25.06.2010
BUILDING A NEW ERA OF SUSTAINABILITY. UN Global Compact Leaders' Summit
New York, 23-25 June 2010 Global Compact Leaders Summit brought together more than 1,200 leaders from business, civil society and governments to assess state of corporate responsibility and chart course towards new era of sustainability. The Summit took place in New York on 23-25 June and was chaired by UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon.
Photo: Marion Book (left to right): Yuliya Shcherbinina (UN in Ukraine), Kseniia Liapina (the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Industrial and Regulatory Policy and Entrepreneurship), Dmytro Lyapin, Igor Kirilyuk (Metinvest), Jock Mendoza-Wilson and Alexandra Zayarna (SCM )
More than 5 assessments were presented, over 20 new tools were launched, a number of publications on best practices was introduced during the Summit.
The Ukrainian delegation consisted of representatives from business - Jock Mendoza-Wilson and Alexandra Zayarna (SCM), Igor Kirilyuk (Metinvest) ,Sergey Kordashenko (DTEK), from Parliament - Ksenia Lyapina (the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Industrial and Regulatory Policy and Entrepreneurship), from media - Mariya Pomazan ("Expert"magazine) and from the GC Secretariat - Yulia Shcherbinina (UN office in Ukraine).
Reflections of more than 1,000 CEOs business leaders, members of civil society and academic experts on progress to date, challenges ahead and the impact of the journey toward a sustainable economy were summed up in the new survey “A New Era of Sustainability” by Accenture and the UN Global Compact presented during the 1st day of the Summit. The main findings of the survey are the following:
• The majority of CEOs (93%) believe that sustainability issues will be critical to the future success of their business.
• Moreover, 80% of CEOs surveyed believe the tipping point when the majority of companies worldwide reach the new era in which sustainability is fully integrated across their global business footprint will occur within the next 15 years — an optimistic view and testament to the sea-change taking place.
• 86% of CEOs see “accurate valuation by investors of sustainability in long-term investments” as important to reaching a tipping point in sustainability.
• 49% of CEOs cite complexity of implementation across functions as the most significant barrier to implementing an integrated, company-wide approach to sustainability. Competing strategic priorities is second with 48%.
• 58% of CEOs identify consumers as the most important stakeholder group that will impact the way they manage societal expectations. Employees were second with 45%.
• 72% of CEOs see education as the global development issue most critical to address for the future success of their business. Climate change is second with 66%.
• 91% of CEOs report that their company will employ new technologies (e.g., renewable energy, energy efficiency, information and communication technologies) to address sustainability issues over the next five years.
In the Summit's closing session, Global Compact participants adopted, by acclamation, a "New York Declaration by Business", pledging to renew their commitment to the Global Compact principles, deepen their engagement, strengthen their support for critical development goals, and increase transparency and dialogue. The Declaration further calls on governments to "cultivate enabling environments for entrepreneurship and innovation" and to set clear regulatory signals, especially on climate change.
In his closing remarks the UN Secretary General Ban ki-moon urged business leaders to renew public trsut, advance global investments and anti-poverty goals. He also expressed his hope that the Global Compact become a “truly transformative movement”, reaching 20,000 participants by 2020.
The Global Compact Leaders Summit also marks the tenth anniversary of the GC initiative, launched in July 2000 to engage business to adopt universal human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption principles in their strategies and day-to-day operations.
Official site of the Summit: http://www.leaderssummit2010.org/
Survey “A New Era of Sustainability”:
https://microsite.accenture.com/sustainability/Documents/Accenture_UNGC_Study_2010.pdf
The text of the New York Declaration can be found here
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