Oxfam applauds CEO’s of eight of the big 10 food and beverage companies for bold call for climate action

Published: 18th June 2014

Words must be matched by concrete steps in own supply chains

Today Oxfam praised the CEO’s of eight of the ten biggest food and beverage companies in the world for joining together with the heads of some 400 major companies to call on world leaders, “to act with determination, leadership and ambition to secure an ambitious and legally binding global climate deal.”

In response to this call to action, Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of Oxfam International said:
“If hundreds of the world’s most powerful companies can agree to get behind an ambitious call for any type of political action, world leaders should pay attention. This statement of support for a binding global climate deal is just the latest sign that our politicians are behind the times when it comes to addressing the threat of climate change. We applaud these business leaders for their vocal support for a climate deal and can only hope that these words are backed by the full force of industry’s lobbying muscle to push to make a deal a reality."

“As Oxfam’s “Standing on the Sidelines” report shows, many of the biggest food companies in the world have a lot of ground to make-up when it comes to reducing the contributions of their supply chains to climate change. Today’s statement is an important step in the direction of companies taking strong public steps to help break the political stalemate on climate change politics, that we hope will indicate the beginning of a new drive to make the food industry true leaders in the fight to prevent catastrophic climate change.”

Read Oxfam’s Standing on the Sidelines report.
Read the statement from the board of the Consumer Goods Forum.
See who is on the board of the consumer goods forum.

Members include:

  • Paul Bulcke, CEO Nestle
  • John Bryant, CEO Kellogg Company
  • Muhtar Kent, CEO Coca-Cola Company
  • Indra Nooyi, CEO PepsiCo
  • Paul Polman, CEO Unilever
  • Kendal Powell, CEO General Mills
  • Frank Riboud, CEO Danone
  • Irene Rosenfeld, CEO Mondelez International
We applaud these business leaders for their vocal support for a climate deal and can only hope that these words are backed by the full force of industry’s lobbying muscle.
Winnie Byanyima
Executive Director, Oxfam International

Contact information

Ben Grossman-Cohen, Washington, DC, +1 (202) 777 2907, m: + 1 (202) 629 6018, bgrossman-cohen@oxfamamerica.org, twitter.com/bengroco