UN Announced a New Architecture to Help Businesses Support Sustainable Development

During the UN Global Compact Leaders Summit, Ban Ki-moon discussed sustainability reporting and introduced a new architecture that will help to drive and scale up corporate actions for sustainable development. The summit occurs after every three years and more than a thousand business executives attended the summit.

Ban Ki-moon, UN General Secretary, asked the business executives to increase their efforts in regard to sustainable reporting. He said that "Companies that take their responsibilities to people and the planet seriously will increasingly be in the vanguard. That is why the investment community is looking closely at sustainability and factors like environmental stewardship, labour standards, social responsibility and good governance. In short, business can no longer ignore its social and environmental responsibilities. We need it to help build sustainability through the marketplace. Ladies and Gentlemen, your companies have already committed to these principles. Most of you are reporting on your progress. But I want you to go further. First, I want you to see what more you can or should be doing in your own operations and in your relationships with trading partners. Second, I want you to act on your commitment by helping to swell the ranks of the Global Compact so we reach a critical mass. Third, I want you to consider how to use your expertise and resources to help to promote the changes we need for a truly sustainable future. We need you to advance innovations and forge collaborations that can have transformative impacts on some of the toughest issues we face. I am firmly committed to the power of partnerships, working with business and all key stakeholders to make progress on UN objectives."

Ernst Ligteringen, C.E.O. of Global Reporting Initiative, Peter Bakker, President of World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), and Georg Kell, Executive Director of the UN Global Compact (UNGC) also joined UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. They were there to affirm plans for collaboration between the three organizations to promote sustainable development.