A speech by Mr. Hu Deping, Vice President of All-China Federation of Industry & Commerce, Vice President of China Society for the Promotion of GuangCai Program, President of China-Africa Business Council

Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and friends of global business leaders,

I am privileged to lead China’s private sector delegation to participate in the Global Compact Leaders Summit in Geneva and to share our views and thoughts on South-South Cooperation and economic development in Africa. Private sector has only a history of 29 years of development in China. Please allow me to share with you the ideas and expectations of Chinese private enterprises for the world economy and trade as well as Corporate Social Responsibility.

Economic globalization is never a coincidence. However, it is only until recent that it has acquired unprecedented universality and profound political and cultural implications. The first stage of economic globalization could be counted from the industrial revolution in England in the late 18th century. It marked the arrival of a new era. It is also an era when colonization reached Asia, Africa and Latin America. The second stage could be counted from around 1960s and 1970s. At that time, the multinational corporations of western developed countries have entered late industrialization period and were consolidating market and resources at global level. In the meantime, there was a rapid widening of the gap between the North and the South. The third stage could be counted from the 21st century. It marked the beginning of a new era when developing countries and the transition economies opened up and actively participated in competition and cooperation in international economy and trade. A number of newly-emerged economic entities have appeared on world stage, mainly represented by China, Russia, India and Pakistan, which are referred to “Four Gold Nuggets”, whilst Sub-Sahara of Africa, the birthplace of mankind, is still plagued by poverty, hunger and diseases.

How will the developing countries benefit is a key factor to the success of economic globalization. For example, in terms of climate and environment, how effective should governments provide global public goods. Even though it is not appropriate to view current international economic order as a complete set of self-seeking regulations established by western countries, there is indeed a need to deliberate on, to study and to promote the establishment of a new economic order that is universally inclusive during globalization. The United Nations is the largest and the most prestigious international organization after the Second World War. The peaceful and developing harmonious world advocated by China is in complete alignment of the mandate of the United Nations. Organizations of Chinese private enterprises are committed to operate under the framework of the United Nations. For example, the China Society for the Promotion of Guangcai Program has participated in the “Global Compact” initiated by the former Secretary General of the United Nations.

Mr. Liu Yonghao, Chairman of the New Hope Group, present at this Summit, is the initiator of China Guangcai Program. The mandate of China Guangcai Programme is a social poverty reduction campaign designed to eliminate poverty in China through market means and commercial approaches. The fourteen years of operation of the Program has offered training opportunities to 3.72 million people and has provided job opportunities for 7.7 million people. It has also developed various approaches in addressing the challenge of poverty reduction.

Junyao Group, also present at the Summit, spent a huge amount of money on collateral for bank loans for low-income households while developing its milk business.

The Inner Mongolia Yili Group has combated desertification in Kubuchi for a total area of2, 1 00 square kilometers for the settlement of local herdsmen.

Hongyu Company has been planting tropical economic plantations in Yunan province and has also participated in the drug substitution plantation in the Golden Triangle Area outside China.

Sanquan Food Company manufactures fast-frozen food fond by the Chinese. 80% of the 24,000 employees came from poor rural areas with an average salary ranging from RMB800 to RMB 1 ,000.

The Chairman of the Penshibao Company is an entrepreneur who used to be a peasant. He has been promoting the distribution network for agricultural fund and technology in sixteen provinces, covering more than half of the land in China. The company also distributes free of charge the agricultural scientific and technical information as well as supply and demand information of agricultural products.

Kerui Company has development apple plantation and fruit juice concentration production in the form of “Company Base plus Farmer Households”. The company has made rational utilization of the prairie in Northern China. It raises cattle, yak, sheep as well as prairie chicken on a large scale.

The founders of Chuanhua Group are a father and a son who used to be peasants. After the establishment of their chemical industry, they put their industrial investment benefits to support their agricultural business, establishing 350,000 mu of agricultural base, directly creating employments of 11,000 people.

Together with UNDP China Office, we established China-Africa Business Council last year in Beijing. CABC is to encourage and to provide support for Chinese private enterprises to know about Africa and to enter Africa to establish cooperation with African friends for economic development. The cooperation in this nature falls into the sphere of South-South Cooperation. It is also the extension of China Guangcai Programme abroad. Members of the CABC are composed of more than 200 enterprises from Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macao. Over the past year, we have set up a website in both Chinese and English language. We have created a club for students from Africa. We have set up an advisory committee and established two consulting firms. We have set up provincial and municipal level CABC chapters. We have signed a cooperation agreement with Portugal Commercial Bank and have reached cooperation intentions with China Development Bank and China Import and Export Bank. More importantly, our membership enterprises have identified some development projects and cooperation partners in Africa.

