PROGRAMMES
ENVIRONMENT
Businesses are facing unprecedented levels of uncertainty, complexity, and risk due to climate change, biodiversity loss, and water scarcity. This uncertainty is driven by a broad range of physical and transition risks such as supply chain disruption, price volatility, resource scarcity, damaged or stranded assets, and increased operating costs. Companies must navigate this complex environment, balancing regulatory compliance, reputational and litigation risk, and changing stakeholder expectations from investors, customers, consumers, and employees.
Companies that actively address these challenges will be best placed to strategically manage risks, whilst positioning themselves to take advantage of the many opportunities a green transition will bring: new market opportunities, talent acquisition, increased resource efficiency, enhanced reputation, greater access to capital, reduced operating costs, and improved resilience.
As a signatory to the 2015 Paris Agreement and 2022 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, the UK Government has set clear targets for net zero and nature. The business sector, as a driver of innovation and behaviour change, has a critical role to play in unlocking progress.
There is a growing need for businesses to be able to identify and address their impacts across climate, nature, and water, whilst simultaneously mitigating and adapting to build operational resilience. And many businesses will need to transform to some or a great extent, rather than merely adapt, to successfully navigate a net zero transition.
The UN Global Compact Network UK’s Environment Programme aims to support businesses of all sizes and all sectors, at all stages of their journey to a low-carbon economy. We provide resources and training on how to get started across climate, nature, and water, set ambitious science-based targets, establish action-oriented transition plans, build effective disclosure and reporting, and successfully advocate for a supportive business policy environment.
In 2025, we will be hosting an extensive programme of webinars throughout the year covering topics such as:
Members can also participate in a range of additional engagement opportunities, including Q&A Surgeries, Working Groups, and a range of training programmes. To find out more about becoming a UN Global Compact Network UK member, click here.
For further information on any of our environment programmes or to share any suggestions about anything you would like us to cover, please email: sarah.cook@unglobalcompact.org.uk.
SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY
The UN Global Compact Network UK's Business and Human Rights Programme aims to support businesses to better understand and apply human rights standards in their operations.
The Bhopal disaster in 1984 and the Rana Plaza collapse in 2013 are examples of how human rights violations in the private sector can cause huge loss of life. In the wake of events such as these and other human rights violations by the private sector, civil society has increasingly called for companies to be held accountable to human rights standards. If companies had been held accountable to such standards, these disasters may never have happened.
Within existing international human rights law, states are the primary duty-bearer and private actors are only indirectly obliged to abide by human rights law, generally through state legislation. This has led to many companies believing that their only obligation is to respect national laws, even where those laws have failed to meet international human rights standards.
In June 2011 this debate was put to an end when the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) were endorsed by the UN Human Rights Council. The UNGPs rest on three pillars:
- The state duty to protect against human rights abuses by third parties, including business;
- The corporate responsibility to respect human rights; and
- Access by affected people to effective remedy, both judicial and non-judicial.
These guidelines are an authoritative starting point in defining human rights responsibilities within the private sector. Whilst businesses are not being asked to take on the same responsibilities as governments, they are still expected to respect human rights and provide remedy in cases of human rights violations.
Codes and standards related to companies and human rights have proliferated in recent years. This trend has been picked up by governments, who have started passing related legislation, and investors, who have started requesting that companies disclose data on their human rights performance.
We welcome suggestions if there is anything you would like to see us cover in our B&HR Programme. Please contact Head of Social Sustainability, Bee Delgado.
GOVERNANCE, SDGs, & CROSS-CUTTING THEMES
Every business plays a crucial role in achieving the SDGs by 2030. Business must establish leadership that ensures more effective, accountable, and transparent governance, while integrating sustainable development in corporate investments and finance to transform business models and maximize their impact on the SDGs.
Globally, 50% of targets across the 17 Goals are not being met, and on domestic delivery, the UK is only performing well on 17% of targets. The latest estimates of the SDG financing gap between 2023 – 2030 are $103–135 trillion. The private sector as a collective has the resources at its disposal to close the gap, accounting for over 60% of GDP in most countries.
UN Global Compact Network UK aims to mobilise the private sector to rethink their purpose, value proposition and embrace a system approach of transformational governance and align corporate finance strategies with SDGs to strengthen business internal and external operations.
We have developed holistic programmes for companies to embed sustainability into their strategy and take collective action to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
Contact Brenda Staines, Head of Governance & Cross-Cutting Themes for more information.