Purpose or profit? Healthcare, household and food products on display in a conference room at the Unilever Plc headquarters in London, on April 18.
Photographer: Vivian Wan/BloombergESG Poster Child Unilever Waters Down Green Pledges
CEO Hein Schumacher is scaling back some commitments on plastics and diversity against a backdrop of wider investor unrest around such strategies.
Unilever Plc plans to abandon or water down a string of environmental and social pledges against the backdrop of a growing backlash from investors, consumers and politicians against companies pursuing non-financial objectives.
The move by Hein Schumacher, Unilever’s chief executive officer, marks a major shift for the £95 billion ($118 billion) consumer group — home to brands ranging from Hellmann’s mayonnaise to Domestos bleach — which has built its business strategy on a bedrock of ESG policies for more than a decade. Seen as the corporate world’s biggest cheerleader for the idea that companies should do good in the world, the downgrading of some commitments will be watched closely by other businesses under shareholder pressure to reduce costs and boost stock market performance.