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United Nations Global Compact
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<p>The United Nations Global Compact is a non-binding <a href="/facts/United_Nations/fgXLnmgT">United Nations</a> pact to get businesses and firms worldwide to adopt sustainable and <a href="/facts/Corporate_social_responsibility/lIoo9m1s">socially responsible</a> policies, and to report on their implementation. The UN Global Compact is the world's largest <a href="/facts/Corporate_sustainability/0ccS4JjN">corporate sustainability</a> and corporate social responsibility initiative, with more than 20,000 corporate participants and other stakeholders in over 167 countries. The organization consists of a global agency, and local "networks" or agencies for each participating country. Under the Global Compact, companies are brought together with UN agencies, labour groups and civil society. </p><p>The UN Global Compact is a principle-based framework for businesses, stating ten principles in the areas of <i>human rights</i>, <i>labour</i>, <i>the environment</i> and <i>anti-corruption</i>. The declared objectives of the participants and stakeholders are to "mainstream the ten principles in business activities around the world" and to "catalyse actions in support of broader UN goals, such as the <a href="/facts/Millennium_Development_Goals/Kyj35oL1">Millennium Development Goals</a> (MDGs) and <a href="/facts/Sustainable_Development_Goals/b7lVYvFN">Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)</a>". The organization solicits commitments to specific sustainability and social responsibility goals from CEOs and highest-level executives, and in turn offers training, peer-networks and a functional framework for responsibility, taking a "learning model" for corporate change, rather than a regulatory one. </p><p>The UN Global Compact was announced by UN Secretary-General <a href="/facts/Kofi_Annan/x5YdH5wX">Kofi Annan</a> in an address to the <a href="/facts/World_Economic_Forum/91KlC7Cb">World Economic Forum</a> on 31 January 1999 and was officially launched at <a href="/facts/UN_Headquarters/4pof9vnU">UN Headquarters</a> in New York City on 26 July 2000. The Global Compact Office works on the basis of a mandate set out by the <a href="/facts/United_Nations_General_Assembly/pNDmCu8X">UN General Assembly</a> as an organization that "promotes responsible business practices and UN values among the global business community and the <a href="/facts/United_Nations_System/wFmwSkcd">UN System</a>". The UN Global Compact is a founding member of the United Nations <a href="/facts/Sustainable_Stock_Exchanges_Initiative/oPfP7szT">Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) initiative</a> along with the <a href="/facts/Principles_for_Responsible_Investment_(PRI)/ffqIllgm">Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI)</a>, the <a href="/facts/United_Nations_Environment_Programme_Finance_Initiative/HhHbFBsM">United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP-FI)</a>, and the <a href="/facts/United_Nations_Conference_on_Trade_and_Development/NRYQCDt4">United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)</a>. </p>