UN GLOBAL COMPACT BULLETIN

OCTOBER 2009

Français | Español l 中文

NEWS & UPDATES

1. Special Appeal: Rapid Disaster Relief in Asia and the Pacific
   
2. In Meeting with World Leaders, Business and Civil Society Call for Effective Climate Deal
   
3. Global Compact Participant Reports (COPs) Now Available on Bloomberg
4. Private Equity Community Urged to Embrace New Era of Responsible Investment
   
5. Participant Status: New Signatories, COPs and Delistings

ENGAGEMENT OPPORTUNITIES

1. CEO Letter on Anti-Corruption: Final Month to Sign On
2. Climate Action Campaigns: Seal the Deal! and The Copenhagen Communiqué
   
3. More Opportunities: Corruption in the Supply Chain, Corporate Values Statements, and More

FEATURED RESOURCES

1. New Publications Highlight Need for Climate Action:
   

• Connecting the Dots – How Climate Change Transforms Market Risks and Opportunities
• Champions of the Low-Carbon Economy – Why CEOs are Ready for a Global Climate Agreement
• Chief Executives Taking a Stand for Climate Action

2. Human Trafficking – Dilemma Workbook and Case Studies
3. CEO Water Mandate Conference Report
   
   

EVENTS

October
Implementing Labour Principles in Global Supply Chains: ILO Training (12-14 Oct, Turin)
Financing Change, Changing Finance (22-23 Oct, Cape Town)
GCLead Retreat – Crisis and New Scenarios for GC Implementation (22–23 Oct, New York)

November
OECD-ESCAP Regional Conference on Corporate Responsibility (2-3 Nov, Bangkok)
Training Sessions on Human Rights, Adaptation to Climate Change (4-5 Nov, Berlin)
Business and Human Rights Roundtable (5-6 Nov, New Delhi)
Anti-Corruption Meetings in Doha:

• Meeting of the Global Compact Anti-Corruption Working Group (5-6 Nov, Doha)
• Strength in Unity: Public-Private Partnerships to Fight Corruption (7-8 Nov, Doha)
• 3rd Session of the Conference of the States Parties to the UN Convention against Corruption (9–13 Nov, Doha)

China-Japan-Korea Global Compact Local Networks Roundtable (12-13 Nov, Seoul)

January 2010
African Private Sector Forum (21-22 Jan, Addis Ababa)

April 2010
B4E Business for Environment Global Summit 2010 (22–23 April, Seoul)

June 2010
2010 Global Compact Leaders Summit (24–25 June 2010, New York)

Please visit the Event Calendar on our website to learn more about the listed events, including intended audience and availability.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

NEWS & UPDATES

1. Special Appeal: Rapid Disaster Relief in Asia and the Pacific
Storms, floods and earthquakes have affected millions of people in Asia and the Pacific in recent weeks. The UN is very active in providing relief assistance with the goal of making sure that food, clean water and proper shelter are available to victims immediately. To help provide assistance in time, please donate to the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), the central UN donation facility for contributions. CERF is funding operations in Indonesia, the Philippines and Bhutan, as well as in other countries where life-saving assistance is urgently needed. In response to these tragic events, the UN has launched an online video appeal. Global Compact participants are urged to use social media channels to share the video, helping pass the message to as many people as possible. The Global Compact Office wishes to thank companies that have already provided generous support.

Make a donation: www.rapiddisasterrelief.org or email cerf@un.org.

Link to the appeal video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjPgSIhDB2w&feature=channel_page

2. In Meeting with World Leaders, Business and Civil Society Call for Effective Climate Deal
At the UN Leadership Forum on Climate Change (22 September, New York), 200 leaders of global business and civil society organizations met with more than 50 Heads of State and Government, conveying a clear message on the need for a global climate agreement. Private sector leaders from around the world explained that they are prepared to be part of the solution to climate change and demonstrated that radical transformations are already underway, but argued that only with regulatory certainty will innovation, investment and efficiencies occur at the levels needed to bring climate mitigation and adaptation approaches to full scale. Dozens of new commitments, calls to action and partnerships were announced and several publications on climate action were released. A meeting report will be forthcoming. More. Declaration by Business, Investors and Civil Society to Governments.   

