CEO Breakfast:
Net-Zero Action
SBTi and UN Global Compact NL convene corporate leaders from eight Dutch companies to accelerate climate action through science-based net-zero targets.
By UN Global Compact NL
16.10.2025, 07:00
Leusden, October 15, 2025 - Eight leading Dutch companies have underscored their commitment to the Net-Zero Targets of the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) during a CEO breakfast in Leusden.
Their commitment showcases the continued strategic prioritization of climate action by businesses in supporting efforts to limit global warming to 1.5°C, also in challenging times. The urgency for corporate climate action has never been stronger. The 2025 IPCC report underscores the urgent need for rapid emission reductions and highlights significant challenges for businesses. Climate change is leading to more extreme heat, floods, and droughts with increasing economic losses from climate impacts.
SBTi acts as a compass, guiding companies to keep their climate ambitions firmly on a science-based course. The revised Corporate Net-Zero Standard will accelerate decarbonisation through practical and economically sensible actions. Business challenges for sustainability lay in embedding sustainability in both customer and supplier engagement and education, in organizing pre-competitive collaboration within and across sectors, and in policy advocacy to create a commercially viable and sustainable level playing field.
This year’s CEO Breakfast was hosted by Merei Wagenaar, Executive Director of UN Global Compact Network Netherlands, moderated by Marjolein Demmers, Director of Natuur & Milieu, with expert guest speaker David Kennedy, CEO of SBTi.
The breakfast session emphasised the need for urgent and collaborative action across sectors. The participating companies - Verstegen Spices & Sauces, Royal Ahrend, Total Care (CSU, Tzorg, Zizo), BDO, Lipton Teas and Infusions, Farmel Dairy Products, KPN, and DMN-WESTINGHOUSE - reaffirmed their commitment to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.
“We try to educate in our supply chain to create an ecosystem environment with the same thinking and approach in sustainability.”
This year’s CEO Breakfast emphasized the shift from merely Net-Zero commitments to setting Net-Zero Targets backed by climate science with implementing actionable business strategies. The discussions centered around overcoming challenges in operationalizing these goals and creating real-world solutions to achieve them.
Key Highlights
1) The business case for Net-Zero remains strong in a carbon constraint world because less carbon intensive business makes business sense.
2) Where sustainability was not on the table, customers, investors, lenders and younger employees have started asking about the footprint and it is now on the agenda and there to stay.
3) Collective commitment to integrating Net-Zero Targets in business strategy and the global value chain with 11,000 companies with SBTi commitments and targets globally keeping course in corporate climate action.
4) SBTi acts as a compass, guiding companies to keep their climate ambitions firmly on a science-based course. The revised Corporate Net-Zero Standard will accelerate decarbonisation through practical and economically sensible actions.
5) Embedding sustainability and Net-Zero in supplier engagement and education
6) Companies can either be very small and have nothing to say as a customer or the supplier is too small and doesn’t know what to do with sustainability requirements. We need a holistic approach to suppliers with social and environmental guidance and focus on long-term relationships building trust and quality.
About the CEO Breakfast
The annual SBTi Net Zero CEO Breakfast recognises courageous business leadership with Net Zero Commitments and Targets with Science based Targets initiative (SBTi). This CEO Breakfast is organised by UN Global Compact Network Netherlands and SBTi. This fourth CEO Breakfast is preceded by three editions where 28 companies committed to Net Zero in 2021, 2023, and 2024.
"At LIPTON Teas and Infusions, strengthening the climate resilience of tea growing and our own business goes hand-in-hand. The validation of our targets by the Science Based Targets initiative reaffirms that our ambition is both credible and grounded in the latest climate science.
Our long-term target of achieving Net-Zero across our value chain by 2040, guides our decarbonisation journey and inspires us to work together with our partners to accelerate collective climate action across the tea value chain."
Ayca Aksoy Bora - Head of ESG Program Lipton Teas and Infusions
“At BDO Netherlands, our commitment to Net-Zero is not just a climate target - it’s a strategic imperative. We believe that true progress begins with accountability, and that’s why we’ve chosen to align our climate goals with the Science-Based Targets initiative.
We see Net-Zero not as a finish line, but as a transformation, towards transparency, resilience, and long-term value. And we’re proud to stand alongside other Dutch organizations who share this ambition and have taken the step to validate their targets.
Together, we can accelerate the shift to a climate-positive economy.”
Chris van den Haak - Partner, Chairman of BDO Sustainability
Practical information
For press inquiries, please contact:
Leonine Brunink - brunink@unglobalcompact.nl and
Firas Abdulhasain - Abdulhasain@unglobalcompact.nl
About the UN Global Compact
The UN Global Compact Network Netherlands (NL), based in The Hague, is the Netherlands country network of the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative. The network serves as a catalyst for ambitious businesses committed to upholding the Ten Principles and advancing the Sustainable Development Goals, Initially launched in 2007 and operating as an independent organization since 2023.
Through a diverse range of programmes, online learning, and events, the network aims to foster meaningful partnerships and empower organisations across the Netherlands to amplify their positive impact and drive sustainable change.
About SBTi
The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) is incorporated as a charity. SBTi partners are CDP, the United Nations Global Compact, the We Mean Business Coalition, the World Resources Institute (WRI), and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).