SUSTAINABILITY

Committing to Make the Entire Industry More Sustainable

THE CONSUMER GOODS FORUM PUBLISHES ITS FIRST ANNUAL REPORT TO ACCELERATE ACTION AND BUILD TRUST. By Marian Zboraj

he Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) is the only CEO-led organization that represents both consumer goods manufacturers and retailers globally, bringing together senior leaders from more than 400 organizations across 70 countries. Underlining its commitment to ensure better lives through better business, CGF has published its first annual report, “Collective Action Today, Impact at Scale Tomorrow — Review 2021.”

“If we are going to mitigate the greatest risks of the climate crisis and protect the

Key Takeaways

The Consumer Goods Forum’s first annual report highlights the work and achievements of its eight specialist coalitions of action. The coalitions have brought together some of the most influential CEOs of world-leading consumer goods companies, including Wegmans and Kroger, to collaborate across borders and overcome barriers to deliver action. The organization strives to offer innovations and industry-wide solutions that can be readily adopted in members’ own operations.

Wai-Chan Chan, managing director of the Consumer Goods Forum, is dedicated to helping member companies ramp up their sustainability efforts.

health of communities around the world, we need to be our own biggest critics,” says Wai-Chan Chan, managing director of Paris-based CGF. ”That is exactly why we have published our first annual review, committing to rigorous and transparent reporting to accelerate action and build trust.”

Created with the support of auditing firm KPMG, the sustainability report details the collaboration of CGF’s members and highlights the work and achievements of its eight specialist coalitions of action. CGF transitioned to these CEO-led coalitions in spring 2020 to encourage more collaboration and to focus on greater impact at scale. By March 2021, the eight coalitions were created: Food Waste, Forest Positive, Food Safety, Healthier Lives, Human Rights, Plastic Waste, Product Data and Sustainable Supply Chain Initiative.

In what has been a challenging year, CGF’s first report highlights some of the coalitions’ accomplishments. These include:

The Plastic Waste Coalition’s launch of the nine “Golden Design Rules” for packaging, which are now being implemented globally to embrace the circular economy and decrease single-use plastic. The research of the coalition has indicated that if implemented, the rules will deliver a dramatic reduction in plastic waste into nature and a recycling rate increase of more than 30%.

The Collaboration for Healthier Lives Coalition’s coordination of a global response to support vulnerable communities during the pandemic. Actions included improving access to healthier foods and personal care products, donating food and personal care products to food banks and community programs, and working with partners that provide essential support locally.

The Forest Positive Coalition’s launch of its inaugural annual report. The first-time member businesses have aligned on a set of key performance indicators and publicly reported their individual and collective results to take deforestation out of the supply chain. The report was launched as part of Climate Week in New York in September 2021.

The Human Rights Coalition — Working to End Forced Labor, launched on International Human Rights Day in December 2020 to bring forced labor to an end and increase transparency in the supply chain, has committed to a series of steps that will support the implementation of Priority Industry Principles.

The Food Waste Coalition now publicly reports on its food surplus and waste data in an aligned approach to benefit communities, economies and the climate. This is part of the coalition’s aim to accelerate progress toward Sustainable Development Goal 12.3 to cut per capita food loss in half worldwide.

The Coalition of Action on Food Safety, born out of the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) in March 2021, aims to strengthen and harmonize food safety systems so that they’re able to feed the growing global population and develop markets that can deliver food safely, no matter where in the world the consumer is. The coalition published the first-ever set of benchmarking requirements for food safety auditor Professional Recognition Bodies.

CEOs Take Charge

Overall, the eight coalitions have brought together some of the most influential CEOs of world-leading consumer goods companies to collaborate across borders and overcome barriers to deliver action. For example, the Food Safety coalition is being led at the CGF-board level by Dirk Van de Put, chairman and CEO of Chicago-based Mondelez International, and Danny Wegman, chairman of Rochester, N.Y.based Wegmans Food Markets. Howard Popoola, VP, corporate food technology and regulatory compliance at Cincinnati-based The Kroger Co., was appointed this past May to the post of steering committee cochair, representing retail members of this coalition. “All our members are committed to finding solutions together that have

If we are going tangible, positive effects on people, the planet and busito mitigate the ness — and it is heartening greatest risks of the to see the many examples of this across 2021,” says Chan. climate crisis and “However, as COP26 [the UN protect the health of communities around the Climate Change Conference’s 26th Conference of the Parties] underlined, we must world, we need to be our continue to act with urgency own biggest critics.” and work towards even more ambitious targets in 2022, —Wai-Chan Chan, Consumer Goods Forum scaling up our impact. Our approaches to achieve this, beyond the work of our coalitions of action, include increasing our reach in Asia, building on our digital connections, and expanding to working with smaller, more localized members — encouraging action at every level.” In the sustainability report’s foreword, CGF Board Co-Chairs James Quincey, chairman and CEO of The Coca-Cola Co., and Daniel Zhang, chairman and CEO of Alibaba Group, write: “As an organization, we are constantly striving to deliver tangible value to our members through the introduction of new innovations and industry-wide solutions that can be readily adopted in their own operations. One of the key reasons why industry leaders join the CGF is the opportunity to connect, share experiences and learn from each other. The pandemic provided us with a new set of challenges to deliver on that promise and ensure that members continue to receive value from their participation in the CGF’s work.” According to René Vader, global head of consumer and retail at KPMG, “The consumer and retail sector may face complex challenges, but a commitment to collaboration can help overcome barriers to action and enable a better future.”