Businesses are facing increasing demands from their stakeholders to be more transparent about their practices and exposure to risks related to their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance. Pushing against the trend for more transparency are the costs of data collection, requirements for assurance, exposure to legal jeopardy, and legitimate perceptions of reputational risk. This report navigates this ‘transparency dilemma’, to build a better understanding of the risk/return profile of transparency and thereby help companies to balance competing interests.

The Decent Work Toolkit for Sustainable Procurement will enable companies, procurement professionals and suppliers to develop a common understanding on how to advance decent work through purchasing decisions and scaling up efforts to improve lives around the globe. With a focus on trust and transparency, the Decent Work Toolkit for Sustainable Procurement is publicly available to all and contains real-life examples of buyers and suppliers jointly addressing decent work concerns in global supply chains.

Defines the unique characteristics possessed by leaders who are integrating sustainability across strategy, operations and stakeholder engagement and what this means for how CEOs, board members and executives are selected. Based on interviews with Board Members and CEOs, this white paper makes clear that the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development requires transformational business leaders who understand the need to look beyond near-term profits and embrace their role as change agents — both within and beyond their firms and broader ecosystems. This report is available in English and Chinese.

Provides an assessment of how companies participating in the UN Global Compact are adopting the Ten Principles and taking action to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Based on data collected as part of the UN Global Compact annual survey, the report takes stock of how businesses are performing on critical sustainability topics. For the first time, the 2020 report reviews data from a sectoral perspective. It also dives into the current state of progress for specific industry contributions to the SDGs. Broadly, the report finds that companies need to take more ambitious actions, at scale, to meet the objectives of the 2030 Agenda and create the world we want. This special 20th-anniversary edition of the UN Global Compact Progress Report was developed in collaboration with DNV GL. 

Updated version Within the Peer Learning Group Climate of the German Global Compact Network (DGCN), companies explored the challenges associated with developing climate targets, and discussed possible solutions, methods and applications with experts and representatives from the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi). This publication summarizes core findings of the discussion and proposes solutions to challenges. The focus is on the selection of a method for developing a science-based GHG emission reduction path, the interpretation of results, the criteria of the SBTi for an official approval of science-based targets, and the treatment of scope 3 emissions. Thereby, the paper serves as a compact introduction science-based target setting.

Provides an overview of the current state of the business school rankings and suggests possible changes to help align business school education with the needs of the 21st century. It includes 20 actions to improve evaluation and ranking and encourage “a race to the top” in business education.

This guidance identifies the main improvements required for gender-sensitive social auditing and provides recommendations, practical advice, and relevant examples on how to effectively integrate gender considerations into audits.

Future of Internet Power, a group of BSR member companies, is aiming to power the internet with 100 percent renewable energy. As prime customers of energy-intensive colocation data center facilities (colos), we believe that increased ambition and efforts to maximize renewables at colos will result in a cleaner cloud. Given the growing interest among both colo customers and service providers to use low-carbon energy sources and meet sustainability goals, the Future of Internet Power has created the following Corporate Colocation and Cloud Buyers' Principles

The publication highlights the potential role of social dialogue in fostering stability, equity, productivity, sustainable enterprises and inclusive growth. It also showcases some successful examples.

This guide explores the role of the bond market – the largest asset class in the global financial markets – in the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With US$ 6.7 trillion of annual issuance, bonds can provide a cheap, reliable and scalable source of capital for a variety of stakeholders involved in the implementation of Agenda 2030, including companies, governments, cities and public-private partnerships. SDG bonds also provide an answer to the lack of SDG investment opportunities for institutional investors. A diverse portfolio of SDG Bonds, including sovereign, municipal, corporate and project bonds across developed and emerging markets could fulfill mainstream investors’ growing demand for impact while matching their risk-return appetite. This publication is available in English and Spanish

Business Leadership Brief For Healthy Planet, Healthy People provides a holistic approach and outlines concrete actions for companies to embed health and empowerment in their policies, systems, and operations. This publication is available in English and Spanish

Represents more than a decade of research on sustainable business. Together with the UN Global Compact Progress Report, it forms the world’s most comprehensive research to date on business contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals. The 2019 study draws on insights from more than 1,000 CEOs from 21 industries and 99 countries, including over 100 in-depth interviews, and nearly 1,600 senior business leaders who responded to the UN Global Compact implementation survey.