Ref. Ares(2019)6822473 - 04/11/2019
Ref. Ares(2020)5419146 - 12/10/2020
Mr. Frans Timmermans
Executive Vice-President Designate for the European Green Deal
The European Commission
Ingka Group
xxxxx.xxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx
Unilever
Brussels, 4 November 2019
Dear Executive Vice-President Timmermans,
Subject: Our joint support to the European Green Deal
We were very inspired by the discussions on a New Green Deal for Europe during the United
Nations General Assembly Week in New York and building on our individual exchanges we
would like to jointly voice our support to help the EU achieve its climate neutrality ambition.
Putting sustainability at the heart of government, business and everyone’s day to day lives
is the biggest opportunity of our lifetime. We are very encouraged by the ambitions of the
European Commission and the different workstreams unveiled under the European Green
Deal.
We both know that business can be a force for good and the only way to grow is to grow
sustainably. As leaders of global companies driving transformative agendas to embed
sustainability in our businesses, we fully agree with the need to step up Europe´s global
leadership role on climate and green growth. We are committed to inspiring others to join
the movement with ambitious targets.
We are very different businesses, but we have a lot in common when it comes to climate
and sustainability. We both have the ambition to become climate neutral by 2030, notably
through a shift towards 100% renewable energy, and are both signatories of the ‘
We Mean
Business Coalition’ which aims to encourage business leaders to tackle climate change.