The Consumer Goods Forum Reaffirms Climate Change Commitment

NEW YORK and PARIS, September 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

The Consumer Goods Forum today issued a statement reaffirming its commitment to helping members do their part to tackle climate change and keep global temperature rises below two degrees Celsius. The full statement is below.

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The Consumer Goods Forum reaffirms its commitment to taking action in recognition of the serious risks that climate change poses for our businesses, our supply chains and our consumers. The Paris Climate Agreement presents a critical opportunity to strengthen efforts globally addressing the causes and consequences of climate change, and to demonstrate action by businesses and other non-state actors.

In 2010, the CGF Board committed to mobilising resources within our respective businesses to address two aspects of climate change:

• To help achieve zero net deforestation by 2020 through sustainable sourcing of key commodities; and
• To begin rapidly phasing down HFC refrigerants and replacing them with natural and ultra-low GWP (global warming potential) refrigerants.

Furthermore, we are conscious that food waste is responsible for adding 3.3 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases to the planet's atmosphere per year. Therefore, we also committed in 2015 to halve food waste within our own operations by 2025 and contribute to the Sustainable Development Goal 12.3 by helping reduce (per capita) food waste by 50%.

In doing this,

• We reaffirm our commitment to these actions, and acknowledge the vital need to work in partnership with governments and civil society to transform markets at scale. Working with the Tropical Forest Alliance, the Banking Environment Initiative and others, we believe that further engagement of supply chain partners, including commodity traders and financiers, can help accelerate progress.  
• We embrace our unique role as The Consumer Goods Industry in enabling and empowering consumers - through innovation, communication and partnership - to make sustainable changes in their purchasing and in their lives.

The urgency of this action is underpinned by the science, which is clearer than it has ever been. The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded that climate change is unequivocal and that limiting anthropogenic climate change will require substantial and sustained reductions of greenhouse gas emissions.

We reaffirm our commitment to engage and act with determination, leadership and ambition to address challenges posed by climate change and to help advance progress against the goals and objective outlined in the Paris Climate Agreement.  

About The Consumer Goods Forum 

The Consumer Goods Forum ("CGF") is a global, parity-based industry network that is driven by its members to encourage the global adoption of practices and standards that serves the consumer goods industry worldwide. It brings together the CEOs and senior management of some 400 retailers, manufacturers, service providers, and other stakeholders across 70 countries, and it reflects the diversity of the industry in geography, size, product category and format. Its member companies have combined sales of EUR 3.5 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 50 manufacturer and retailer CEOs. For more information, please visit: http://www.theconsumergoodsforum.com.

SOURCE The Consumer Goods Forum