The China Society for the Promotion of Guangcai Program is willing to share the successful experiences of Chinese private enterprises with Africa. At the same time, we should correct the various non-standardized conducts occurred during their early stage of development in China. We should truly live up to the principle of “Having Culture as a Priority, Combination of Righteousness and Interests, Integration of Home and Abroad, Mutual Benefit and Win· Win”. Mr. Hu Jieguo, Mr. Ruan Xiaoming, Mr. Xu Zhiming and Mr. He Jianping, present at the Summit are successful entrepreneurs in Africa who are well received by local society. In today’s world when all the countries in the world have been seeking for peace, development and security of an international order, the responsibilities and contributions of entrepreneurs, creator of wealth for the mankind, are self-evident.

Mao Zedong, a great man in the Chinese history. well known to many friends from African countries, used to make predictions about the 21st century. He mentioned 2001, saying that China would have become a powerful country by then. However, we should remain modest and prudent, and reject chauvinism. He said that the Chinese people should make greater contributions to the world; whereas the fact is that in the past, little contribution was made. Whenever this thought occurred to his mind. Mao felt very sorry. He expected a peaceful world of equality and warmth. In his romantic poetry, he imagined a scene at Kunlun Mountain, a snow-covered mountain with ancient legendary stories in China. He wrote that a sword was drawn and cleaved the Kunlun Mountain into three pieces, one piece for America, not particularly for the United States of America; one piece for Europe, not particularly for one country such as Britain, France, Germany or Italy; one to keep in the East, not exclusively for China, but also for other Eastern Asian countries. The implication of this poem has no national boundaries. He wrote that then there will be a world in peace, sharing together the same warmth and cold throughout the globe. Mao expressed his political ideal and envisioned a rosy future for mankind. through the metaphor of climate and environment in the world.

Today, when the earth has become a global village, our Chinese private entrepreneurs, with a broader horizon and mind, are willing to actively respond to the call of the Global Compact. We are committed to take corporate social responsibilities, to make greater contributions to the South-South Cooperation, and to share with our friends the benefit of globalization.

(Geneva, 6 July, 2007)Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Dear friends,

It is my privilege to bring this remarkable Global Compact Leaders Summit to a close.

Over these two days, it has been heartening to see such a prominent group of leaders from business, Government, civil society, labour, academia and the United Nations, display such a deep and broad commitment to the principles of the Global Compact.

I am encouraged by your willingness to share and openly discuss actions, experiences and challenges. Working together across sectors in this way to address the most pressing issues facing business and society is the hallmark of the Global Compact.

That is why this Summit has produced important results.

Through several groundbreaking reports, you have made it abundantly clear that market leadership and sustainability leadership go hand-in-hand. This will help us build the supportive measures needed to create more sustainable markets. And it will ultimately help improve the lives of many people around the world.

You have made commitments to engage subsidiaries and supply chains more actively, as well as to support the Local Networks of the Global Compact. This will provide a major boost for the initiative and for corporate citizenship more broadly.

You have launched global and local initiatives with concrete meaning. The “Caring for Climate” platform sets the stage for individual and collective actions on climate change, and sends a powerful message to businesses, Governments and consumers everywhere about the need for leadership and early action. The “Principles for Responsible Management Education” has the capacity to take the case for universal values and business into classrooms on every continent. The “CEO Water Mandate” will make a significant contribution to the subject of water sustainability. And the “Principles for Responsible Investment” is disseminating the tenets of corporate citizenship among capital markets, in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme’s Finance Initiative.

There are too many initiatives to mention by name, but each one of them is important. Together, they span all regions of the world.

The Summit has also given the Global Compact and its many partners an opportunity to introduce new tools and resources to help businesses integrate the 10 principles into their operations. In this way, we can demonstrate that voluntary does not mean unaccountable.

It has given Governments a chance to demonstrate how public policy can support corporate citizenship.

And it has given the United Nations as a whole an occasion to demonstrate that we are ready and eager to work with all actors in addressing the shared challenges of the 21st century.

Together, through the Geneva Declaration, we have deepened our collective commitment to embedding universal values in economies and markets. Yet as we all know, actions speak louder than words. So as we walk away from this historic Summit with plans to meet again in three years, let us each do our share to give practical meaning to the Declaration.

I call on business leaders to convene board meetings to share developments at the Summit, and ensure that the Global Compact is implemented more fully within their organizations and through their suppliers and partners.

I call on civil society and labour leaders to remain vigilant and engaged, and continue to hold businesses accountable for their commitments.

I call on Governments to sustain their support for the Global Compact, and to nurture the space that it fills as a unique public-private partnership initiative.

And I call on my colleagues in the United Nations family to integrate the Global Compact principles throughout the Organization. Through the Global Compact Office and its Executive Director, Georg Kell, we will continue to provide every support to advance the initiative.

Finally, let me thank the Global Compact Local Networks and the board of the Global Compact for their invaluable contributions. They will remain critical to the growth of the initiative over the next three years. I take this occasion to announce the appointment of two new members — Mr. Toshio Arima of Fuji Xerox, and Mr. Manfred Warda of the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Unions.

