringing together senior leaders from more than 400 organisations across 70 countries.

Earlier this year, in collaboration with Accenture, Walmart and Unilever, CGF created 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-strong CGF Board in the Race to Zero has more than doubled from 22% to 52%. Overall, 41 CGF members are already committed to halving their emissions by 2030, and to reach net zero by 2050 at the latest.

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

“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 co-ordination, open dialogue and tangible action, we can drive lasting positive change for people, planet and businesses.”

Today’s announcement came at COP26 in Glasgow as part of an event titled ‘Net Zero Industry Transition with The Consumer Goods Forum’, which recognised 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, CGF
• Alan Jope, CEO, Unilever, and Board Vice Co-Chair, CGF
• Frans Muller, CEO, Ahold Delhaize, and Board Vice Co-Chair, CGF
• Magnus Groth, CEO, Essity
• Daniel Servitje, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, Grupo Bimbo
• David Boynton, CEO, The Body Shop
• Gonzalo Muñoz, High-level Champion, United Nations Climate Change
• Oliver Wright, Senior Managing Director – Consumer Goods & Services, Accenture

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, CGF welcomed the commitment of over 100 world leaders at COP26 to pledge an end to deforestation by 2030. CGF’s Forest Positive Coalition is already committed to combatting deforestation in a holistic way that protects not just natural habitats and biodiversity, but also smallholders and indigenous peoples. The Coalition will also be making their own important announcement tomorrow at the FACT Dialogue Nature Day Panel, about what this collaboration for a forest positive future could look like.

A total of 4,475 businesses around the world are currently part of the Race to Zero campaign. To join, businesses must commit to emissions reduction targets in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement, have clear plans in place to achieve those targets, and report on their progress.

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

About The Consumer Goods Forum

• The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) is the only CEO-led organisation that represents both manufacturers and retailers globally. With more than 55 of the world’s top CEOs on our Board of Directors, we bring together the senior leaders from more than 400 retailers, manufacturers, service providers, and other stakeholders across 70 countries.
• We’re committed to using our huge, influential reach to create changes which have tangible and lasting positive effects on people, planet and business. CGF members believe businesses must look after the planet, care for people and communities, and earn the trust of consumers through genuine openness, optimism and innovation.
• We understand the need to do business the right way, but we know we can’t do it alone. We collaborate globally to improve our industries, driving change through Coalitions of Action on eight urgent issues: forests, human rights, plastics, healthier lives, food waste, food safety, supply chains and product data.
• See more at www.theconsumergoodsforum.com
• Visit the CGF on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Facebook to be the first to hear updates and new programme confirmations.