"Unilever confirms it has quit BusinessEurope lobby group", 22 Aug 2014

Consumer products giant Unilever has ended its membership of BusinessEurope, hinting at tensions over the lobby group's stance on environmental policies and sustainability issues. A Unilever spokeswoman told BusinessGreen the company has ended its direct BusinessEurope membership in favour of working more closely with "likeminded" companies...The move will further fuel speculation that BusinessEurope's lobbying against a host of European environmental and climate change policies has put it at odds with some of its members. Last year, a number of green companies found themselves inadvertedly backing calls from BusinessEurope to dilute EU environmental targets planned for post 2020...Unilever's decision to quit BusinessEurope comes after UN climate secretariat chief Christiana Figueres urged green businesses to take action on climate change, rather than relying on "wishy washy" lobbying campaigns from trade associations...A BusinessEurope spokesman declined to comment on the decision, saying only that it was for individual companies to choose whether they wanted to renew their membership.