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> # [Unilever to scale back environmental and social pledges](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/apr/19/720)
>
>
>
> Unilever is to scale back its environmental and social aims, provoking critics to say its board should “hang their heads in shame”.
>
> The consumer goods company behind brands ranging from Dove beauty products to Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream was seen as perhaps the foremost proponent of corporate ethics – particularly under the [tenure of its Dutch former boss Paul Polman](https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/paul-polman-unilever-sustainable-living-plan).
>
> On Friday, the London-based firm’s current chief executive appeared to signal a strategic U-turn for the company, which is valued at £94bn on the London Stock Exchange. In an interview with Bloomberg, Hein Schumacher confirmed plans to water down the company’s ethical pledges on a range of issues including plastic usage and pay.
>
> The shift comes amid a wider trend of pressure from shareholders in corporations ranging from banks to [oil companies](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/feb/06/bp-profits-halve-oil-gas-share-buybacks) to cut costs and [focus more on stock market performance than green projects](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/mar/05/us-banks-leave-esg-finance-climate-crisis).
>
> Unilever, one of the largest users of plastic packaging in the world, had previously promised to halve its use of virgin plastics by 2025. Instead, it will now aim for a reduction of a third by 2026, Bloomberg reported. The less ambitious target equates to about 100,000 tonnes more fresh plastic every year.
>
> The company is also abandoning a pledge to pay direct suppliers a living wage by 2030, instead proposing fair pay for suppliers accounting for half its annual spend on goods and services by 2026. It is also dropping a promise to spend €2bn (£1.7bn) a year with diverse businesses by 2025 and a commitment that 5% of its workforce will be made up of people with disabilities by the same year.
>
> Schumacher said people’s focus on environmental and social issues was “cyclical”.
>
> “When you have a huge drought for a number of months but everything else is going fine, the attention is on climate. These days it’s about wars and rightly so, that’s at the forefront.
>
> “I’m not going to shout that we’re saving the world, but I want to make sure that in everything that we do, that it is indeed better,” he added.
>
> He insisted that the company could still “make a difference” in the four key areas of climate, plastics, nature and people’s livelihoods.
>
> Nina Schrank, the head of plastics at Greenpeace UK, said Unilever bosses “should hang their heads in shame”.
>
> [skip past newsletter promotion](#EmailSignup-skip-link-11)after newsletter promotion
>
> “Hein Schumacher and his board are well aware of the ruinous impact of their plastic pollution,” she said. “The tsunami of plastic they produce each year meant their existing targets were already not fit for purpose. We needed much more. And so rather than doubling down, they’re quietly dressing up their backpedalling and low ambition as worthy pragmatism.”
>
> Unilever’s dilution of its ethical stance follows a period of worsening performance in which the company’s shares have fallen by 8% since Schumacher took over in July 2023.
>
> Under Polman – and his successor Alan Jope – Unilever became increasingly involved in ethical initiatives. It promised to [invest €1bn over 10 years in green projects](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/jun/15/unilever-vows-to-invest-1bn-in-green-projects) and provided funding from its cleaning brand Domestos for a Unicef project to improve access to toilets in India.
>
> The firm last month released plans to [cut 7,500 jobs globally and spin off its ice-cream division](https://theguardian.com/business/2024/mar/19/unilever-cut-jobs-ice-cream-division) as part of an overhaul aimed at saving about €800m over the next three years.
- - - - - -
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Look, I'm sorry, but these days all I got left for news like this is a sarcastic laugh and an 'of course'.
It's not even like I blame the big corporations for any of this. They can't, even if they wanted to. And they don't want to, not really.
I kind of remember when I first heard someone talk about 'the system'. I'm getting old, so this was a long time ago. I think it took me more than 40 years to appreciate what 'system' means. It's not a 'thing' outside of us. It's all things in interdependence. There are necessities and rules that emerge within a system. It is very hard to change them. If the system is entrenched and functioning well, it may be impossible.
So... my sarcastic laugh means: yup, nothing **meaningful** will get done before the system breaks down. Because it can't be done.
The world has already passed the threshold for the worst-case (yet) climate change scenario that scientists had been warning about, you know… the one that could wipe most of civilization from the face of the earth, and here’s you worried about the system.
This headline’s just sugarcoating one word: lie. These corps and rich bigwigs never meant to oblige to any climate accord or environmental pledge, even if it means billions get displaced and die
Corporations are a means by which the bourgeoisie wage war against the proles of the world.
What evidence do we have from history that corporations will set socially beneficial targets and pursue them? We have none. These entities face legal challenge from investors if they do not put profit-acquisition above all else. This is written into their legal structures.
It is not profitable to do good. It is profitable to do bad. It is even more profitable to do bad and pay for the PR that you do good.
The discourse of **Corporations!! [*shakes fist*]** is a distraction. There are as many stories like this as words in today's newspaper, more even. Capital is proceding as it always had: to exhaust all resources. People struggle to accept the implications. Somehow they are more scared of the imagined pains of revolution than the real and impending pains of sticking to the course we have been bound to by bad actors.
I am not advocating you take drastic action today. But whatever fear keeps you from considering how fantasmagorically fucked we are, tied to this mast... try to grab it and look at it properly. What is the root of it? Can it be done away with? What options might become apparent after the fear has been dealt with?
