First announced by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and finally launched in New York City on 26 July 2000, United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) is the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative with 13,000 corporate participants based in over 160 countries. Key stakeholders of UNGC consist of government groups, business, civil society and labour organisations and related UN/global programmes.

Initially it was formed based on CEO commitments to support UN goals, through the implementation of ten universal sustainability principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment, and anti-corruption. Aligned with these principles, the UNGC established six main programs. These programs cover areas such as environment, social, governance, sustainable development, financial markets and supply chain.

Throughout these programs, the organisation’s ultimate purpose is improving the sustainability of UNGC participants. For instance, the environmental program is created to mitigate and address environmental risks, achieved through a systematic strategy that recognises the growing linkages among various environmental issues such as climate, food and water. Social sustainability is addressed in the social program, ensuring that businesses undertake due diligence to avoid and address human rights violations that may be related to their activities. The governance program supports the economic development of societies including business, government or multilateral institutions.

The sustainable development program is intended to advance corporate thinking from short-term profits toward global action and collaboration. In 2015, the UN General Assembly established 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as an Agenda for 2030. These goals universally apply to all, with the aim that countries will mobilise efforts to end all forms of poverty, fight inequalities and tackle climate change, while ensuring that no one is left behind. The purpose of the financial markets program is ensuring companies and investors make better investments by proactively managing sustainability risks. And lastly, the supply chain program ensures that a company’s networks are sustainable, meaning free from human rights violations and corruption, upholding fair labour practices and progressing in addressing environmental issues.

At the UN Global Compact, we aim to mobilize a global movement of sustainable companies and stakeholders to create the world we want. That’s our vision.

To make this happen, the UN Global Compact supports companies to:

1. Do business responsibly by aligning their strategies and operations with Ten Principles on human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption; and
2. Take strategic actions to advance broader societal goals, such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals, with an emphasis on collaboration and innovation.

All UN Global Compact (UNGC) operations, programs and activities are made possible by contributions from Governments to the UNGC Trust Fund and from businesses to the Foundation for the Global Compact.

UNGC receives political and financial support as well as programmatic engagement from the Government Group. The current members of this group include China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. The Chair of the Government Groups rotates on an annual basis and meetings are held twice annually to discuss how the contributions of the Government Group to the UNGC Trust Fund can be allocated effectively and efficiently.

To fund its activity prior to 2018, UNGC received voluntary contributions from the private sector. In 2017, there were over 1,500 business recognised on the Foundation for the Global Compact website. In 2018, the UNGC developed a new engagement model requiring an annual contribution from participants based on their preferred engagement tier. To maintain inclusivity, participants with less than $50 million in revenue are not required to make this contribution.

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