Abstract
AbstractCorporate responsibility provides the foundation for sustainable development. It is a complex sphere since there are several confusing initiatives intended to help companies incorporate sustainability. From an international perspective, the UN initiatives have had the most impact. I provide a short introduction to the history of key UN initiatives associated with environmental and social issues and how they relate to business and corporations. As the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have a key global framework for sustainable development, they will be discussed in detail with special attention to challenges and practical relevance for corporations. Well-known and widely applied initiatives to evaluate corporate performance like Fair Trade Certificate and ISO 14001; greenhouse and climate reporting initiatives, like the GHG Protocol, CDP, TCFD; sustainable reporting frameworks, like GRI and IIRC; and supply chain guidance and due diligence like the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, and new laws on transparency, will be presented.
Highlights
Principle 3: Businesses should uphold the freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining; Principle 4: the elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labor; Principle 5: the effective abolition of child labor; and Principle 6: the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation
The ten principles of the UN Global Compact (UNGC) are mainly based on already existing declarations, principles, and conventions, like, for example, the UN Declaration of Human Rights, the ILO Declaration on Principles and Rights at Work, the Rio Declaration and the UN Convention Against Corruption
Large corporations joining the UNGC have to contribute to support their engagement based on their annual gross sales/revenues (United Nations Global Compact, 2021)
Summary
The UN Global Compact (UNGC) is the UN organization for sustainable business. The ten principles of the UNGC are mainly based on already existing declarations, principles, and conventions, like, for example, the UN Declaration of Human Rights, the ILO Declaration on Principles and Rights at Work, the Rio Declaration and the UN Convention Against Corruption. Both companies and organizations can join the UNGC, regardless of their size, complexity, or location. Large corporations joining the UNGC have to contribute to support their engagement based on their annual gross sales/revenues (United Nations Global Compact, 2021). The UNGC has made positive contributions to many companies in terms of reputation and customer loyalty, employee loyalty, reducing costs, increasing innovation, and so on
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