On  March 22, 2021 Unilever issued a press release announcing that it would be putting its “Climate Transition Action Plan” (CTAP) to a shareholder vote at its May 5, 2021 Annual General Meeting. The company will provide an annual report on its progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and will submit an updated plan for a shareholder vote every three years. 

Once again, the board and management of Unilever is showing the kind of sustainable business leadership developed under its previous CEO, Paul Polman. On its own initiative the company is asking for a non-binding shareholder vote on its plan. It is the first company that made a voluntary public commitment to do so. I wanted to understand the company’s motivations for doing this and sat down (virtually, of course) with CEO Alan Jope and a few of the Unilever team members who put the plan together.

Alan Jope, Chief Executive Officer, Unilever | LIAM ARTHUR

Jope began the conversation by forcefully stating that “Dealing with climate change is an existential issue for society, governments, and companies – everyone. The implications will be profound, threatening our entire value chain. Give the criticality, we felt it was important to give our shareholders a say on our plan. As a company, we want to join the dots between sustainability and financial performance. Our plan is a manifest demonstration of this. For example, we know there is going to be a carbon tax within 10 years, and we want to be ready for that. And it makes sense today, consumers are becoming increasingly climate conscious—impacting purchase decisions.”

It was a short period of time between when Jope first raised this issue with his board of directors on November 19, 2020, it was approved on December 14, with the public announcement the same day. When asked why he raised this issue with his board, Jope explained that he had been hearing talk about such an idea, including from activist hedge fund manager Sir Christopher Hohn in his “Say on Climate” initiative through his Children’s Investment Fund Foundation. Jope thought developing a climate transition plan and putting it to a shareholder vote was a good idea and wanted to be proactive about it with his shareholders. When asked how his directors reacted to the suggestion, Jope replied “Extremely positively. They asked for a specific proposal at the next board meeting.”

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