Friends, together, we can achieve a new phase of globalization — one that creates inclusive and sustainable markets, builds development and enhances international cooperation. We each have a responsibility in moving our agenda forward. Let us leave here today with renewed commitment.

Before your leave, I hope you will enjoy a short unveiling of the Global Compact’s new branding, which will be rolled out around the world.

I now declare the 2007 Global Compact Leaders Summit formally closed.

UNITED NATIONS GLOBAL COMPACT LEADERS SUMMIT

CHAIRPERSON’S SUMMARY

MINISTERIAL ROUNDTABLE ON THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENTS IN PROMOTING RESPONSIBLE CORPORATE CITIZENSHIP

BY H.E. Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa

July 6, 2007

1. We, the Ministers and other high level Government officials participating in the United Nations Global Compact Leaders Summit, held a Roundtable on 6 July 2007 on the topic of the “Role of Governments in Promoting Responsible Corporate Citizenship.”

2. As globalization brings people, societies and cultures ever closer together, the need and opportunities for cooperation, enhanced understanding and greater prosperity also increase.

3. Responsible businesses that implement proactive corporate policies and practices, including those that respect human rights and ensure safe and decent workplace conditions, environmental protection and good corporate governance, can make a major contribution to the achievement of economic, social and environmental goals. They can also help make markets more sustainable, stable and inclusive. Creating policies and practices that promote business responsibility can also enhance business competitiveness.

4. Voluntary initiatives, such as the UN Global Compact, can play a useful role in promoting responsible corporate citizenship, and can complement Government action.

5. We recognize the contributions of businesses based or operating in our countries in advancing responsible corporate citizenship activities, including the UN Global Compact; promote their continued participation in these voluntary initiatives; and encourage the exchange of experiences among enterprises in promoting corporate social responsibility.

6. The adoption and enforcement of laws and regulations rests with governments. Business-led efforts can only be sustained and brought to scale if public institutions, the rule of law, and transparent and predictable regulatory efforts support responsible business practices. Moreover, collaborative multi-stakeholder initiatives between public institutions, business, civil society and labour organizations offer opportunities to promote innovation and advance sustainable development in ways that have the potential to go beyond what Governments and business could deliver on their own.

7. Some of the ways in which Governments can support responsible business practices include:

i) Creating an enabling environment: Governments can put in place the necessary conditions for corporate responsibility issues to be discussed and developed. This could include leading by example, such as by articulating support for corporate responsibility guidelines and principles.

ii) Raising awareness: Governments can actively draw attention to general issues, aspects, and benefits of corporate responsibility and stimulate public debate.

iii) Promotion: Governments can highlight best practices (for example, through awards), as well as endorse or invite business and wider community support for voluntary corporate responsibility programs, activities, or initiatives, such as the UN Global Compact.

ix) Tools Development: Recognizing that the business sector may sometimes need guidance or require facilitation assistance, Governments can assist the development of corporate responsibility programs, guidelines, or recognition specifically designed to encourage entrpreneurism, and corporate responsibility within the small and medium sized enterprises sector.

x) Funding: Where they have the resources to do so, Governments can directly contribute resources to help voluntary initiatives to maximize their impact.

As Global Compact Leaders Summit closes in Geneva, participants
pledge to pursue a more sustainable and inclusive economy

(Geneva, 6 July, 2007) — Business leaders from developed and developing countries today pledged to comply with labour, human rights, environmental and anti-corruption standards as a two-day conference closed in Geneva.

At the second United Nations Global Compact Leaders Summit, top executives of corporations such as Coca-Cola, Petrobras, Fuji Xerox, China Ocean Shipping Group, Tata Steel, L M Ericsson and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria adopted the 21-point Geneva Declaration, which spells out concrete actions for business, governments and United Nations Global Compact participants.

Some 4,000 organizations from 116 countries — among them trade unions, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and some 3,100 businesses — have so far subscribed to the Global Compact, pledging to observe ten universal principles related to human rights, labour rights, the environment and the struggle against corruption.

The Geneva Declaration expresses the belief that “globalization, if rooted in universal principles, has the power to improve our world fundamentally — delivering economic and social benefits to people, communities and markets everywhere”.

“The need for action is urgent,” the document says. “Poverty, income inequality, protectionism and the absence of decent work opportunities pose serious threats to world peace and markets”.

“Business, as a key agent of globalization, can be an enormous force for good”, the Declaration says, adding that companies, by committing themselves to corporate citizenship, can create and deliver value in the widest possible terms. Globalization can thus act as an accelerator for spreading universal principles, creating a values-oriented competition for a “race to the top”.

Summing up the outcome of the meeting, Secretary-General Ban-ki Moon told participants that “through several groundbreaking reports, you have made it abundantly clear that market leadership and sustainability leadership go hand-in-hand. This will help us build the supportive measures needed to create more sustainable markets. And it will ultimately help improve the lives of many people around the world.”

