Global Compact International Yearbook 2013
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Georg Kell,
Executive Director, UN Global Compact
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The UN Global Compact Leaders Summit, held every three years, is
well timed to take advantage of the momentum in favor of corporate
sustainability that has accelerated rapidly since the 2012 UN Confer-
ence on Sustainable Development (Rio+20).
On the sidelines of Rio+20, nearly 3,000 representatives of companies and
other stakeholders took part in the Corporate Sustainability Forum organized
by the Global Compact. The Forum showed business not only supporting the
efforts of governments to tackle global priorities, but also bringing to the table
inspiring examples of imagination, innovation, and collaboration.
With CEOs and representatives of the 7,500 firms and 3,500 civil society
organizations participating in the Global Compact meeting in New York on
September 19 - 20, 2013, the opportunity is ripe for scaling-up corporate
sustainability efforts to tackle our world’s most pressing challenges.
The following week, the UN General Assembly will consider the follow-up to
Rio+20, including a development agenda to succeed the Millennium Develop-
ment Goals, as well as the possibility of a new set of Sustainable Development
Goals. The UN Secretary-General will report to UN Member States his own
vision for the future. His plan has been informed by a Global Compact report
that is the result of one of the most comprehensive consultations and surveys
on sustainable development ever held in the business community and which
was conducted over the course of a year.
The vision of what the world could and should look like in 15 or 20 years from
now – and especially how businesses can engage and be part of that movement –
is integral to the Global Compact Leaders Summit agenda. Most significantly,
we are unveiling, fine-tuning, and validating a new architecture for business
engagement with the global priorities contained in the future UN agenda.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is once again the Chair of the Global Compact
Leaders Summit. He also convenes a high-level Private Sector Forum, which
in 2013 is focused on Africa. Heads of state and government, CEOs, leaders
from civil society, foundations, and the UN are taking part in the Forum and
will address some of the key themes for future development on the continent –
education, employment, empowerment of women, and innovative financing.
Many of the challenges at the top of the UN’s agenda moving forward are
closely linked with climate change.