The United Nations Global Compact

The United Nations Global Compact is the world’s largest corporate responsibility initiative with some 8,000business and a further 3000 civil society and other stakeholder signatories in more than 140 countries, embracing over 100 Local Networks. Participating companies, involving some 50 million employees, commit to align business operations and strategies with ten universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption, as well as to take actions in support of broader United Nations goals such as the Millennium Development Goals. Launched in 2000, the mission of the UN Global Compact is to advance the practice of corporate sustainability globally, recognizing that responsible business actions can underpin economies with values essential for more sustainable and inclusive growth. Companies participating in the UN Global Compact are taking steps to respect and support human rights, ensure decent workplace conditions, safeguard and restore the environment, enact good corporate governance and fight against corruption. They are then committed to reporting publicly on their progress. They are also moving into innovation and new opportunity spaces that drive business and investor success while delivering societal value, for example helping to lift people out of poverty through social enterprise or developing green products and processes. Through Global Compact Local Networks in 100 countries, companies are also convening and acting on sustainability issues at the ground level. There is a well established Local Network in China involving many major Chinese companies and China is well represented on the UN Global Compact board. Although the UNGC is 85 percent funded by the private sector, it also receives support from UN Member states, including China, through a Trust Fund which is not part of the UN budget. The UN Global Compact’s platforms – including on those on climate and energy, water, human rights, women’s empowerment, children, labour, anti-corruption, supply chain, peace and partnerships for development – are developing guidance and best practices to fill gaps and help advance implementation by companies. Collective action is increasingly being pursued by companies, with the hope of having a transformative impact on systemic issues, such as corruption, health and gender equality. The UN Global Compact is also deeply connected with the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) http://www.unpri.org , with some 1300 signatories with over $45 trillion assets under management, and the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) http://www.unprme.org initiatives, which are bringing hundreds of mainstream investors and over four hundred business schools in 80 countries into the fold of corporate sustainability, leveraging the power of shareholders and of education.