Citizenship test United Nations

The UN's latest pitch at fostering corporate responsibility isn't all it's built up to be

Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general, will call on world business leaders tomorrow to help "build an inclusive and sustainable globalisation process" in what is billed as an "historic" event for the corporate responsibility movement. The event marks the latest effort on the UN's part to engage the private sector. In July 2000, the secretary-general made a similar plea to companies to become "good corporate citizens". Only 50 large companies responded at the time.

Multinational companies have been invited to sign a voluntary commitment to uphold a set of nine core principles. The so-called global compact draws on UN conventions on the environment and human rights, together with International Labour Organisation standards for workers' rights.

The official blurb for the conference will tell you three things. First, there are now more signatories. With over 1,400 corporate members, the global compact can claim to be the biggest ever corporate responsibility initiative. Not only that, it is also the most genuinely global, with regional networks across Latin America, Africa and south-east Asia.

"The corporate social responsibility (CSR) movement was largely a northern initiative, but the global compact has sparked a CSR movement within the developing world", says Gavin Power, senior adviser at the global compact.

Secondly, the UN hopes history will record the act of global business leaders putting their hand on their corporate hearts and pledging to adhere to the UN's new convention against corruption. That the private sector acknowledges common legal standards is welcome, but hardly the stuff of history textbooks.

In fact, with an estimated $1,000bn (£546bn) in bribes disappearing into the pockets of government officials every year (much of it from companies), the offer by business to help stamp out corruption could be read as a straightforward move to reduce transaction costs.

The final point Mr Annan and his UN colleagues will be hammering home tomorrow is the number of partnership initiatives generated through the global compact. Examples cited on the UN website include efforts by Unilever to make rural entrepreneurs out of Indian villagers, a scheme by Deutsche Bank to create wildlife parks in Africa and a project by chemicals giant BASF to make small and medium-sized enterprises more eco-efficient.

It makes for an impressive list, but none of the examples is likely to feature in future history lessons. What is truly significant about the gathering is the fact that the UN's General Assembly hall - the heart of international governance - will be lined from top to bottom with corporate suits. The event will make public what many in the international political community have hitherto preferred to keep private: namely, that the world of government needs the world of business.

"Companies and governments have to form new alliances to tackle the most pressing global issues such as poverty, health and education. In some cases, progressive corporate practices can act as a model for governments", says Mr Power. The UN is anxious to stress that its new found passion for public-private partnerships does not mean that corporations should be formulating public policy or co-opting the role of governments. Such assurances hold little sway with democracy campaigners.

From the start, the global compact has been dogged by accusations that it lacks transparency, has no accountability mechanisms and invites companies to trade off the prestige of the UN.

"We would like to see the UN as a body that will monitor corporations and hold them accountable - and not allow excessive or undue corporate influence", says Kenny Bruno, campaign coordinator for the Alliance for a Corporate-Free UN, one of the compact's fiercest critics.

"It seems a very weak thing to say, 'OK companies, please sign up to these principles, but you don't have to follow them. If you don't follow them, there's no penalty. But we want you to sign, so that we can convince you little by little to follow them'," he said.

To highlight their concerns, a coalition of campaign groups is organising a counter-summit today, the day before the UN meeting. The two summits offer a symbolic marker in the debate about the future role of business in society.

"Expecting companies to help set norms and regulations is foolish because companies have never been in the business of providing public goods at a national level", argues James Paul of the Global Policy Forum, the US non-profit group coordinating the counter-summit.

This isn't strictly true. Companies have always had a role in delivering public goods (water, food, energy etc) - just at a profit. However, the UN's hope that tomorrow's generations will profit from the involvement of global business may turn out to be naive.

Certainly 1,400 companies makes for a promising first chapter. Yet, as Mr Power concedes, "when you consider that there's 60,000 companies, the corporate social responsibility movement has its work cut out". United Nations Global Compact

Bertrand Collomb, Chairman of Lafarge and Kofi Annan discuss Social Responsibility 22/06/2004

New Book Raising the Bar Provides Valuable Tools for Companies Implementing UN Global Compact Principles New Book "Raising the Bar" Provides Valuable Tools for Companies Implementing UN Global Compact Principles.

(CSRwire) San Francisco - Before some of the world's leading CEOs meet to discuss progress on the United Nation's Global Compact with Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the new book Raising the Bar: Creating Value with the United Nations Global Compact is already generating much discussion.

The book edited by Aron Cramer, the incoming President and CEO of Business for Social Responsibility (BSR), along with Claude Fussler of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and Sebastian van der Vegt of the International Labour Organization (ILO), provides more than 250 tools and information resources to help companies make the Global Compact principles a reality.

A panel of distinguished thinkers in the field of corporate social responsibility (CSR) will mark the book's release Wednesday with a discussion of the challenge of implementing the UN Global Compact's principles. The panel includes Bertrand Collomb, Chairman of Lafarge and the WBCSD; John G. Ruggie, Director of the Center for Business and Government, Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and Former Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations; and Göran Hultin, Executive Director, Employment, ILO.

The panel will be moderated by Aron Cramer, who noted that "This book will serve as an vital tool to help companies address the essential challenge laid down in the Compact - how to integrate its principles on human rights, labor rights and environmental protection into daily business operations. We believe that this book will be widely used by company staff who are the true champions of the Compact by translating its principles into action." Cramer also stated "the book shows that while these challenges are certainly not easy, those companies that execute on them well are already receiving tremendous reward - both in terms of competitiveness and financial value creation."

Raising the bar contains an inventory of more than 250 tools, case studies, and information resources, all organized around a basic performance model that embraces management concepts familiar to business.

The Global Compact Leaders Summit meeting to be held the following day at United Nations headquarters, is planned to be one of the largest gatherings of chief executive officers, government officials and leaders of civil society and labor on the topic of corporate responsibility. The Summit will convene these leaders to discuss the next steps for implementing the Compact's principles, which address labor, human rights and environmental principles derived from international agreements.

BSR's work on this book was made possible through the generous support of Calvert, Hewlett-Packard, Pfizer, and Unilever.

About BSR Founded in 1992, Business for Social Responsibility is a global nonprofit organization that helps member companies to achieve success in ways that respect ethical values, people, communities and the environment. For more information, visit www.bsr.org The Alliance for a Corporate-Free United Nations http://www.earthrights.org/un/index.shtml

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