Unilever Chief Sustainability Officer Rebecca Marmot steps down

Unilever’s Rebecca Marmot has left her role as Chief Sustainability Officer after nearly 20 years at the company.

She announced the move on Linkedin today (November 4), adding that she has handed over the reins to Michael Stewart, who joined in September as Chief Corporate Affairs and Communications Officer. Unilever didn’t immediately respond to CSO Futures’ request to know whether the Chief Sustainability Officer role had been eliminated.

Marmot joined Unilever in 2007 as Global Vice President of Sustainability after having led external affairs at L’Oréal for around three years. She was appointed Chief Sustainability Officer in 2019, then Chief Sustainability and Corporate Affairs Officer in January this year.

Marmot led sustainability under four Unilever CEOs

She led Unilever’s sustainable living strategy under four CEOs. “Thank you to Paul Polman who was the talisman for corporate sustainability, Alan Jope who further embedded sustainability across the business and inspired our brands, Hein Schumacher who brought a refined focus and refreshed strategy and now Fernando Fernandez who is empowering our teams to grow the business with the best brands and execution,” she said.

Marmot left the company to “embark on a new opportunity” but hasn’t revealed any details about her upcoming role.

“I’ve had the chance to work with Governments, investors, NGO’s, retailers, farmers and many more inspirational and interesting partners. From the genesis of the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan through to today, it has been an incredible experience,” she added.

Unilever’s change in sustainability strategy

Two years ago, Unilever’s then CEO Hein Schumacher led a radical refocus of the company’s sustainability as well as broader corporate strategy, suggesting that “thinly spread” efforts were partly responsible for underperformance.

Now, new CEO Fernando Fernandez expects underlying sales growth for 2025 to be between 3% and 5%, reflecting “continued strength in developed markets and improving performance in emerging markets”.

“We continue to anticipate an improvement in underlying operating margin for the full year, with second half margins of at least 18.5% (or at least 19.5% excluding Ice Cream), a significant improvement versus the second half of 2024,” the company said in its Q3 results announcement.