Stressing that the voluntary character of the Compact “does not mean unaccountable,” Mr. Ban called on business leaders to convene board meetings to share developments at the Summit, and ensure that the Global Compact is fully implemented within their companies and through their suppliers and business partners.

The Secretary-General called on civil society and labour leaders “to remain vigilant and engaged and continue to hold businesses accountable for their commitments.” He called on governments to support the Global Compact as a unique public-private partnership initiative. And he called on the United Nations to integrate the Global Compact principles throughout the Organization.

“Together, through the Geneva Declaration, we have deepened our collective commitment to embedding universal values in economies and markets,” Mr. Ban said. “Let us each do our share to give practical meaning to the Declaration.”

“Dear friends, together we can achieve a new phase of globalization — one that creates inclusive and sustainable markets, builds development and enhances international cooperation. We each have a responsibility in moving our agenda forward. Let us leave here today with renewed commitment.”

“We had a remarkable successful meeting,” said Anglo American Chairman Sir Mark Moody-Stuart at the closing plenary. “At the first summit three years ago, many companies subscribed to the Global Compact principles because it sounded like the right thing to do, but did not really know how to put them into practice. We are now moving forward towards implementation.”

Today, a Ministerial Roundtable chaired by General Assembly President Sheikha Haya Rashed al Khalifa discussed the role of governments in promoting responsible corporate citizenship.

Also today, six parallel sessions focused on human rights, labour, climate change and the environment, United Nations-business partnerships, corruption and responsible investment. Speakers included United Nations Human Rights High Commissioner Louise Arbour, International Labour Organization Director-General Juan Somavia, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Chairman Rajendra K. Pachauri, United Nations Environment Programme Executive Director Achim Steiner, Nestlé Chief Financial Officer Paul Polman, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa and Goldman Sachs Chief Investment Officer Anthony Ling.

On the role of business in society, the Declaration notes that responsible business practices contribute to social and economic inclusion, helping to advance international cooperation, peace, development and human rights protection. It invites businesses to establish partnerships and collaboration with governments, civil society and labour, and states that in countries afflicted by conflict or weak governance investors and companies can play a more helpful role by engaging rather than divesting — provided they act in line with the Global Compact principles.

Investors should encourage companies to be transparent and to pursue responsible business practices, the Declaration says, while lenders should ensure that their loans are in line with international standards. Investors should also urge governments to act responsibly and uphold laws and international norms.

Governments should cultivate environments with effective economic institutions and supportive policy to promote stability, transparency and entrepreneurship, says the Declaration. Governments should also support an open international trading system, discourage protectionism and ratify and implement international instruments on labour standards and against corruption.

For their part, Global Compact Participants should follow a principles-based approach in their strategy, operations and culture, the Declaration says. This involves encouraging supply chain and business partners to commit to the Compact’s ten principles, and carry out advocacy on climate change and development.

Global as well as local initiatives were launched at the Summit. Through the “Caring for Climate” platform, Chief executive officers (CEOs) of 150 companies from around the world — including 30 from the Fortune Global 500 — pledged to speed up action on climate change and called on governments to agree as soon as possible on Kyoto follow-up measures to secure workable and inclusive climate market mechanisms.

The CEOs of six corporations — The Coca-Cola Company, Levi Strauss & Co., Läckeby Water Group, Nestlé S.A., SABMiller and Suez — urged their business peers everywhere to take immediate action to address the global water crisis. They launched “The CEO Water Mandate”, a project designed to help companies to better manage water use in their operations and throughout their supply chains.

Also launched at the Summit, the “Principles for Responsible Investment” seek to disseminate the tenets of corporate citizenship among capital markets. The “Principles for Responsible Management Education” seek to take the case for universal values and business into business schools around the world.

A total of 1,027 people registered for the Summit — 638 from companies, 95 from government entities, 76 from international organizations, 65 from international business organizations, 62 from international NGOs, 45 from academia, 28 from the Global Compact network, 13 from foundations and five from international labour organizations.

The first Global Compact Leaders Summit took place in New York in 2004, and the next is planned for 2010.

Please click here to download the Geneva Declaration

For more information, please visit http://www.globalcompactsummit.org or contact Gavin Power, Global Compact Senior Advisor and Head of Public Affairs, at + 41 79 629 4482; powerg@un.org; or Matthias Stausberg, Global Compact Spokesperson, at + 41 79 629 4431; stausberg@un.org.

* * *

(Geneva, 6 July 2007) – The chief executives of 153 companies worldwide have committed to speeding up action on climate change and called on governments to agree as soon as possible on measures to secure workable and inclusive climate market mechanisms post 2012, when the Kyoto Protocol expires.

The call was made in a business leaders statement issued at the UN Global Compact Leaders Summit convened by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon on 5-6 July in Geneva. The statement, called “Caring for Climate: The Business Leadership Platform”, provides a global call from business leaders, many of them attending the Leaders Summit. The UN Global Compact, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) facilitated its development.

