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Search Ahold Delhaize and Mondelez International CEOs Announced as New Co-Chairs of The Consumer Goods Forum
- Frans Muller, President & CEO of Ahold Delhaize, and Dirk Van de Put, Chairman and CEO of Mondelēz International, take the helm as new Co-Chairs of The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF), with a vision to drive faster industry-wide action on urgent challenges facing people and planet.
- Providing leadership of the global network for two years, the pair will work to mobilise even greater progress among its influential membership – focusing on key topics including deforestation, plastics, human rights in the supply chain, employee wellbeing and net zero.
- Today at CGF’s Global Summit in Kyoto, Japan, the new Co-Chairs spoke alongside outgoing Co-Chairs – James Quincey, Chairman and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company, and Daniel Zhang, Chairman and CEO of Alibaba Group – and CGF’s Managing Director, Wai-Chan Chan, about the organisation’s crucial role in driving positive change and the major opportunities ahead for the industry.
KYOTO, 7th June 2023 — The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF), the only CEO-led organisation that brings together both manufacturers and retailers globally, has today unveiled Frans Muller, President & CEO of Ahold Delhaize, and Dirk Van de Put, Chairman and CEO of Mondelēz International, as its new Co-Chairs for the next two years.
At CGF’s Global Summit in Kyoto, Japan, the new Co-Chairs spoke today about their desire to accelerate a greater combined impact for people and planet by driving action at scale across CGF’s broad membership.
CGF unites CEOs from more than 400 member companies across 70 countries – including Ajinomoto, Alibaba, The Coca-Cola Company, Carrefour, Danone, Grupo Exito, Nestlé, Tesco, Unilever and Walmart – providing a vital forum for driving positive change in the consumer goods sector. The Co-Chairs will help to spearhead CGF’s role as a catalyst to contribute to better lives through better business all over the world.
Recognising the diverse nature of CGF’s membership – including the different pressures, priorities and regional factors facing each company – the new Co-Chairs are focused on mobilising members around a set of shared actions which aim to deliver a major positive impact.
The CGF has eight Coalitions of Action, which will continue to drive collective progress on forests, human rights, plastics, healthier lives, food waste, food safety, supply chains and product data. As well as maintaining the momentum of each Coalition, Frans Muller and Dirk Van de Put have identified a series of critical areas to intensify CGF’s focus on:
- Tackling deforestation. The CGF’s Forest Positive Coalition of Action is the world’s leading initiative of consumer goods companies taking collective action to help end commodity-driven deforestation and conversion. It offers an evidence-based approach on how to create a deforestation and conversion free supply chain strategy, and the Co-Chairs are encouraging transformative changes to be implemented by both Coalition companies and across CGF’s wider membership. This includes companies implementing a time-bound action plan for achieving forest positive commodity production, and transparently reporting on their progress.
- Moving to a circular economy for plastics. The CGF has already worked with members to outline a series of Golden Design Rules, which provide practical principles for better, and less, plastic packaging. The Co-Chairs are keen to accelerate greater adoption of these principles across the industry.
- Protecting human rights. As part of its efforts to make due diligence and responsible recruitment the norm in the consumer goods industry, the CGF will increase its role in helping businesses to identify, address, and prevent human rights risks throughout their supply chains. CGF’s work includes helping members to go beyond the scope of many voluntary due diligence frameworks.
- Boosting employee health and wellbeing. The CGF’s Collaboration for Healthier Lives Coalition works to empower people around the world to lead healthier lives – and as part of this, the Coalition is supporting businesses across CGF’s membership to enhance their employee wellbeing culture. The Co-Chairs will deepen the focus on members prioritising their own employees’ physical and mental health, alongside the health and wellbeing of global customers.
- Supporting faster decarbonisation progress. CGF is already an official Accelerator of the UN’s Race to Zero campaign, working with members to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions along their value chains. The Co-Chairs will help ramp up activity across CGF’s membership to support decarbonisation progress– including better agricultural production, improved operations, and transparent reporting.
The CGF will continue to share its progress against these key areas on a regular basis – including at milestone events such as its Sustainable Retail Summit, to be held in Copenhagen in October.
Despite a turbulent economic, social and geopolitical landscape, the outgoing Co-Chairs – James Quincey, Chairman and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company, and Daniel Zhang, Chairman and CEO of Alibaba Group – have helped member companies and the entire industry to be more sustainable and resilient.
Key achievements over the past two years include 97 percent (40 businesses) of CGF’s Plastic Waste Coalition of Action already implementing the Golden Design Rules, with these guidelines also being offered to help inform the United Nations’ major new plastics treaty. In addition, the Collaboration for Healthier Lives Coalition has supported over 255 million people around the world over the past 18 months through initiatives to empower healthier consumer choices.
