The Guardian’s online Sustainable Business leadership hub recently recognized 16 global sustainability leaders, including the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) President Peter Bakker and WBCSD Chairman and Unilever CEO Paul Polman.

The Guardian’s ranking also includes two WBCSD member company leaders, namely DSM CEO Feike Sijbesmaand Coca Cola Chief Sustainability Officer Bea Perez. All sixteen leaders on the Guardian’s list are credited for seeking transformational change and driving the sustainability agenda.

WBCSD President Peter Bakker was chosen for, “shaking up the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, telling members to shape up or ship out, and being instrumental in creating broad collaborations, rather than trying to "own" initiatives.”

WBCSD Chairman Polman was included on the list for, “his intense energy and fierce commitment, his focus on the world's poor, as well as his ability to integrate the many aspects of sustainability, from climate change and deforestation to nutrition and agriculture, and therefore having a truly holistic worldview.”

DSM CEO Feike Sijbesma made the list for, “recognising that new business approaches are essential if we are going to drive transformational change and being prepared to stand up in public and voice this at a time when many other CEOs are focusing on the short term and are too scared to put their heads above the parapet.”

And Coca Cola Chief Sustainability Officer Bea Perez was recognized for, “integrating strength with vulnerability, which includes talking about issues in a way that goes well beyond what her PR advisers would want. Also for seeking to follow Unilever's example by pushing for an integration of the company's marketing function with sustainability, in order that the company starts confronting the duality of trying to do good one day and creating harm the next.”

Other key WBCSD collaborators recognized on the Guardian’s list include Andrew Steer, President and CEO of World Resources Institute; Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change; Achim Steiner, Head of the UN Environment Programme; Georg Kell, Head of the UN Global Compact; and Rachel Kyte, Head of Climate Change at the World Bank.

Read the full article on the Guardian’s global ranking of 16 global sustainability leaders.