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

Today, Oxfam praised the CEOs 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:
www.oxfam.ca/our-work/publications/standing-on-the-sidelines

See the statement from the board of the Consumer Goods Forum here:
www.theconsumergoodsforum.com/press_releases/the-consumer-goods-forum-calls-for-binding-global-climate-change-deal/

See the Board of the consumer goods forum here:
www.theconsumergoodsforum.com/about-the-forum/our-board-of-directors

Members include:
Paul Bukcke, 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

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For more information

Melanie Gallant
Media Relations Officer
Oxfam Canada