Signatories to the statement, including 30 from the Fortune Global 500, commit their companies to “taking practical actions to increase the efficiency of energy usage and to reduce the carbon burden of products, services and processes, to set voluntary targets for doing so, and to report publicly on the achievement of those targets annually”. They also commit to dealing with the climate issue strategically and to building relevant capacity. They undertake to work collaboratively with other enterprises on a sector basis and along their global supply chains, promoting recognized standards and taking joint initiatives to reduce climate risks.

According to the statement, business leaders expect from government the “urgent creation, in close consultation with the business community and civil society, of comprehensive, long-term and effective legislative and fiscal frameworks designed to make markets work for the climate, in particular policies and mechanisms intended to create a stable price for carbon”.

“ ‘Caring for Climate: The Business Leadership Platform’ is a unique and significant business initiative, as it is both a call to Governments and a commitment to action by business itself, coupled with an undertaking to communicate progress annually,” said Georg Kell, Executive Director of the UN Global Compact.

Welcoming the statement, UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner, said: “Climate change is shaping global markets and global consumer attitudes. There will be winners and losers. Companies who seize the opportunities, who adopt environmental, social and governance policies and who evolve, innovate and respond to these challenges are likely to be the pioneers and industry leaders of the 21st century”.

“Currently, a plethora of initiatives are underway across public and private sectors. Leadership on climate change requires us to all work to combine these strands and weave together these threads in order to maximize international efforts towards a low carbon economy,” he said.

WBCSD President Bjorn Stigson commented: “We do possess realistic options for solutions. These include technologies that can create a more resource-efficient economy and can eliminate the waste from resource use, such as carbon capture and storage.” He also said that we already possess the tools to implement the solutions, referring to “regulations, efficiency standards for products and processes, taxes and fees that influence the prices of resources, goods and services… all of which can involve voluntary actions by business and citizens alike.”

The climate statement concludes with an invitation to the UN Global Compact to promote the public disclosure of actions taken its signatories and, in cooperation with UNEP and the WBCSD, to communicate on this on a regular basis, starting in July 2008.

Also at the Leaders Summit, the UN Global Compact, UNEP and WBCSD jointly launched “Caring for Climate: Tomorrow’s Leadership Today”, which provides a collection of case studies of good practices by companies taking climate action.

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Visit www.unglobalcompact.org/Issues/Environment/Climate_Change/index.html to download the statement and view the list of signatories.

Media Contacts:

UN Global Compact:
Matthias Stausberg
Spokesperson
+1-917-214-1337
stausberg@un.org

Eleonore Kopera
Public Affairs Manager
+41-629-4457
kopera@un.org

UN Environment Programme
Nick Nuttall
Spokesperson
+254 207 623084
nick.nuttall@unep.org

Robert Bisset
European Spokesperson
+33 1 4437 7613
robert.bisset@unep.fr

World Business Council for Sustainable Development
Lloyd Timberlake
Communications Director
+1 202 420 7745
timberlake@wbcsd.org

About The Global Compact
Launched in 2000, the UN Global Compact brings business together with UN agencies, labor, civil society and governments to advance ten universal principles in the areas of human rights, labor, environment and anti-corruption. Through the power of collective action, the Global Compact seeks to mainstream these ten principles in business activities around the world and to catalyze actions in support of broader UN goals. With over 3,100 participating companies and hundreds of other stakeholders from more than 100 countries, it is the world’s largest voluntary corporate citizenship initiative. For more information, please visit www.unglobalcompact.org.

About the United Nations Environment Programme
The mission of UNEP is to provide leadership and encourage partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing, and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations. UNEP has its headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, and regional offices in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, West Asia, Europe, North America, Latin America and the Caribbean. The UNEP Division of Technology, Industry and Economics (UNEP DTIE) is the division within UNEP responsible for working with business and industry. Situated in Paris and Geneva, UNEP DTIE reaches out through the regional offices of UNEP as well as its International Environmental Technology Centre (IETC) in Osaka, Japan. With its longstanding activities in the areas of sustainable production and consumption, energy, ozone, chemicals, trade, economics, finance and corporate responsibility, UNEP DTIE aims to help decision-makers develop and adopt policies that are cleaner and safer; make efficient use of natural resources; incorporate environmental costs; and reduce pollution and risks for humans and the environment.

About the World Business Council for Sustainable Development
The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) is a CEO-led, global association of some 190 companies dealing exclusively with business and sustainable development. The Council provides a platform for companies to explore sustainable development, share knowledge, experiences and best practices, and to advocate business positions on these issues in a variety of forums, working with governments, non-governmental and intergovernmental organizations. Members are drawn from more than 35 countries and 20 major industrial sectors. The Council also benefits from a global network of about 60 national and regional business councils and regional partners.

