Businesses and global corporations were stepping up their efforts to become more ethical, sustainable and responsible at just the right moment, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said, hailing good corporate citizenship as one of the keys to overcoming complex and interlinked crisis — from financial market meltdown to environmental degradation — and to unlocking long-term growth and development for all.

“Today, the business community is coming to understand that principles and profits are two sides of the same coin,” the Secretary-General told more than 1,200 corporate chief executives, Government ministers, civil society leaders and other participants at the third Global Compact Leaders Summit, held in New York City.  The two-day Summit officially kicked off yesterday at United Nations Headquarters with a ministerial session, chaired by Secretary-General Ban, on what Governments could do to promote corporate responsibility.

The Global Compact, marking its tenth anniversary year, aims to encourage businesses to adopt sustainable and socially responsible policies, and to report on their implementation.  Bringing corporations together with United Nations agencies and civil society, the initiative stresses 10 principles in the areas of human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption.  By implementing those principles, businesses, as primary drivers of globalization, can help ensure that markets, commerce, technology and finance advance in ways that benefit economies and societies everywhere.

Secretary-General Ban said that, in its first 10 years, the Compact had become the largest and most ambitious initiative of its kind, with some 8,000 participants.  Corporate sustainability was becoming a byword in companies across the world.  “This realization could not be happening at a better time,” he continued, as this was an era of tectonic shifts in the global order as wealth and economic power were shifting to emerging economies.  Major economies continued to cope with the greatest financial crises in a generation, and business itself, in the aftermath of scandals and mismanagement, faced the need to renew trust.

“The Global Compact can be just the vehicle we need to carry us forward […] to sustainable growth, [to] markets that bring profits and social advancement at the same time,” he said, stressing the importance of investing in developing nations to promote global growth.  “We can’t afford not to invest in the developing world.  We all know that’s where the greatest need is.  But, that is also where some of the greatest dynamism is,” he added.

He also appealed to business leaders to strengthen efforts to help the world achieve the Millennium Development Goals by their 2015 deadline.  “In our efforts to eradicate poverty, create jobs and control disease, 10 years of experience has shown us what works — and what doesn’t work,” he said.  “Our challenge now is to again scale up our commitment.”  He encouraged leaders to take advantage of the 15 partnership opportunities identified for the Summit to advance the Goals, covering areas such as hunger, green energy, and protecting girls from violence.  “Our hope is to create a truly transformative movement.  Our aim is to reach a tipping point towards a new are of sustainability,” he said.

In his opening remarks, New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said sustainable business practices were needed both for the future of the planet and for long-term business growth.  He maintained that the future would belong to businesses that promoted dignity and diversity in the workplace, in addition to environmental sustainability.

In addition, he pointed to two social/environmental factors that were preventable within a public-private partnership: tobacco use and increasing deaths from automobile accidents, now the fifth largest killer in the world.  The future of the world really was in the hands of the leaders present, he said, concluding that it was up to participants to act, so that their children and their children’s children had a better planet to live on. 

mondofragilis group president, Giray, realizes that our efforts are a minute part of the greater picture, but isn't that what collaboration is all about? Isn't that what collective action means? If more smaller companies and organizations start to implement the right principles, maybe the race towards sustainable development will be won more quickly.

To view Giray's Leaders' Livestream declaration, click here.