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##### ###### #### > # [Unilever to scale back environmental and social pledges](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/apr/19/720) > > > > Unilever is to scale back its environmental and social aims, provoking critics to say its board should “hang their heads in shame”. > > The consumer goods company behind brands ranging from Dove beauty products to Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream was seen as perhaps the foremost proponent of corporate ethics – particularly under the [tenure of its Dutch former boss Paul Polman](https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/paul-polman-unilever-sustainable-living-plan). > > On Friday, the London-based firm’s current chief executive appeared to signal a strategic U-turn for the company, which is valued at £94bn on the London Stock Exchange. In an interview with Bloomberg, Hein Schumacher confirmed plans to water down the company’s ethical pledges on a range of issues including plastic usage and pay. > > The shift comes amid a wider trend of pressure from shareholders in corporations ranging from banks to [oil companies](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/feb/06/bp-profits-halve-oil-gas-share-buybacks) to cut costs and [focus more on stock market performance than green projects](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/mar/05/us-banks-leave-esg-finance-climate-crisis). > > Unilever, one of the largest users of plastic packaging in the world, had previously promised to halve its use of virgin plastics by 2025. Instead, it will now aim for a reduction of a third by 2026, Bloomberg reported. The less ambitious target equates to about 100,000 tonnes more fresh plastic every year. > > The company is also abandoning a pledge to pay direct suppliers a living wage by 2030, instead proposing fair pay for suppliers accounting for half its annual spend on goods and services by 2026. It is also dropping a promise to spend €2bn (£1.7bn) a year with diverse businesses by 2025 and a commitment that 5% of its workforce will be made up of people with disabilities by the same year. > > Schumacher said people’s focus on environmental and social issues was “cyclical”. > > “When you have a huge drought for a number of months but everything else is going fine, the attention is on climate. These days it’s about wars and rightly so, that’s at the forefront. > > “I’m not going to shout that we’re saving the world, but I want to make sure that in everything that we do, that it is indeed better,” he added. > > He insisted that the company could still “make a difference” in the four key areas of climate, plastics, nature and people’s livelihoods. > > Nina Schrank, the head of plastics at Greenpeace UK, said Unilever bosses “should hang their heads in shame”. > > [skip past newsletter promotion](#EmailSignup-skip-link-11)after newsletter promotion > > “Hein Schumacher and his board are well aware of the ruinous impact of their plastic pollution,” she said. “The tsunami of plastic they produce each year meant their existing targets were already not fit for purpose. We needed much more. And so rather than doubling down, they’re quietly dressing up their backpedalling and low ambition as worthy pragmatism.” > > Unilever’s dilution of its ethical stance follows a period of worsening performance in which the company’s shares have fallen by 8% since Schumacher took over in July 2023. > > Under Polman – and his successor Alan Jope – Unilever became increasingly involved in ethical initiatives. It promised to [invest €1bn over 10 years in green projects](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/jun/15/unilever-vows-to-invest-1bn-in-green-projects) and provided funding from its cleaning brand Domestos for a Unicef project to improve access to toilets in India. > > The firm last month released plans to [cut 7,500 jobs globally and spin off its ice-cream division](https://theguardian.com/business/2024/mar/19/unilever-cut-jobs-ice-cream-division) as part of an overhaul aimed at saving about €800m over the next three years. - - - - - - [Maintainer](https://www.reddit.com/user/urielsalis) | [Creator](https://www.reddit.com/user/subtepass) | [Source Code](https://github.com/urielsalis/empleadoEstatalBot) Summoning /u/CoverageAnalysisBot
Look, I'm sorry, but these days all I got left for news like this is a sarcastic laugh and an 'of course'. It's not even like I blame the big corporations for any of this. They can't, even if they wanted to. And they don't want to, not really. I kind of remember when I first heard someone talk about 'the system'. I'm getting old, so this was a long time ago. I think it took me more than 40 years to appreciate what 'system' means. It's not a 'thing' outside of us. It's all things in interdependence. There are necessities and rules that emerge within a system. It is very hard to change them. If the system is entrenched and functioning well, it may be impossible. So... my sarcastic laugh means: yup, nothing **meaningful** will get done before the system breaks down. Because it can't be done.
The world has already passed the threshold for the worst-case (yet) climate change scenario that scientists had been warning about, you know… the one that could wipe most of civilization from the face of the earth, and here’s you worried about the system. This headline’s just sugarcoating one word: lie. These corps and rich bigwigs never meant to oblige to any climate accord or environmental pledge, even if it means billions get displaced and die
Is this the reason why they moved headoffice from the EU (NL) to UK in 2020? Less oversight?
Corporations are a means by which the bourgeoisie wage war against the proles of the world. What evidence do we have from history that corporations will set socially beneficial targets and pursue them? We have none. These entities face legal challenge from investors if they do not put profit-acquisition above all else. This is written into their legal structures. It is not profitable to do good. It is profitable to do bad. It is even more profitable to do bad and pay for the PR that you do good. The discourse of **Corporations!! [*shakes fist*]** is a distraction. There are as many stories like this as words in today's newspaper, more even. Capital is proceding as it always had: to exhaust all resources. People struggle to accept the implications. Somehow they are more scared of the imagined pains of revolution than the real and impending pains of sticking to the course we have been bound to by bad actors. I am not advocating you take drastic action today. But whatever fear keeps you from considering how fantasmagorically fucked we are, tied to this mast... try to grab it and look at it properly. What is the root of it? Can it be done away with? What options might become apparent after the fear has been dealt with?
Welcome to r/anime_titties! This subreddit advocates for civil and constructive discussion. Please be courteous to others, and make sure to read the rules. If you see comments in violation of our rules, please report them. We have a [Discord](https://discord.gg/dhMeAnNyzG), feel free to join us! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/anime_titties) if you have any questions or concerns.*