The CEOs of roughly 200 companies have announced that on November 1, they will
be knocking on the doors of Ursula von der Leyen, Charles Michel and
David Maria Sassoli — newly elected Presidents of the European
Commission, Council of the European Union and European Parliament,
respectively — to implement together an overarching strategy for a Sustainable
Europe by 2030.
The group — which includes the CEOs of companies including BASF, BNP Paribas,
Ecolab, E.ON, Novelis, Sky, Toyota and Vodafone — represents a
wide swath of industries and the widest group of CEOs ever mobilized in Europe,
with many more are expected to endorse CSR Europe’s Call to Action for A
New Deal for
Europe
— a Europe with a shared sustainable vision for its future.
“It is imperative for CEOs to take a
stance
and respond to the public concerns on the path to the future of Europe,” stated
CSR Europe Executive Director Stefan Crets. “As the European Business
Network on Corporate Sustainability and Responsibility, CSR Europe will engage
leading companies to develop a Sustainability European Industry
Alliance with one clear ambition: to ensure that Europe’s industry becomes
climate-neutral, circular and resource-efficient, with reliable access to low
carbon energy and raw materials in a sustainable way.”
As more and more CEOs have been actively addressing governments to advocate for changes in policy that will affect a number of issues vital to the longevity of business and society — including climate policy and carbon pricing, here in the US — it's become clear that only by joining forces will it be possible to innovate business models and accelerate the transformation
necessary to tackle the current climate crisis in an inclusive way. The CEOs'
Call to Action — apparently first voiced by Solvay CEO Ilham Kadri, at
the 2019 Brussels SDG Summit in May — did
not fall on deaf ears.
Corporate political responsibility: Lessons learned in 2024 and support for 2025 and beyond
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As Kadri said at the time: “We are calling for closer collaboration between
politics, civil society and business to urgently act together and tackle global
warming, accelerate inclusive growth and sustainable prosperity, with the
SDGs as our compass.”
100 CEOs supported her appeal in May and now, that number has almost
doubled, thanks to the ongoing support of CSR Europe’s network of National
Partner Organisations. The CEOs and their
companies are
ready to work together with the EU Leaders and civil society for a future Europe
that has sustainability, climate action and inclusiveness at its core.
Positive indications for the success of this joint action came last Tuesday
from President von der Leyen, who expressed her
ambition to make Europe a
place that leaves no one behind and that will be the first climate-neutral
continent in the world by 2050. In June, Heads of States and Governments
echoed
CSR Europe’s Call to Action, recognizing the importance of “building a
climate-neutral, green, fair and social Europe” as one of four priority areas of
the new Commission.
Join the call
If you are CEO of a European company who takes the United Nations’ Sustainable
Development Goals as a compass and are ready to play your part in tackling the
climate crisis, CSR Europe invites you to endorse the Call to Action before
September 30,
2019.
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Sustainable Brands Staff
Published Jul 22, 2019 2pm EDT / 11am PDT / 7pm BST / 8pm CEST