(Geneva, 6 July 2007)— At a special breakfast meeting held during the 2007 Global Compact Leaders Summit, and in the presence of the United Nations Secretary General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, Chinese and multinational private sector companies and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in China underlined the urgency to address the challenges brought by climate change as a main development priority for China.

According to recent finding by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, highland glaciers in China are shrinking each year by an amount equivalent to all the water in the Yellow River. It is estimates that 7 per cent of the country’s glaciers are vanishing annually. Glaciers on the Qinghai-Tibet highlands that feed the mighty Yangtze River could shrink by two thirds by the end of this century, impacting an estimated 300 million people who depend on water from glaciers for their survival.

“Climate change has emerged as one of the most important issues facing the global community in the 21st century. It threatens to seriously undermine future development efforts, poverty reduction and achieving the Millennium Development Goals” said Khalid Malik, UN Resident Coordinator in China and UNDP Resident Representative during the morning meeting attended by over 60 of the world’s most renowned international and Chinese companies.

The objective of this breakfast meeting was to highlight the climate change situation in China and stress the need for concerted action from various sectors of society, in particular the key role the private sector in China, has to play to address the climate change challenge.

“A clean environment is a basic right, and we must all do our part to protect it. The Global Compact Summit provides an important platform to raise awareness on climate change at the individual, company, community, country and international level,” he added.

“Environmental protection and sustainable development is the duty-bound responsibility of the enterprises” underlined Mr. Wang Jinming, former President of SINOPEC and senior advisor to SINOPEC, one of the largest oil companies of China.

UNDP China is promoting Public-Private Partnerships to mobilize the private sector and foster its contribution to development, in particular to address climate change.

The Global Compact Leaders Summit, held in Geneva 5 and 6 July, represents the largest and most significant event on the topic of leadership and corporate citizenship. Under the umbrella of the United Nations, the Summit will provide a platform for leaders from all sectors to work collectively to ensure that globalization delivers the widest possible benefits to all.

Special focus on climate change has been emphasized in this year’s summit, including the endorsement by the Summit of a specific statement “Caring for Climate” as one of the key outcomes of the Global Compact Leaders Summit.

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For more information, please contact:

Ms. Zhang Wei
Communications Officer
UNDP China
(86-10) 8532 0715
wei.zhang@undp.org

About UNDP:

UNDP fosters human development to empower women and men to build better lives in China. As the UN’s development network, UNDP draws on a world of experience to assist China in developing its own solutions to the country’s development challenges. Through partnerships and innovation, UNDP works to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and an equitable Xiao Kang society by reducing poverty, strengthening the rule of law, promoting environmental sustainability, and fighting HIV/AIDS. www.undp.org.cn

(Geneva, 5 July 2007) – In an extraordinary call to action, a group of chief executive officers representing some of the world’s largest corporations today urged their business peers everywhere to take immediate action to address the emerging global water crisis.The CEOs of six corporations – The Coca-Cola Company, Levi Strauss & Co., Läckeby Water Group, Nestlé S.A., SABMiller, and Suez – announced their call to action at the 2007 Global Compact Leaders Summit in Geneva, Switzerland, where they launched “The CEO Water Mandate” – a project designed to help companies better manage water use in their direct operations and throughout their supply chains.

“There is huge potential for the private sector to make a real, positive and lasting difference in protecting and preserving fresh-water resources,” said E. Neville Isdell, Chairman and CEO, The Coca-Cola Company. “We are pleased to come together with other business leaders to endorse the UN Global Compact CEO Water Mandate as another indicator of our desire to establish a truly water-sustainable business on a global scale”.

According to the Human Development Report 2006, a water crisis is deepening around the world. More than 1 billion people lack clean water for drinking, and 2.6 billion lack sanitation. Water experts predict that the situation will worsen in many parts of the world in the coming decades as a result of factors including urbanization and population growth, increasing food production, changing consumption patterns, industrialization, pollution, and climate change.

As the six business leaders state in The CEO Water Mandate: “It is increasingly clear that lack of access to clean water and sanitation in many parts of the world causes great suffering in humanitarian, social, environmental, and economic terms and seriously undermines development goals. The private sector has an important stake in helping to address the water challenge faced by the world today”.

The CEO Water Mandate asks companies to make progress in six areas: direct operations, supply chain and watershed management, collective action, public policy, community engagement, and transparency.

More specifically, endorsers of The CEO Water Mandate pledge to set water-use targets, assist suppliers with water-efficiency practices and partner with governments, policy makers and community groups to address water shortages and sanitation.

The CEO Water Mandate was developed in partnership with the UN Global Compact and the Government of Sweden. The six endorsing CEOs are: E. Neville Isdell, The Coca-Cola Company; John Anderson, Levi Strauss & Co.; Martin Hagbyhn, Läckeby Water Group; Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, Nestlé S.A.; Graham Mackay, SABMiller; and Gérard Mestrallet, Suez. Both Mr. Isdell and Mr. Hagbyhn are attending the Global Compact Leaders Summit.

