9 June 2010

3 minute read

South America

The Corporate Eco Forum (CEF) has awarded Walmart Brazil and its CEO, Hector Nunez, the inaugural C.K. Prahalad Award for Global Sustainability Leadership for their historic work to preserve the Amazon. Mr Nunez accepted the award last night (8 June) during the Gala Dinner at the 3rd Annual Meeting of the Corporate Eco Forum.

M.R. Rangaswami, founder of the Corporate Eco Forum, said: "By taking extraordinary action to protect the Amazon, Walmart Brazil and Hector Nunez have carved out a place in history as both pioneering environmentalists and savvy business strategists.

"We created the Prahalad Award to honour the companies and individuals who best demonstrate that sustainability is the key driver of innovation. We can and must do a better job of integrating the principles of sustainability into core business strategy and Walmart Brazil, under Hector Nunez's leadership, has proven that it is not only possible, it is also smart business."

In June 2009, Walmart Brazil convened a Sustainability Summit to introduce new mandates across their supply chain to protect the Amazon. At the Summit, Walmart Brazil announced historic plans to address some of the thorniest environmental and social problems in the world. Walmart Brazil will now ensure that its supply chain uses: no companies that employ slave labour; no soybeans sourced from illegally deforested areas; and no beef sourced from any newly cleared Amazonian land. The new mandates also call for a 70 per cent reduction in phosphates in detergent and a 50 per cent reduction in plastic bags by 2013.

Walmart Brazil recruited the presidents of the Brazilian operations of 20 major suppliers, including Cargill, Johnson & Johnson, Kimberly Clark, The Coca-Cola Company, 3M, Diageo, P&G and Sara Lee, to sign an agreement on-stage at the Summit to meet these goals. The Brazilian Minister of the Environment and the head of Greenpeace in Brazil both spoke at the Summit and congratulated Walmart Brazil for its aggressive leadership.

The Prahalad Award was created to honour the vision and life's work of the late Dr C.K. Prahalad, a master of business strategy and a champion of the poor. Dr Prahalad popularised the notion that companies could 'do well by doing good' and towards the end of his career, he focused his enormous talent on integrating sustainability firmly into the private sector. Dr Prahalad was a senior adviser to the Corporate Eco Forum before his untimely death earlier this year.

The Prahalad Award was presented to Mr Nunez by Tom Lovejoy, the world-renowned conservation biologist who first coined the term 'biological diversity'. The presentation took place at the Asian Art Museum during the Gala Dinner of the 3rd Annual Meeting of the Corporate Eco Forum. The theme of the dinner was 'What is 'Next Practice' in Sustainability?' Speakers at the dinner included Lord Michael Hastings (Global Head of Citizenship and Diversity with KPMG International), Mindy Lubber (President of Ceres) and Glenn Prickett (Chief External Affairs Officer for The Nature Conservancy)

The Corporate Eco Forum's 3rd Annual Meeting brought together more than 200 senior executives from 75 companies with combined revenues of over US$3 trillion to focus exclusively on environmental sustainability during two days of discussions and working sessions.

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