Financial Times
At our meeting in New York, Georg Kell hands me two new business cards. One is for the United Nations Global Compact, which Mr Kell founded in 2000 to promote corporate labour and human rights standards. Having just stepped down as executive director, he is now its senior policy adviser. The other announces that he is board vice-chairman at Arabesque Partners, a sustainability-focused investment firm. This card is made of decidedly thicker paper.
Investment & Pensions Europe
One month away from the Paris climate change talks, Jonathan Williams asks how likely are investors to be faced with a repeat of the failed summit in Copenhagen. Will failure to reach a global agreement still stifle the growth of the low-carbon economy?
Devex Impact
Georg Kell was there at the start — he crafted the speech that planted the seed, took that idea and an initial $20,000 and led the development of what is today’s United Nations Global Compact. When he stepped down at the end of August, he left a labor of love and a 15-year legacy to new leader Lise Kingo.
Reuters
Georg Kell, founder of the United Nations' top corporate sustainability programme, is set to be appointed as vice-chairman at Anglo-German asset manager Arabesque, the firm said on Monday.
3BL Media
The United Nations Global Compact, the world’s largest corporate sustainability network, said that the recent papal encyclical on environmental principles “should inspire the private sector to do more to protect the environment and address climate change,” in an open letter delivered Friday to the representative of His Holiness Pope Francis in New York.
Reuters
Progress in making companies more environmentally and socially responsible has been slow and too many still focus on short-term financial gain rather than their long-term impact on people and nature, the head of the U.N. Global Compact said on Thursday.
Property Wire
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and the United Nations have issued a call to organisations in the land, construction and real estate sectors, and those working with them, to take a leading role in responsible and sustainable business practices.
Supply Management
Georg Kell, executive director of the UN Global Compact, said the public and private realms were blurring and so companies had to take responsibility for factors, such as air quality and water scarcity, once considered “externalities”.
3BL Media
According to the UN Global Compact's Guide to Corporate Sustainabiliy, to be sustainable, companies must do five things, which starts with a company’s value system and a principled approach to doing business. This means operating in ways that, at a minimum, meet fundamental responsibilities in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption.
The Guardian
As the last day of the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, kicks off, we asked participants to share the ideas they are taking away about the real things they can do to help solve the world’s top challenges.
Yahoo! Finance
The practice of corporate sustainability ismoving beyond ad hoc, opportunistic efforts to embrace a more holistic,strategic approach that pursues transformational goals, frequently throughpartnerships that engage multiple entities, including competitors,suppliers, governments, and NGOs. So says a new global study by MIT Sloan ManagementReview (MIT SMR), The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and the UN GlobalCompact.
The Independent
The world is on the brink of enlisting market forces in the fight against climate change on a truly global scale for the first time, United Nations officials have claimed. After years of opposition, hundreds of the world’s major companies and investment firms – including several oil giants – have agreed that there should be a charge for the damage done to the planet by greenhouse gases.
The Guardian
We all know that decisions made by committee risk pandering to the lowest common denominator. This seems to be the case when it comes to the progressive end of the business community. While some corporate leaders individually recognise the world economy needs to undergo a radical shift to deal with social and environmental challenges, when they try to come up with a united front, the sharpness of their voice gets lost.