The CEO Water Mandate can be downloaded at: www.unglobalcompact.org/Issues/Environment/Water_sustainability/index.html

(NEW YORK, 5 July 2007) – The United Nations has issued a call for business schools and academic associations to do their part to advance corporate social responsibility worldwide. The Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME), were unveiled at the 2007 Global Compact Leaders Summit on 5 July at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. The principles were unveiled to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and hundreds of leaders representing business, civil society, government, and academia from around the world.

The six Principles for Responsible Management Education are:

As institutions of higher learning involved in the education of current and future managers we are voluntarily committed to engaging in a continuous process of improvement of the following Principles, reporting on progress to all our stakeholders and exchanging effective practices with other academic institutions:

Principle 1. Purpose: We will develop the capabilities of students to be future generators of sustainable value for business and society at large and to work for an inclusive and sustainable global economy.

Principle 2. Values: We will incorporate into our academic activities and curricula the values of global social responsibility as portrayed in international initiatives such as the United Nations Global Compact.

Principle 3. Method: We will create educational frameworks, materials, processes and environments that enable effective learning experiences for responsible leadership.

Principle 4. Research: We will engage in conceptual and empirical research that advances our understanding about the role, dynamics, and impact of corporations in the creation of sustainable social, environmental and economic value.

Principle 5. Partnership: We will interact with managers of business corporations to extend our knowledge of their challenges in meeting social and environmental responsibilities and to explore jointly effective approaches to meeting these challenges.

Principle 6. Dialogue: We will facilitate and support dialog and debate among educators, business, government, consumers, media, civil society organizations and other interested groups and stakeholders on critical issues related to global social responsibility and sustainability.

The Principles of Responsible Management Education are a framework for academic institutions to advance the broader cause of corporate social responsibility and a call for the incorporation of universal values in curricula and research. The initiative was developed by an international task force of sixty deans, university presidents and official representatives of leading business schools. It was co-convened by the United Nations Global Compact, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB International), the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD), the Aspen Institute’s Business and Society Program, the Globally Responsible Leadership Initiative (GRLI), and Net Impact.

“Globalization not only needs companies that can decisively contribute to more sustainable and inclusive markets. It also needs a new generation of managers and leaders who are up to that task. The PRME initiative, as a global call, will be followed by an increasing number of academic institutions”, said Manuel Escudero, Head of Academic Initiatives of the UN Global Compact, when referring to the significance of the PRME.
The principles were presented by an international delegation that included Manuel Escudero, Head Networks and Academic Initiatives, UN Global Compact Office; John Fernandes, President and CEO, AACSB International; Gerard van Schaik, President, EFMD; Peter Lacy, Executive Director, European Academy for Business in Society; Anders Aspling, Secretary General, Globally Responsible Leadership Initiative and Dean, Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School, Belgium; Angel Cabrera, Chairman PRME task force and President, Thunderbird School of Global Management, USA; Labib Khadra, President, German-Jordanian University, Jordan; Bernardo Barona Zaluga, Dean, Universidad Javeriana Sede Cali, Colombia; David Saunders, Dean, Queen’s School of Business, Canada; as well as representatives of ESADE Business School, Spain; XLRI Jamshedpur, School of Management and Human Resources, India, and CEIBS – the China Europe International Business School, China.

The Global Compact Leaders Summit brought together hundreds of top executives from business, governments, civil society and labour. Through peer-to-peer interactions with top decision makers from all segments of the international community, business leaders had the opportunity to access never-before released intelligence on socio-economic and geopolitical megatrends to develope strategic frameworks to address a range of issues at the nexus of business and society – including climate change, human rights, anti-corruption, and access to finance and capital.

Please click here to view the full press release

(Geneva, 5 July 2007) – Three groundbreaking studies by organizations such as the UN Global Compact and Goldman Sachs presented today at the Global Compact Leaders Summit show that an increasing number of business leaders see corporate responsibility as a way to compete successfully and to build trust with stakeholders – and that sustainability front-runners in a range of industries can generate higher stock prices.

“The evidence is building that embedding universal principles and related environmental, social and governance policies into management practices and operations delivers long-term business value and is rewarded by markets”, said Georg Kell, Executive Director of the UN Global Compact. “Fundamentally, for companies and investors, this is about managing risks and opportunities presented by globalization”.

A report released by Goldman Sachs, one of the world’s leading investment banks, showed that among six sectors covered – energy, mining, steel, food, beverages, and media – companies that are considered leaders in implementing environmental, social and governance (ESG) policies to create sustained competitive advantage have outperformed the general stock market by 25 per cent since August 2005. In addition, 72 per cent of these companies have outperformed their peers over the same period.

Goldman Sachs analyzed the companies with respect to three areas: ESG performance; how well they are positioned vis-à-vis long-term industry trends; and the strength of their underlying financial returns.