3. Global Compact Participant Reports (COPs) Now Available on Bloomberg
In a move to facilitate consideration of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues in investor decision-making, annual progress reports issued by Global Compact business participants, known as Communications on Progress (COPs), will also be available on the BLOOMBERG PROFESSIONAL® service. This will enable Bloomberg users to research the ESG performance of publicly listed and private companies worldwide. More.

4. Private Equity Community Urged to Embrace New Era of Responsible Investment
Georg Kell, Executive Director of the Global Compact, addressed the Dow Jones Private Equity Analyst Conference (16 September, New York) and urged the community to embrace the new era of responsible investment, particularly by recognizing that the management of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues can be material to business and asset performance. Additional suggested actions included signing portfolio companies up to the Global Compact and utilizing more transparent practices. More.

5. Participant Status: New Signatories, COPs and Delistings
In September, 77 companies and 29 non-business stakeholders joined the Global Compact. 166 Communications on Progress (COPs) were received, and 19 companies were delisted for failing to communicate on progress.

The largest companies (by employee number) to join during the month were: Alcoa, Inc. (USA), China Minmetals Corporation (China), Monsanto (USA), Hynix Semiconductor Inc. (Republic of Korea), Vestas Wind Systems A/S (Denmark).

Total figures as of 30 September:

• Business participants: 5,139
• Non-business participants: 1,892
• COPs received: 6,329
• Delisted business participants: 992

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

ENGAGEMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Opportunities are intended for Global Compact stakeholders unless otherwise indicated.

1. CEO Letter on Anti-Corruption: Final Month to Sign On
This is the final month to sign on the CEO Letter on Anti-Corruption in advance of the Conference of States Parties to be held in Doha in November 2009. The letter, which has been signed by more than 80 CEOs from 30 countries, urges Governments to put in place a mechanism to effectively review implementation of UN Convention against Corruption. More about the campaign. Read the CEO Letter.

To indicate your CEO’s willingness to add his or her name to the anti-corruption letter, please send an email providing the company name, sector, country and CEO name to:
uncac-letter@unglobalcompact.org.

2. Climate Action Campaigns: Seal the Deal! and The Copenhagen Communiqué
Seal the Deal! aims to galvanize political will and public support for reaching a comprehensive global climate agreement at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. Companies are asked to: 1) Develop a short CEO testimonial on why we must Seal the Deal!, 2) Raise public awareness through marketing channels and 3) Responsibly lobby government. More on Seal the Deal!

The Copenhagen Communiqué (organized by The Prince of Wales's Corporate Leaders Group on Climate Change) outlines the desired shape and supporting elements of a global climate agreement and has so far been signed by over 500 global executives. Download. Sign the Communiqué. 

3. More Opportunities: Provide examples on fighting corruption in the supply chain, submit corporate values statements, and more
Many of the engagement opportunities announced in past issues of the Bulletin are still active.  View the full list of Engagement Opportunities

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

FEATURED RESOURCES

• Connecting the Dots – How Climate Change Transforms Market Risks and Opportunities: Charts the intimate interaction of climate change with other key issues on the global agenda, and identifies the requirement this places on governments and international agencies to develop a new level of policy coherence. Download.
• Champions of the Low-Carbon Economy – Why CEOs are Ready for a Global Climate Agreement: Conveys insight from forty chairpersons and CEOs of corporations from around the globe regarding the need for climate change action. Download.
• Chief Executives Taking a Stand for Climate Action: Presents brief statements from global chief executives on why they support a fair, balanced and effective post-Kyoto climate agreement at the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference (COP 15). Download.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Published 8 October 2009