Unilever’s new boss said he plans to dilute several of the group’s previous ESG goals, including the amount of plastic the food and household products giant uses.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Hein Schumacher said some targets would be relaxed to “drive performance”.
Up to now, Unilever has been one of the most visible proponents of ESG values among FTSE 100 companies, something that has prompted fierce criticism from some shareholders.
In 2023 Terry Smith, the founder of fund manager Fundsmith, slammed the group for “virtue-signalling” in its use of purpose-driven marketing.
At the time, Unilever said its 400 or so brands were “on a mission to do good”.
Now it seems Smith is getting his wish and performance and profits are the new mantra.
Before Schumacher took over, Unilever had a goal to halve its use of virgin plastics by 2025.
Now the Dove, Persil and Sure maker says it will reduce virgin plastic use by 30% by 2026 and by 40% by 2028.
Each 10% cut is worth around 100,000 tonnes of new plastic each year, according to Bloomberg.
A goal to ensure all its packaging was recyclable, reusable, or compostable has been pushed back from 2025 to 2030 for rigid plastics and 2035 for flexible plastics.
Other changes include dropping a £2 billion spend on diverse businesses globally by 2025 and a vow that by then 5% of its staff will be people with disabilities.
Unilever said the majority of wider green goals remain in place, including a commitment to 25% recycled plastic in its packaging by 2025 and by then to recycle plastic more than it sells.
Schumacher told Bloomberg: "On plastics, you need governments, you need retailers, you need partners in the petrochemical industry. You need recycling systems that match."
Schumacher also defended his predecessors’ ambitions.
"That was probably right at the time, but I have to now bring it back to something that I feel we can all really deliver on. I need to drive performance in the company."
Elsewhere, shareholders in Kit Kat maker Nestle voted out a resolution to make its products more healthy.
Simon Rawson, the deputy chief executive of ShareAction, which put forward the motion, commented: "While the majority of shareholders did not support the resolution, we hope that it has encouraged them to think about the public health impacts of their investments.
“While the vote we achieved today may be less than we wanted, the direction of travel is clear. Investors and consumers are recognising the importance of addressing the business risks and public health impacts of an industry that is heavily reliant on the sales of unhealthy food."
Unilever shares rose by 0.6% to 3,791p.