At the Summit, the UN Global Compact also released its first Annual Review, a comprehensive survey that monitors the extent to which companies have implemented the ten Global Compact principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption. Among the key findings:

• A majority of survey respondents have policies in place related to human rights, labour conditions, the environment and anti-corruption.
• 75 per cent of respondents have engaged in cross-sector partnerships with one or more of the following sectors: non-governmental organizations, business, academia, the UN, and other multi-lateral organizations.
• 63 per cent of respondents said they participate in the Global Compact to increase trust in the company.

At the same time, there are important “performance gaps” in implementation, as highlighted by a complementary survey of chief executives participating in the Global Compact. The survey, prepared by McKinsey&Company, revealed the following:

• More than 90 per cent of CEOs are doing more than they did 5 years ago to incorporate environmental, social and governance issues into strategy and operations.
• 72 per cent of CEOs said that corporate responsibility should be embedded fully into strategy and operations, but only 50 per cent think their firms actually do so.
• 59 per cent of CEOs said corporate responsibility should be embedded into global supply chains, but only 27 per cent think they are doing so.

“Taken together, these three reports show that for an increasing number of business leaders, corporate responsibility is no longer an option, it is a necessity in order to compete successfully”, said Mr Kell. “At the same time, in order to fully maximize these benefits and increase their competitive advantage in the global marketplace, companies must adopt a broader and deeper approach with respect to implementation of corporate responsibility principles”.

Click here to downoad the Goldman Sachs “GS Sustain” report
Click here to download McKinsey&Company’s “Shaping the New Rules of Competition”
Click here to download the UN Global Compacts “First Annual Review”

About Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs is a leading global investment banking, securities and investment management firm that provides a wide range of services worldwide to a substantial and diversified client base that includes corporations, financial institutions, governments and high-net-worth individuals. Founded in 1869, it is one of the oldest and largest investment banking firms. The firm is headquartered in New York and maintains offices in London, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Johannesburg and other major financial centers around the world.

About McKinsey & Company

McKinsey & Company is a management consulting firm that helps many of the world’s leading corporations and organizations address their strategic challenges. With consultants deployed in more than 40 countries across the globe, McKinsey advises on strategic, operational, organizational and technological issues. For eight decades, the firm’s primary objective has been to serve as an organization’s most trusted external advisor on critical issues facing senior management.

See the Press Release on the Global Compact Website for more details.

1000 Leaders from Business, Government, Civil Society Rally on Global Compact:

Major Initiatives Launched on Climate, Education, Investment, Water

(Geneva, 5 July 2007) – United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon officially opened the Global Compact Leaders Summit today, announcing that the UN has successfully created an international movement of companies dedicated to advancing responsible business practices – but adding that more work needs to be done.

Speaking before an international audience of 1000 chief executive officers, government ministers, and the heads of civil society and labour organizations, the Secretary-General said that more than 4000 companies and stakeholders in 116 countries have committed to the Global Compact’s ten principles related to human rights, working conditions, the environment and anti-corruption.

“In the beginning, some voiced skepticism about the UN working together with business. Today, I think we can say that the Global Compact has lived up to its promise – bringing business together with other stakeholders, and infusing markets and economies with universal values”, the Secretary-General said.

The Secretary-General said that groundbreaking reports released at the Summit show that more than 90 per cent of companies have expanded the integration of the Global Compact’s principles during the past five years, and that corporate citizenship leaders generate superior stock-market returns.

During the the two-day Summit – the largest event the UN has ever convened on the topic of corporate citizenship – a range of new initiatives and projects will be announced, including a Business Leadership Platform on climate change; a set of Principles for Responsible Management Education, and a CEO Water Mandate.

The Secretary-General said that while the Global Compact has achieved significant progress, the business community is still too often linked to serious problems, including exploitative practices, corruption, and income equality.

“Power cannot be separated from responsibility. For markets to expand in a sustainable way, we must provide those currently excluded with better and more opportunities to improve their livelihoods”, he said.

The first comprehensive Annual Review of the Global Compact was presented at the Summit, showing wide adoption of the ten principles by companies around the world. In addition, the review showed that companies, in increasing numbers, are following the initiative’s new reporting policy, whereby signatories are expected to disclose annually how they are implementing the principles – or risk being delisted.

Georg Kell, Executive Director of the Global Compact, said that while companies are accelerating implementation efforts, there are notable “performance gaps”.

“For multinationals and other large companies, it is clear that more work needs to be done to embed the principles into subsidiaries and supply chains. By doing, so companies will realize the full benefits of engagement”, he said.

A research report presented at the Leaders Summit by Goldman Sachs, one the world’s largest investment companies, showed that among six sectors covered – energy, mining, steel, food, beverages, and media – companies that are considered leaders in implementing environmental, social and governance policies have outperformed the general stock market by 25 per cent since August 2005. In addition, 72 per cent of these companies have outperformed their peers over the same period.

See the Press Release on the Global Compact Website for more details.