“C.K. Prahalad literally defined what it means to ‘do well by doing good’ in business – inspiring me, and many others, to embed sustainability into core business strategies,” said Neil Hawkins, Dow’s Vice President of Sustainability and EH&S.
New York City, New York (PRWEB) June 25, 2012
The Corporate Eco Forum (CEF) this evening presented the 2012 C.K. Prahalad Awards in three categories for the first time since the award’s inception in 2010, with honors for sustainability leadership by an individual (Neil Hawkins of Dow Chemical), a collaboration (The Sustainable Apparel Coalition), and a company (Unilever and its CEO Paul Polman). Former U.S. President Bill Clinton congratulated the three winners in a special video prepared for the awards ceremony, which was attended by Prahalad family members and over 200 senior executives representing CEF member companies with combined revenues of over $3 trillion.
Unilever and its CEO Paul Polman were honored for matching a bold vision of “long-term capitalism” with equally impressive action. “Unilever under Paul Polman’s leadership is a true pioneer of emerging ‘next practices’ in the private sector,” said CEF founder MR Rangaswami. The company’s Sustainable Living Plan sets out ambitious goals for 2020 that build on a long history of commitment and action on corporate sustainability issues including: halving the company’s overall environmental imprint, helping over one billion people take action to improve their health and well-being, and sourcing 100% of its agricultural raw materials sustainably. Polman said: “We are very honored to receive this award in the name of C.K. Prahalad, a man who did so much throughout his career to promote more responsible, inclusive and equitable forms of capitalism, which the world needs now more than ever. C.K. understood that any system in which too many people feel excluded is not going to last. Our own Unilever Sustainable Living Plan owes much of its thinking to the insights he brought to bear, including his strong belief that it is always better to innovate with low income consumers and not for low income consumers. That is the way to build the inclusive and sustainable business models of the future.”
The Sustainable Apparel Coalition was recognized for its pioneering efforts to unite the world’s apparel and footwear companies around a shared vision to reduce environmental harm and have a positive impact on communities. The Coalition is developing an Index to measure the environmental and social performance of apparel and footwear products across the value chain. Since its 2011 launch, the Coalition has grown to include companies representing over one third of the world’s apparel and footwear industry. Coalition member companies in attendance and highlighted for their special contributions included Patagonia, Nike, Hanesbrands, Kohl’s, and Timberland. “The Coalition is moving with a pace and on a scale that is enviable for business leaders in other sectors and offers the world a powerful new model for 21st century value chain collaboration,” said P.J. Simmons, CEF Executive Director and co-author of The Green to Gold Business Playbook. “We are honored to be recognized by CEF for the leadership and collaborative spirit that exists within the Sustainable Apparel Coalition,” said Jason Kibbey, Executive Director of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition. “The apparel industry is changing rapidly, and members of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition are working together to make sure it grows sustainably and responsibly.”
Neil Hawkins, Vice President of Sustainability and Environment, Health & Safety at The Dow Chemical Company, was honored for a long track record of exceptional sustainability leadership within and outside of his company. His most recent standout achievement was forging a breakthrough collaboration with The Nature Conservancy to help Dow and other companies recognize, value, and incorporate nature’s services into global business goals, decisions and strategies. “Neil is one of the unsung heroes in the corporate sustainability profession and his peers tell us he is generous with his knowledge and experience,” said MR Rangaswami. “C.K. Prahalad literally defined what it means to ‘do well by doing good’ in business – inspiring me, and many others, to embed sustainability into core business strategies,” said Neil Hawkins, Dow’s Vice President of Sustainability and EH&S. “I’m honored and humbled to be recognized with this award. At Dow, we are committed to driving innovations and collaborations that deliver value for business, society and the planet.”
The C.K. Prahalad Award was created to honor the vision and life’s work of the late Dr. C.K. Prahalad, one of the world’s most influential business strategists. Towards the end of his illustrious career, Prahalad focused his enormous talent on the link between sustainability and long-term business success. In a 2009 Harvard Business Review cover story he co-authored with CEF founder MR Rangaswami, Prahalad argued that over the next decade “traditional approaches to business will collapse, and companies will have to develop innovative solutions. That will only happen when executives recognize a simple truth: Sustainability equals Innovation.” Dr. Prahalad was a senior adviser to the Corporate Eco Forum before his untimely death in 2010.
