Date: 2024-12-21 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00016947
People: Sustainability Campions
Paul Polman
Unilever’s Former Chief Moves On With Plan to Fix the World ... Paul Polman sets up activist corporation called Imagine ... As CEO, Polman pushed for social, environmental causes
Peter Burgess
Paul Polman at the One Planet Summit in New York on Sept. 26. Photographer: Mark Kauzlarich/Bloomberg Paul Polman, the Dutchman who ran Unilever for almost a decade with a social slant, will push further in that direction now that he’s leaving -- creating a group to help combat poverty and climate change. The foundation and corporation, called Imagine, will work with companies to press for meeting global goals for sustainable development. The 62-year-old executive will invest an unspecified amount of his own funds. “The imperative to eradicate poverty and inequality and stem runaway climate change has never been more acute,” Polman wrote in an email to former colleagues and business contacts detailing his new project. What’s more, “we still miss the collective sense of urgency to move at scale and speed.” Polman this week ended a nearly decade-long tenure at the consumer-goods group during which he crisscrossed the world to meet with heads of state and form alliances with non-profit groups to promote capitalism with a feel-good twist. He directed Unilever to install toilets in Africa through its Domestos brand and encouraged Asian schoolchildren to wash their hands -- using the company’s Lifebuoy soap -- to reduce disease spread. “Even a company like Unilever can only do so much,” he wrote. “We have a fight against the clock here.” Polman said he regards the private sector as the “main engine for change.” Valerie Keller and Jeff Seabright, Unilever’s chief sustainability officer, are co-founders of Imagine. Have a confidential tip for our reporters? GET IN TOUCH Before it's here, it's on the Bloomberg Terminal. LEARN MORE by TaboolaSponsored LinksFrom The Web U.S. Cardiologist: It's Like a Pressure Wash for Your Insides Gundry MD Total Restore Supplement 8 Cars So Cool It's Hard to Believe They Cost Under $20k Auto Enthusiast | Search Ads If Your Dog Eats Grass (Do This Everyday) Ultimate Pet Nutrition Forget Robots, 5G And Electric Cars - This Is The Next Big Thing Stansberry Research Subscription Bushkill, Pennsylvania Drivers Are Stunned By This New Rule EverQuote Insurance Quotes 3 Warning Signs Your Dog Is Crying For Help Dr. Marty Nature's Blend Supplement LIVE ON BLOOMBERG Watch Live TV Listen to Live Radio Most Read BUSINESS Boeing 737 Max's Autopilot Has Problem, European Regulators Find BUSINESS Billionaire U.S. Coal Baron Cline Dies in Helicopter Crash TECHNOLOGY MacKenzie Bezos Gets Ready for a $38 Billion Stake in Amazon MARKETS Why It May Be Downhill From Here for Stocks in 2019 MARKETS Erdogan Ousts Central Bank Chief Who Drew Ire for Holding Rates updated 3 hours ago