Meanwhile, the Human Rights Coalition launched its People Positive Palm Project last year in Kuala Lumpur to address forced labour risks in the Malaysian palm oil sector. As part of the ambition to drive broader representation and inclusivity across our CGF membership, nine Chinese companies and five Japanese companies joined the CGF during this period.
Today at the Global Summit, the new Co-Chairs set out their ambition to build on the wide-ranging achievements that the outgoing Co-Chairs spearheaded over the past two years.
Frans Muller, President & CEO of Ahold Delhaize, said:
“CGF is led by CEOs who have the power to rally together with the aim to drive faster progress at scale, and I am honoured to be taking up the role of Co-Chair. The CGF has a huge global reach, and we must continue to use this influence to strive to make a major difference across the industry and beyond. I am proud to call Ahold Delhaize a frontrunner in many fields, and I’ll bring that experience to the table.”
“The challenges facing people and planet are unprecedented, and no company, government or organisation can tackle them alone – so our approaches to tackling them must be shared. I’m looking forward to building on the important work delivered by James and Daniel over the past two years, by enabling members to drive focused actions faster together.”
Dirk Van de Put, Chairman and CEO of Mondelēz International, added:
“The consumer goods sector has a critical part in delivering the transition to a greener, healthier, and more resilient future – and I’m delighted to be helping to lead the CGF as we support members in the global adoption of beneficial practices and standards.”
“At Mondelēz International, we have embedded sustainability as the fourth pillar of our long-term growth strategy. Many businesses are making great strides on sustainability – and there are inspiring examples of leadership and innovation across CGF’s membership – but we must all go further. The time is now to accelerate collaboration and solutions to drive change that will protect the planet and ensure thriving communities.”
Wai-Chan Chan, Managing Director of The Consumer Goods Forum, said:
“I’m delighted to welcome Dirk and Frans to their role, and I know their deep commitment to delivering on urgent challenges will help us to ensure an even greater combined positive impact. On behalf of the Board, I want to thank James and Daniel for their exceptional leadership driving a regionalisation and impact agenda, which has helped to propel vital achievements across the industry.”
“Of course, every business is different, but our members know they are stronger together – collectively striving to answer the needs of customers, partners and the environment. We hope that through CGF, every one of our members – regardless of where they are on their journey – is enabled, encouraged and inspired to do more.”
ENDS
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- Notes to editors
- Today’s announcement was made at CGF’s Global Summit to nearly 900 participants from 250 companies across 40 countries – an event where 38% of speakers are female.
- The new Co-Chairs were appointed by CGF’s Board of Directors – which has more than 58 of the world’s top CEOs on it.
- Visit CGF on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube.
About The Consumer Goods Forum
The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) is the only CEO-led organisation that represents both manufacturers and retailers globally. It brings together senior leaders from more than 400 retailers, manufacturers and other stakeholders across 70 countries.
CGF accelerates change through eight Coalitions of Action: forests, human rights, plastics, healthier lives, food waste, food safety, supply chains and product data. Its member companies have combined sales of EUR 4.6 trillion and directly employ nearly 10 million people, with a further 90 million related jobs estimated along the value chain. It is governed by its Board of Directors, which comprises more than 55 manufacturer and retailer CEOs.
About Ahold Delhaize
Ahold Delhaize is one of the world’s largest food retail groups and a leader in both supermarkets and e-commerce. Its family of great local brands serves 60 million customers each week, both in stores and online, in the United States, Europe and Indonesia. Together, these brands employ more than 414,000 associates in 7,659 grocery and specialty stores and include the top online retailer in the Benelux and the leading online grocers in the Benelux and the United States.
Ahold Delhaize brands are at the forefront of sustainable retailing, sourcing responsibly, supporting local communities and helping customers make healthier choices. The company’s focus on four growth drivers – drive omnichannel growth, elevate healthy and sustainable, cultivate best talent and strengthen operational excellence – is helping to fulfil its purpose, achieve its vision and prepare its brands and businesses for tomorrow.
Headquartered in Zaandam, the Netherlands, Ahold Delhaize is listed on the Euronext Amsterdam and Brussels stock exchanges (ticker: AD) and its American Depositary Receipts are traded on the over-the-counter market in the U.S. and quoted on the OTCQX International marketplace (ticker: ADRNY). For more information, please visit.
About Mondelēz International
Mondelēz International, Inc. (Nasdaq: MDLZ) empowers people to snack right in over 150 countries around the world. With 2022 net revenues of approximately $31 billion, MDLZ is leading the future of snacking with iconic global and local brands such as Oreo, Ritz, LU, Clif Bar and Tate’s Bake Shop biscuits and baked snacks, as well as Cadbury Dairy Milk, Milka and Toblerone chocolate.
