The United Nations’ new secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, has eased fears
about the level of his commitment to the UN’s Global Compact by
chairing the second meeting of the Compact Board, a newly constituted
panel of 20 leaders from business, civil society and trade unions that
will oversee the initiative.
There had been concerns, not least among employees at the Compact
Office, that Ban, a former diplomat from South Korea who will serve
until the end of December 2011, was less interested in the Compact than
his predecessor Kofi Annan, who created and nurtured it within the UN.
However, several Compact signatories have told EP
that Ban’s interest in leading the meeting last month, which would
normally be chaired by Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, chairman of Anglo
American, suggests that he will be closely involved.
One source said: ‘Certainly there have been worries that Ban might not
be as enthusiastic about the Compact [as Annan], and that the Compact
Office might even be down-scaled. But he has gone out of his way – in
the coded way that things are done at the UN – to show that he is right
behind it.’
Andrew Savitz, a US-based sustainability specialist and former lead
partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers, claimed Ban’s commitment to the
project would be crucial. ‘The Compact is at an important juncture,’ he
said. ‘Without the active and visible support of the incoming
secretary-general, it will quickly become yesterday’s initiative. While
it is possible that CEOs will continue to push it forward without him,
Ban’s personal involvement in recruiting new chief executives,
inspiring participants and promoting the compact’s successes will be
critical.’
A key decision made at the meeting chaired by Ban was to strengthen the
Compact’s ‘integrity measures’ against companies that fail to show they
are observing its ten principles. The board decided that any
signatories ‘inactive’ for a year will be removed from the list of
participants. In the last six months, more than 300 signatories have
been classified as inactive on the grounds that they have failed to
report progress regularly on what they are doing to support the Compact
(EP8, issue 9). Until last
month’s decision, such companies could become active again by
submitting a communication at any time. Now they have only 12 months to
do so.
Latest UN figures suggest the integrity measures are spurring
signatories to report. The Compact Office said an ‘unprecedented’ 428
business participants issued progress communications in the last
quarter of 2006, up from 70 in the corresponding period of 2005. The
‘last-quarter surge’ brought the total of communications in 2006 to 927
– altogether 41 per cent more than in 2005.
Michael
Spenley, Littlewoods’ head of ethical sourcing, is the new chair of the
UK’s Global Compact Network. He succeeds Anthony Sampson, former CSR
head at Aviva.
