United Nations Global Compact

Global Compact or the United Nations Global Compact ( German: Global Compact of the United Nations ) the English name for a global pact to make, which is made between the company and the UN, the globalization of social and environmental.

On 31 January 1999, the Pact was officially offered by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos to all interested business leaders. The International Chamber of Commerce ( ICC) was not only the first but also a long time the only contact from the business, who took up this initiative. Already agreed in July 1999, the ICC and Kofi Annan close cooperation. The ICC won the first 50 multinational companies. On 26 July 2000 the operational phase was launched in New York.

3.1 The Global Compact Yearbook Germany
3.2 The Global Compact International Yearbook

Principle

Participation in the Global Compact is easy. In a brief letter to the UN Secretary-General a company declares its intention to endeavor to comply with certain minimum social and environmental standards in the future ( practical guide to making a progress report - PDF 5.5 MB). These principles are set in ten principles, which are mutatis mutandis reproduced here.

Companies who sign the Global Compact, to ...

The fight against corruption has been added subsequently.

The undersigned company shall submit an annual report about it.

Party

Worldwide 7,000 Participants committed by mid-2009 to the ten principles of the Global Compact, of which 5,000 companies. Since the Global Compact is a multi- stakeholder network, participate alongside companies and civil society, research institutions, business and labor organizations and cities.

On the UN side, the following organizations participate:

The High Commissioner for Human Rights UNHCHR,
The International Labour Organization ( ILO),
Environment Programme UNEP United Nations,
Development Programme of the United Nations, UNDP,
The United Nations Industrial Development Organization UNIDO,
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, UNODC.

In 2005, the President of the Novartis Foundation for Sustainable Development Klaus Leisinger by Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary-General, was appointed as the successor of John Ruggie as Special Advisor for the Global Compact.

At the regional level include the participants together in national networks. Meanwhile, more than 80 of these national networks are established or emerging.

The German Global Compact Network

The German participants of the Global Compact organized since 2001 in the German Global Compact Network, with over 250 participants in January 2012. The network includes 20 of the DAX 30 corporations, small and medium-sized enterprises and scientific institutions such as the Free University of Berlin and non-governmental organizations such as Amnesty International and Transparency International.

The coordination of the network has taken over the German Agency for Technical Cooperation, 2001. It is commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and companies in the Global Compact and in coordination with the Foreign Office and the International Chamber of Commerce.

The Global Compact Yearbooks

The Global Compact Yearbook Germany

The Global Compact Yearbook Germany appears since 2004 and concentrates in the shell portion the most important topics in the fields of human and labor rights, environmental protection and Koruptionsbekämpfung. It is geared to the ten principles of the UNGC. The inner part offers companies the opportunity to " best practice" examples of their involvement in these areas to present and follows the shared learning approach of the Global Compact.

The German GC Yearbook is traditionally a non-commercial project. To fund the costs incurred production costs such as printing, design and delivery, the participants of the German Global Compact Network contribute financially.

Among the authors of the previous editions include Ban Ki -moon, Angela Merkel, Georg Kell, Jørgen Randers, Heidemarie Wieczorek -Zeul and Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker.

The Global Compact International Yearbook

The International GC yearbook has been published since 2009, and follows in the content and structure of the German edition. The Yearbook is published in English and will be distributed worldwide. Target group are the participants of the Global Compact (UNGC ), companies and their stakeholders, investors, politicians, NGOs and universities. The proceeds from the book sale will go global at the " Foundation for the Global Compact ".

In collaboration with the UN Global Compact Office in New York current topics are illuminated. At the same time, regional networks can present the interested public. As in the German edition is awarded to companies in the inner part of the way, "Best Practice" to present examples. All contributions can be found on the online version of the yearbook.

Authors of the International Yearbook were: Ban Ki -moon, George Kell, Jerome Glenn, Lord Michael Hastings, Marc Lee and Achim Steiner.

Reform

GC Managing Director ( ' executive director ') Georg Kell wants 2012 ' Global Compact ' reform. He wants to exclude members who do not really adhere to the principles or " freeloaders " are.

Criticism

The principles of the Global Compact are minimum standards that are based on documents that will be accepted by a majority of the international community, and are therefore already been incorporated into the national legislation. Therefore, they are criticized as too weak and ineffective.

In addition, compliance with the criteria is voluntary. There are no penalties if a company fails to meet its own goals. Currently, the only instrument of the Global Compact is the obligation of annual communication to report on progress and problems in the development of the company. Not communicating company are listed separately on the organization's website, at twice the failure to participate will be considered terminated. The contents of the reports are submitted but not approved and therefore represent only a voluntary self-disclosure represents the guidelines of the Global Reporting Initiative are indeed recommended as a possible, but non-binding standards for these sustainability reports.

The low uptake barrier further results that include companies that violate the principles that are on the list of participants. It is thus from the outside can not see whether the company actually meets the guidelines or is at least in a process of improvement, or look at the membership of the organization as a promotional measure.

In summary, it is the criticism that the parties enter into with the Global Compact not an obligation but abuse it as a promotional tool. You benefit from the reputable reputation of the UN, without observing actual social and ecological minimum standards. In allusion to the blue color of the UN this behavior is called BlueWash (blue wash ). Some non -governmental organizations have therefore threatened to leave the pact if it is not binding.

In 2010, the Global Compact CEO Water Mandate was given the negative price Public Eye Award in the category " greenwash ".

Right to work Unfree labour Child labour Klaus M. Leisinger Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul Michael Hastings, Baron Hastings of Scarisbrick Sustainability reporting Corporate Social Responsibility

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