Provides guidance on how businesses and business schools can collaborate to co-create solutions for sustainability challenges. The toolkit and brochure feature inspiring examples of partnerships, categorized under five themes: influencing, training, collaborating, researching and consulting.

Various stakeholder groups are mounting calls for Boards of Directors to take sustainability into account while adhering to their legal duties to shareholders. This puts questions about fiduciary duty front and center. Careful legal analyses of such questions have been prepared over the past year by law firms all over the world. The collection of memoranda below will inform and enrich discussion among Board directors, and the lawyers who counsel them, about how changing circumstances near and far are affecting their ability to meet fiduciary duty requirements. 

 Prof. Robert G. Eccles and Tim Youmans of Harvard Business School have led this collaboration which included the UN Global Compact, the American Bar Association’s Task Force on Sustainable Development and PRI, Their aim was to gather legal perspectives from law firms in a wide range of countries. Each participating law firm used a standard research template developed by Linklaters in the UK to structure their respective legal memo. The legal memos are posted below with the permission of the participating firms. To further grow the research, enquiries from law firms in countries that do not already have a legal memo are welcome. If you do not see your country listed and want to know if one is being prepared, please contact Ingvild Soerensen (soerensen@unglobalcompact.org).

Helps investors to understand why and how to engage companies on their tax practices, thus promoting corporate tax responsibility: a more responsible corporate approach to tax practices, including better disclosure and transparency, good governance and appropriate management of tax-related risks.

Business has much to gain from more inclusive economic prosperity, through access to new markets, unleashing more innovation, and greater social stability so necessary for markets to function. Conversely, business has much to lose from an economy that fails to capitalize fully on human capital, constricts markets, and experiences sluggish demand. This working paper introduces BSR’s perspective on the business role in creating inclusive prosperity.

The retention of worker identity documents is a common practice among employers and recruitment agencies in many countries and sectors around the world. The practice infringes on international human rights and can make workers vulnerable to forced labour. This note calls on business to take action to address the practice and its associated risk of labour abuse. References to relevant international standards and links to additional resources provide further guidance to business.

Establish the attributes of well-functioning and sustainable global food and agriculture systems, and articulate a common understanding of the resources, ecosystem services and socio-economic impacts needed to build resilience into these systems and the markets that they serve.

Describes how National Human Rights Institutions and Global Compact Local Networks can collaborate to help businesses understand and meet their human rights responsibilities and commitments.

The Business Leadership Criteria on Carbon Pricing is designed to inspire companies to reach the next level of climate performance and to advocate for a price on carbon as a necessary and effective measure to tackle the climate change challenge. The criteria comprise three overlapping dimensions: first, setting an internal carbon price; second, responsible policy advocacy; and third, communicating on progress.

The examples in this publication offer an important step forward in providing companies with guidance on why and how they can make practical contributions in this area – in ways benefitting both their business and the societies where they operate.

Advances a common approach to corporate water disclosure that addresses the complexity and local nature of water resources.

The WEPs video, Equality Means Business, features compelling business leaders and others from around the world who make the case for implementing the 7 Principles and the importance of realizing gender equality. Share the WEPs Video with your network or screen either the short (2.46 min) or long version (5.46 min) below.

The UN Global Compact Bulletin is designed to keep participants up to date on news, engagement opportunities, resources and events. Participants are encouraged to look to this monthly communication for important information. Please note that engagement opportunities and events are intended for Global Compact stakeholders, unless otherwise indicated. The Bulletin is published in English, French, Spanish and Chinese.