The Prahalad Awards were presented at The Ritz Carlton Battery Park in New York City during the Gala Dinner of the 5th Anniversary Annual Meeting of the Corporate Eco Forum. The CEF Annual Meeting is bringing together more than 200 senior executives from companies that represent 18 different industries and combined revenues of over $3 trillion to focus on defining “Breaking Barriers and Forging New Ground” in corporate sustainability during two days of discussions and working sessions.
VIDEO PROFILING THE WINNERS
http://www.corporateecoforum.com/PrahaladAwards2012
CONTACT: MR Rangaswami, Founder, Corporate Eco Forum 415-516-5857 mr(at)corporateecoforum(dot)com
ABOUT THE CORPORATE ECO FORUM (CEF)
The Corporate Eco Forum (CEF) is an elite, invitation-only membership organization comprised largely of Fortune and Global 500 companies from 20 industries with combined revenues of over $3 trillion. The CEF Annual Meeting, named by Catchpole research in 2010 as one of the "Top 10 Sustainability Forums Worldwide," is designed to create the best neutral space for VP and C-level executives to exchange leading-edge insights.
ABOUT THE C.K. PRAHALAD GLOBAL SUSTAINABILITY LEADERSHIP AWARD
The C.K. Prahalad Global Sustainability Leadership Award was created by the Corporate Eco Forum (CEF) in 2010 to recognize exceptional individuals and companies—within or outside the CEF membership—whose work exemplifies the fundamental connection between sustainability, innovation and long-term business success in a globalizing world. Prahalad Awards winners are determined through secret ballot votes cast by CEF’s 19-member advisory board, which includes representatives from government, academia, non-governmental organizations and the private sector. The voters chose from a roster of finalists, selected following an open nominations process on the CEF Web site. The inaugural 2010 Award went to Walmart Brazil and CEO Hector Nuñez for brokering historic sustainability supply chain commitments to help protect Amazon ecosystems. In 2011, the Award went to Coca-Cola and CEO Muhtar Kent for galvanizing international environmental leadership -- including helping catalyze 450 members of the Consumer Goods Forum to pledge net zero deforestation by 2020 in procurement-- as well as the company's comprehensive efforts to embed sustainability into core business strategy. Nominees for the 2013 Prahalad Award will be accepted beginning November 1, 2012 at http://www.corporateecoforum.com. A full list of eligible voters can be found at http://www.corporateecoforum.com/conference/advisory_board.php.
CEF Members
3M, Air Products, Alcoa, American Express, ArcelorMittal, Boeing, BP, Cargill, CA Technologies, CBRE, CH2M Hill, Chevron, Cisco, The Clorox Company, Coca-Cola, Darden Restaurants, Dell, Deloitte, Deutsche Bank, Dow Chemical, Duke Energy, Ecolab, Enterprise Holdings, Ernst & Young, FedEx, Fidelity Investments, Ford Motor, Gamesa, GE, General Motors, Google, Grubb & Ellis, Hanesbrands, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Ingersoll Rand, International Paper, Intuit, Johnson & Johnson, The Jones Group, Kaiser Permanente, Kimberly-Clark, Kohl's, KPMG, LANXESS, Lockheed Martin, Marriott, McKinsey & Co., Microsoft, Motorola Solutions, News Corporation, Nike, Northrop Grumman, Oracle, Patagonia, PG&E, Procter & Gamble, Sabre, Sanmina-SCI, SAP, Siemens, Sony Pictures, SunGard, Sybase, Symantec, Tata Consultancy Services, Tiffany & Co., Timberland, TPG Capital, Transocean, Unilever, UPS, Veolia Water, The Walt Disney Company, Waste Management, Wells Fargo, Weyerhaeuser, and Xerox
###
We're here to help.
Call 1-866-640-6397
©Copyright 1997-, Vocus PRW Holdings, LLC.
Vocus, PRWeb, and Publicity Wire are trademarks or registered trademarks of Vocus, Inc. or Vocus PRW Holdings, LLC.
