Featuring 2013 Commitment to Development Award Honoree
Paul Polman
Chief Executive Officer
Unilever
Remarks By
Benjamin Pauker
Managing Editor
Foreign Policy Magazine
Hosted By
Nancy Birdsall
Founding President
Center for Global Development
On the evening of Tuesday, February 11th, 2014, the Center for Global Development and Foreign Policy Magazine honored Unilever CEO Paul Polman with the 2013 Commitment to Development "Ideas in Action" Award.
Polman has been an outspoken and effective advocate for reducing tropical deforestation associated with the production of consumer goods across the industry. He has also been active in nutrition promotion and as a participant in high-level UN discussions on the post-2015 development goals. Polman is the Chairman of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, a CEO-led organization of companies dedicated to creating a sustainable future for business and society; a member of the B Team, a group of global business leaders dedicated to making business a driving force for social and environmental benefit in addition to economic; and a member of the Scaling Up Nutrition Movement, a consortium of governments, organizations, and individuals working towards ending hunger and malnutrition.
The Commitment to Development Award, bestowed annually since 2003, honors an individual or organization for making a significant contribution to changing attitudes and policies of the rich and powerful toward the developing world. Previous recipients include US Senator Richard Lugar (2012), Geeta Rao Gupta (2011), The ONE Campaign (2008), and Gordon Brown (2005). More information about the Award and a full list of previous winners is available here.
