Unilever recently took part in numerous discussions and debates at the World Economic Forum in Davos, as a member of the Dutch Sustainable Growth Coalition (DSGC). DSGC’s other members include DSM, Heineken, Philips and Shell. The DSGC’s mission is to develops and share knowledge, while also actively engaging with the Dutch government.

Leaders of various DSGC Members chaired roundtable discussions that included “Circular Economy Champions: Searching for Sustainable Growth Models at Scale”. The circular economy is an economic system focused on maximizing re-usability and minimizing value destruction of products and natural resources. Subject of discussion were the opportunities for governments and companies, in scaling up and catalyzing circular economy business models. Best practices of sustainable innovations were shared with the 70 attending CEOs, scientists, politicians and new technology pioneers.

Paul Polman, CEO, Unilever, commented: “Today, one billion consumers use 40 to 50% of the Earth’s natural resources. We consider it our task to rethink our definition of growth to really achieve sustainability, so that nine billion people can live together in peace by 2050. The Dutch Sustainable Growth Coalition is an important platform for developing and scaling up initiatives that put sustainable growth first. It’s what we need in moving forward: towards a circular economy.”