2023考研英语：《经济学人》中英读译Day95

What is the purpose of a company?For some, the answer is simple: to make as much money for shareholders as the law permits.But many modern companies take a much broader view.They argue that business should also serve workers, consumers and society at large, and that profit should not be pursued at the expense of the environment or social justice.One figurehead of this movement, dubbed sustainable capitalism, is Paul Polman, ex-chief executive of Unilever, the consumer-goods giant.In that role he unveiled Unilever’s sustainable-living plan, which made commitments to cut its environmental footprint by half and help a billion people improve their health.Together with Andrew Winston, a writer, he has produced a book on his approach, defining “net positive”, the catchphrase of the title, as “a business that improves well-being for everyone it impacts and at all scales”.Such grand statements attract criticism from both the right and the left.

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公司存在的目的是什么？对一些人来说，答案很简单：在法律允许的范围内为股东们赚取尽可能多的钱。但许多现代公司的视野要宽广得多。他们认为，企业也应该服务于工人、消费者和整个社会，不应该以牺牲环境或社会正义为代价来追求利润。消费品巨头联合利华的前首席执行官保罗·波尔曼是这场被称为可持续资本主义的运动的一位名义领袖。在担任首席官期间，他公布了联合利华的可持续生活计划，该计划承诺将其环境足迹减少一半，并帮助10亿人改善健康状况。他与作家安德鲁·温斯顿合著了一本关于他的方法的书，将书名中的流行词“净正数”定义为“一种在所有方面为其影响到的每个人改善福祉的商业模式”。这种自视高贵的言论招致了左右两派的批评。

Conservatives disdain the philosophy as “woke capitalism”, which wastes shareholders’ money on gestures that make executives feel good about themselves; left-wing critics view it as a smokescreen that allows businesses to keep raking in profits by misleading consumers.It doesn’t help that advocates of sustainable capitalism are overly fond of acronyms and jargon.This book is no exception, containing phrases such as “leverage the company’s DNA to serve stakeholders better”.But it distinguishes itself by detailing the many practical steps that Unilever took while Mr Polman was in charge, as well as the difficulties the company faced and the progress yet to be made.For example, it achieved the goal of paying all its direct employees a living wage by 2020, then set about requiring all its suppliers to do the same by 2030.The aim of ensuring that all agricultural inputs came from sustainable sources by 2020 proved too difficult, not least because it was hard to define what “sustainable” meant in this context.

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保守派鄙视这种哲学，称其为“觉醒的资本主义”，即把股东的钱浪费在让高管自我感觉良好的行为表现上；左翼批评人士认为这是障眼法，使企业通过误导消费者来持续获取利润。可持续资本主义的倡导者过分喜欢用缩略语和行话，这可帮不上什么忙。这本书也不例外，书中包含有“利用公司的DNA更好地服务于股东”这样的语句。但这本书的独特之处在于，它详细说明了联合利华在波尔曼掌管期间采取的许多实际措施，以及该公司面临的困难和尚未取得的进展。例如，联合利华实现了在2020年之前向所有直属员工支付生活工资的目标，然后开始要求所有供应商在2030年之前也做到这一点。事实证明，确保到2020年所有农业投入都来自可持续来源的目标过于困难，尤其是因为很难界定在这一背景下的“可持续”意味着什么。

Mr Polman says tough targets force managers to come up with innovative solutions.Lack of ambition is a fault, in his telling.“If a goal is not making you uncomfortable,” he advises, “it’s not aggressive enough.”Aiming to get only 60% of energy from renewable sources, for instance, implies that 40% will involve climate-changing gases.And there were successes.Unilever managed to reduce its carbon emissions by 65% in manufacturing, while sending zero waste to landfill.Mr Polman points out that these programmes have helped the company save 733m euros ($851m) in energy costs since 2008.It also achieved gender parity in management.

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波尔曼表示，苛刻的目标迫使管理者想出创新的解决方案。根据他的说法，缺乏野心是一个错误。“如果一个目标没有让你感到不舒服，”他建议说，“那它就不足以激发你的斗志。”例如，如果目标只是60%的能源来自可再生能源，这就意味着其中40%将涉及导致气候变化的气体。也有成功的案例。联合利华成功地将其生产制造过程中的碳排放量减少了65%，同时实现了零垃圾填埋。波尔曼指出，自2008年以来，这些项目帮助公司节省了7.33亿欧元(8.51亿美元)的能源成本。它还实现了管理层的性别平等。

All this meant that the company’s financial performance was strong enough for it to fight off a takeover bid from Kraft Heinz in 2017.Its survival, in Mr Polman’s view, was because of its commitment to sustainability, not despite it.Take Lifebuoy soap, one of its oldest brands.An initiative that focused on the health benefits of handwashing in developing countries boosted sales.But a study also showed that the scheme reduced cases of diarrhoea, acute respiratory infections and eye infections among participating Indian families.Cynics might sneer that Unilever was motivated by profit.But no one who reads this book can doubt the sincerity of Mr Polman’s belief that capitalism and good works can be combined.

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所有这些都意味着该公司的财务表现足够强劲，足以击退卡夫亨氏2017年的收购要约。在波尔曼看来，公司能生存下来是因为致力于可持续发展，而不是无视它。以该公司历史最悠久的品牌之一卫宝香皂为例。一项目标在发展中国家宣传洗手对健康有益的倡议提高了销量。但一项研究也表明，该计划减少了参与其中的印度家庭的腹泻、急性呼吸道感染和眼部感染病例。愤世嫉俗的人可能会嘲讽称联合利华这么做的动机是利润。但任何读过这本书的人都不会怀疑波尔曼的真诚，他相信资本主义和善行可以融合在一起。