Even before the pandemic, North America was gaining ground on Europe for
corporate sustainability leadership. Europe is home to almost
half
of the world’s most sustainable publicly listed companies. But companies
representing the US and Canada are quickly closing the performance gap,
according to EcoVadis — whose latest Risk & Performance Index earned the
North American region a record high score, closing the gap on Europe to just a
few points.
An increasing number of executives are waking up to the fact that sustainable
practices, products and models yield a tangible competitive advantage. The US
Securities and Exchange Commission’s recent decision to vote in proposals to
make climate risk reporting
mandatory
for all public companies will further fuel progress.
Against this backdrop, Niki King’s
move to become Unilever’s new Head of Sustainability in North America is all the
more exciting. The region is undeniably the consumer goods giant’s most
important
market,
its $10 billion turnover accounting for 16 percent of the Group’s total. Here,
more than 8,000 people work in Unilever’s offices, 14 factories and 11
distribution centres. It is a big business with a heavy presence across multiple
categories, including skincare, ice cream, tea, deodorant and mayonnaise.
After positions at Novo Nordisk (most recently, as Director of Corporate
Sustainability) and Campbell Soup Company (latterly, as Director of Supply
Chain Sustainability), King is happy to continue working within companies that
“get it.”
“Unilever is a company that I always looked up to,” she told Sustainable
Brands™. “During my time at Campbell, Unilever was top of my list when
it came to benchmarking; and I always sought to understand whether
sustainability was truly integrated. Eight months into my time at Unilever and
it’s been quite amazing so far, because it is truly integrated.”
It was Unilever’s Sustainable Living
Plan (SLP), launched in
2010, that trajected the firm into the sustainable business spotlight. CSR
practitioners saw then-CEO Paul
Polman’s
company as a beacon of hope — a giant organization with the influence and
leverage to seriously turn the dial on a range of social and environmental
issues, from the climate emergency and ecosystem collapse to social inequality —
a giant organization for other giant organizations to look up to and emulate.
Over ten years, Unilever championed its so-called Sustainable Living Brands
including Ben & Jerry’s, Dove
and Seventh Generation — just as proud of their commercial performance as
their sustainability. The Group’s cost savings of €1 billion since 2008 —
achieved by improving water and energy efficiency in its factories, and by using
less materials — gave the business more confidence to win over investors and
challenge the need for quarterly reporting.
Fast-forward more than 12 years and the SLP has given way to the Unilever
Compass,
described by CEO Alan Jope as “our new, fully integrated corporate strategy”
that “finally put[s] to bed the debate of whether sustainability is good for
business.”
It is certainly something front and centre of King’s mind as she works to
implement the firm’s global sustainable business strategy in North America,
ensuring that it retains its leading position as a global leader in ‘doing the
right thing.’ Decarbonization is going to be a big focus for King, and building
out roadmaps to make sure Unilever knows exactly how it will reach carbon
neutrality.
“What’s exciting to me is trying to figure out how we’re going to do it without
using
offsets,”
she says. Unilever seems to be in an exciting exploratory phase, seeking out the
best technologies for the business to employ at its factories and offices. “It’s
a challenge. But by the end of this year, here in North America, we will know
what it’s going to take for us to fully decarbonize by 2030.”
For many businesses, investors are playing a bigger
role in pushing
for increased performance in managing risks associated with social and
environmental
challenges
such as the climate crisis. Increased attention on ESG issues by the investment
community has been largely welcomed; and Unilever has enjoyed a healthy
relationship with enlightened investors. It was surprising then to hear Terry Smith — one of Unilever’s biggest shareholders — accuse the firm’s
management
of being “obsessed with publicly displaying sustainability credentials at the
expense of focusing on the fundamentals of the business.” What was King’s take
on that?
“Investors have their own opinions; I guess I’ll leave it at that,” she said
before quickly moving the conversation on. “The winning businesses of tomorrow
are going to be those that anticipate and respond to the huge changes that are
shaping people’s lives across the world — the brands that capitalize on the
power of data and biotechnology.”
Brands having an authentic purpose — and then living that
purpose
— will be crucial, King adds.
“Yes, we have brands such as Dove and Seventh Generation that have
sustainability at their core. But we really want all of our brands to have a
purpose.”
Right now, her team are working with
SheaMoisture — a brand Unilever acquired
after snapping up parent company Sundial
Brands
back in 2017. As part of an “intensive bootcamp,” the brand will redefine its
purpose to really understand who they are, what they mean to the Unilever
family, and how they can impact society at large.
“We do that with all of our brands. It’s a really exciting piece of my work,”
King says. “SheaMoisture is such an amazing brand. It’s about trying to rebuild
their identity and figure out how they can make a bigger impact in the world.
They’re super cool.”
Unilever has been leading on corporate sustainability for the last decade. But
now, its competitors are playing catch-up; and the business must maintain
momentum to hold a leadership position that is so important to its customers and
shareholders alike. King acknowledges it’s possible to slip off track. It’s
important to understand that decarbonization, circularity and purpose are hard
to achieve: “They require human resources, they require financial resources,
they require constant innovation.”
King plans to stick around until Unilever’s Compass goals come to an end in ten
years’ time — “I want to be able to say that North America led in the efforts to
achieving our sustainability goals” — but she also wants her competitors and
peers to catch up, too.
“We want them to be sustainable companies, as well. But we also need to keep
that competitive advantage and continue to innovate so that we can really make
sustainable living
commonplace.
That’s our vision. That’s what we stand for as a company. It’s constant
innovation; and we want others to come along on the journey with us.”
Get the latest insights, trends, and innovations to help position yourself at the forefront of sustainable business leadership—delivered straight to your inbox.
Content creator extraordinaire.
Tom is founder of storytelling strategy firm Narrative Matters — which helps organizations develop content that truly engages audiences around issues of global social, environmental and economic importance. He also provides strategic editorial insight and support to help organisations – from large corporates, to NGOs – build content strategies that focus on editorial that is accessible, shareable, intelligent and conversation-driving.
Published Apr 11, 2022 8am EDT / 5am PDT / 1pm BST / 2pm CEST