‘Courage creates a more sustainable and more equitable future’

Net positive businesses

‘I think the challenges that we're facing are quite familiar to everybody by now’, Paul Polman states. ‘We have discovered that we can't have infinite growth on a finite planet. This year, Earth Overshoot Day, in which mankind used up more resources than the world can regenerate in a year, was July 29 – which means that after that day we were stealing from future generations. We're living well beyond the planetary boundaries. And COVID-19 has pointed out to us once more, the enormous price that we're paying for that.

Our argument with the book Net Positive that I co-wrote, is that especially the private sector needs to step up. We want to build a movement of net positive businesses that are giving more to the world than they take. After all, none of the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals can be achieved without the private sector, which is currently about 65 per cent of the economy.’

Takeaways from COP26

Viviana Voorwald: ‘You’ve attended the first week of COP26 in Glasgow. What is your key takeaway?’

Polman: ‘Encouragement, I would say, is my main takeaway. The one and a half degrees objective is still alive. We will have the one-hundred-billion-dollar climate financing as of next year. We now have a critical mass of businesses working together. In fact, twenty per cent of companies already have science-based targets to be net zero, and that number is rapidly increasing.

But here's the problem: I would argue that some of these commitments in Glasgow won’t be implemented, some of them are duplications, perhaps. So we're still hovering around two degrees. And even one and a half degrees, if you read the science, is a very precarious situation to be in. And then the second part of the problem is that we’re really missing the point that this is an exponential issue. It requires, for example, investments in solar and wind at six times the rate that we're currently doing. And it requires selling electric vehicles at twenty times the rate that we're currently doing.’

Transform at three levels

Voorwald: ‘I talk about ESG to quite a lot of clients. And I think for many of them, it's no longer a question that action is needed. But I see many boards struggling with how to do it.’

Polman: ‘The transformation is needed at three levels: the personal level, the organizational level, and the system level. Our book actually helps you go through that process. Personal leadership starts with listening to all of your stakeholders, understanding what the issues are out there. Once you identify what the real issues are, net positive companies need to take responsibility for their total impact on society, for all consequences, intended or not. Many companies take responsibility for only scope one and two – I saw PwC committing to doing scope three as well, congratulations.

And then you need to start to work on this change process with transparent measures for your organization in order to ultimately change your industry's larger system too. Ensure you set courageous targets on what it takes to win, not what it takes to not fail. These targets might feel a little stretching, you might not have all the answers, but that’s the courageous part. What we're trying to do with this book Net Positive, is help companies end up being on the right side of history. We think that this is probably the biggest economic opportunity ever in front of us. So, belong to the smart ones that position themselves well, to be that force that creates a more sustainable, more equitable future.’

Helping clients and society

Renate de Lange: ‘What do you think the role of PwC should be, in helping society to become net positive?’

Polman: ‘Obviously, you need to be sure that you walk the talk and not just walk the walk. That’s increasingly becoming a hygiene factor. And I think PwC as a company, understands that very well. You’ve made certain commitments and truly embarked on the journey. Next, what I talk about in the book, you can extend your reach to scope four, five and six. Let me give an example from Unilever. We were the first to issue green bonds and said we’ll only work with banks that don't lend to illegal deforestation, that don't finance coal, and so on. This extended Unilever's reach and responsibility and drove change indirectly.

Where PwC, like other companies, can have the biggest impact, is in helping the client base. This starts with setting standards regarding whom you want to work with and under what conditions. PwC should be bold in selecting which clients they work with -  those that contribute positively to change - so that you are on the right side of the equation.  Working with the right clients can be an incredible motivational multiplier, especially since PwC works with nearly every company in the world.’

Diversity and inclusiveness

De Lange: ‘We discussed the environmental impact of companies, the E of ESG. What are your thoughts on the S of social, more specifically diversity and inclusiveness?’

Polman: ‘We have the hard data that more inclusive organizations are actually better performing organizations. And that's not surprising, if you only know that the biggest scarcity that we have right now is talent. Creating these inclusive environments where each and everyone can rise to their fullest potential, where dignity and respect and equity is given to all human beings, is nearly a prerequisite.

I would like to make one specific plea. This world has 1.3 billion people with disabilities, that's fifteen per cent of the world’s population. But only three or four percent of the workforce has disabilities. And that’s in good companies, in many others less. There are these myths that disabled people are less productive, less loyal, more costly: this must stop. If we don't include people with disabilities, we cannot call ourselves inclusive. I chair The Valuable 500, which is an organisation where we want to get the five-hundred largest companies to discuss disability at the board level. We don't want to change the name of the group, but we do want all of the 48 million companies in the world to sign up.’

Lottery ticket of life

De Lange: ‘In your book you stress the importance of being courageous many times. What advice would you give our audience as a final note, to ignite a little bit of the courage needed to make change happen?’

Polman: ‘Most of the participants in the webcast, I assume, are in the Netherlands. I was lucky to be born in the Netherlands. My father was deprived of his high school years because of the war. He worked hard and worked himself up. We were at home with six children. Fortunately, we had a bar of soap at home, so I didn't die of infectious diseases before the age of five, like four million other children. We also had enough to eat at home, unlike the 160 million that still go to bed hungry everyday. And then I got free education from the Dutch government. That's probably why I'm able to talk to you.

I simply won the lottery ticket of life by being born in the Netherlands. And I think most of you are in the same situation, belonging to about five per cent of the world's population. So, here’s my simple message: if you belong to that five per cent, it is your duty to put yourself to the service of the other 95 per cent.’