Published: 2022-01-24
Dear Participants of the UN Global Compact,
As we enter the third year of the global coronavirus pandemic, we cannot help but recognize the changing world of work and the impact this has had – on businesses, to be certain, but also on society as a whole as we continue to navigate our way through the changing realities of the COVID crisis.
Yet we face these challenges with optimism, knowing there is opportunity in every crisis. The opportunity to take stock of our current global realities and begin to implement the changes we must make to steer ourselves, our organizations and our planet on a more sustainable course.
At the United Nations Global Compact, we continue to move forward – not just in spite of the global challenges we face, but because of them. And I am encouraged that our growing list of participating companies, sponsors and patrons – and their commitment to sustainability and our Ten Principles – remains stronger than ever.
The power of public-private partnerships
Throughout this pandemic we have seen the benefits of public-private partnerships. They have been instrumental in the provision of personal protective equipment, testing, humanitarian relief and vaccine production and distribution. Yet equity remains a huge challenge. The disparities in vaccine distribution between the Global North and the Global South are glaring and unconscionable. We cannot move towards a post-COVID world if we do not do so collectively, with full vaccine access and equity.
Grounded as we are in United Nations values and our Ten Principles, the Global Compact is in a unique position to support widespread recovery, working in partnership with businesses in every community and country.
Our new Africa and China strategies, for example, aim to unleash the potential of the world’s largest growth market and the global impact of the Chinese economy.
Advancing the Sustainable Development Goals
Leveraging the power of the private sector to engage responsibly and advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is at the heart of our work. Businesses large and small have a key role to play in accelerating the ambitious actions we need to secure a future where people and planet can thrive.
As articulated in our 2021-23 strategy, our ambition is to accelerate and scale the global collective impact of business by upholding the Ten Principles and delivering the SDGs. To this end, we are focusing our efforts on solving the world’s most pressing challenges through seven focus areas where businesses have an outsized effect on outcomes: Anti-corruption, Climate Change, Human Rights, Labour and Decent Work, Gender Equality, SDG Integration, and Transformational Governance.
New engagement opportunities
Wherever our participating companies are on their sustainability journey, our new engagement opportunities will help them connect, learn, lead, communicate, moving them faster and farther in demonstrating progress on corporate sustainability.
This new UN Global Compact programmatic portfolio will be funded through a simpler, one tier Engagement Model giving all business participants access to the entire range of our programmes, including the Academy.
A majority of participants will not see any significant change in the level of their financial contributions. However, the very large companies with annual revenues of more than US$10 Billion that do will also receive enhanced value and stronger engagement opportunities across their countries of operations and their value chains. The revised financial contributions, which will become effective for existing business participants only in 2023, will help us to deliver on our mission and enable: