Consumer Goods Leaders Reaffirm Sustainability as Central to Business Strategy
Friday, February 6, 2026
Consumer goods leaders from around the world expressed steadfastness in their commitment to sustainability action, which is generating tangible value at The Consumer Goods Forum’s Sustainable Retail Summit at Paris.
Bringing together 250 industry leaders and sustainability experts from 100 companies across more than 30 countries, the event explored how the sector is moving decisively from ambition to implementation, with speakers highlighting practical ways to embed sustainability into core business strategy.
Ken Murphy, Group CEO, Tesco told attendees, “We need to find a way to make sustainability commercially viable and compelling for consumers, businesses and partners, because otherwise sustainability will not be sustainable. Industry-wide collaboration will be critical to accelerating the business benefits of sustainability at scale.”
Antoine de Saint-Affrique, CEO, Danone said, “The name of the game is to make sustainability sustainable by making it part of the fabric of the business.”
Themed “From Innovation to Impact: Scaling Solutions for People & Planet”, the event saw leaders sharing insights and inspiring examples of progress across three days of discussion from 3rd-5th February.
Speakers stressed that climate and nature have become defining strategic considerations for the consumer goods sector. Companies are embedding decarbonisation, nature-positive sourcing and regenerative agriculture into core business planning to secure supply, manage risk and protect long-term enterprise value.
Biodiversity was positioned not only as an environmental priority but as a future-proofing asset, essential for stable ecosystems, resilient raw-material chains and sustained commercial growth.
Other themes explored Data, AI, risk management etc.
Perspective
Sustainability in consumer products is a critical issue, as it contributes a large share to carbonisation and ecological destruction. It's essential that consumer products are made with sustainable material using sustainable processes. This is a very large challenge that needs to be tackled seriously.
