SUPPORT OUR IMPACT

The United Nations Global Compact uses its global reach and local presence to transform business into a lever for good.

3.5+ Million

Workers employed by companies committed to paying living wages by 2030 through our Forward Faster initiative

39%

Portion of global market cap covered by companies that are reducing their carbon emissions aligned to 1.5 C

$282 Billion USD

Mobilizing $500 billion USD in SDG-aligned investments by 2025, with $282 Billion already invested since 2020 through the CFO Coalition for the SDGs

2.7+ Million

Employees working for companies committed closing the gender pay gap by 2030 through our Forward Faster initiative

76 Million tonnes*

Total committed annual emissions reductions across approved science-based targets.**

*Equivalent to eliminating Switzerland's 2022 annual CO2 emissions more than twice over. **As of December 2022. Current projections under analysis.

2500+

Small-sized enterprises integrating sustainable practices into corporate value chains

EXPLORE OUR IMPACT

The UN Global Compact guides companies to integrate a principles-based, holistic approach to sustainability, aligned with our Ten Principles across human rights, labour, environment, and anti-corruption, to establish a baseline of doing no harm and of business integrity. Above that baseline, companies are challenged to take action in areas where the private sector is uniquely positioned to have the most significant positive impact.

Explore the impact of our work in the following areas:

ENVIRONMENT

Working toward a climate-resilient and nature-positive future, covering topics including climate change, water resilience, sustainable oceans, food systems and biodiversity.

SOCIAL

Covering topics including human rights, gender equality, labour rights, decent work and living wage to reduce inequalities and ensure all rights are respected.

GOVERNANCE

Fostering an environment where transparency, accountability and integrity triumph with a focus on topics including corporate governance, corruption and responsible leadership.

ENABLERS

Spotlighting the enablers within corporate operations that will accelerate sustainability, including working through supply chains and through corporate finance.

OUR CALL TO ACTION: HELP US SCALE OUR IMPACT

The success of the UN Global Compact would not be possible without the support of our Government donors, philanthropic funders and companies.

Our organizational budget is not covered by the UN Regular Budget:

Operating in over 60 countries, our $50 million annual organizational budget is not covered under the UN regular budget and falls short of the resources needed to accelerate positive change in business behavior and the business operating environment.

Close to 80 percent of our programmatic and core costs are covered by annual contributions from our company participant base:

  • 60 per cent of revenue comes from company participant fees and 17 per cent from additional sponsorship from companies that meet select criteria.
  • Corporate funding ensures that these companies are directly invested in their own capacity building and provides us with the seed funding to cover our general operating expenses and incubate new programming.
  • Government funding is crucial to the sustainability and success of the UN Global Compact, providing the predictable, long-term resources needed to strategically implement our programs in support of national and regional priorities.

The UN Global Compact seeks flexible, supplementary funding to help us:

  • Hold companies accountable to the Ten Principles and continue pushing the business sector to align actions with the highest standards.
  • Develop impactful programming that focuses on company behavior change, collective action and systems change.
  • Serve as a neutral forum for policy dialogue and collaboration between the private sector, Government, civil society, and the UN system.
  • Increase our reach and work with tens of thousands of companies worldwide, particularly in the Global South and with small-sized companies.
  • Effectively respond to emerging trends and unexpected challenges, and pivot our programming appropriately.

Funding the UN Global Compact is an investment in mainstreaming responsible business practices that align people and planet with profit and turning business into a force for good. Together, we can help the world transition to a green, equitable, and inclusive future where no one is left behind. To learn more, please contact

Is your company interested in becoming a participant of the UN Global Compact? Join us!

OUR REACH

We make transforming the world possible – and achievable – for organizations large and small, anywhere around the globe.

21,000+

Companies committed to the Ten Principles of the United Nations Global Compact

55%

Of participating companies are small-and-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)

160

Countries represented across our participant base

10%

Percentage of Forbes 2000 companies that are UN Global Compact participants – the equivalent of 5% of global GDP

153 million

Employees working for UN Global Compact Participant Companies

Our Global Footprint

With a global headquarters in New York City, the UN Global Compact also has over 60 Country Network, offices worldwide, overseeing work in 77 countries, that adapt our work to the local context and address specific challenges pertinent to each region. Regionalization and localization are a key element of the UN Global Compact's 2023-2025 strategy expansion. The establishment and resourcing of the five Regional Hubs worldwide enable the UN Global Compact to better understand and address private sector priorities on the ground and deliver compelling, impact-oriented, and relevant programming across all contexts in which we operate. To contribute to efforts of developing countries to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the Global Compact has been continuously developing tailored approaches in strengthening the corporate sustainability movement such as in Africa through its Africa Strategy and China Strategy.

Where we work

HOW WE EFFECT CHANGE

The UN Global Compact was the first to coin the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) framework in 2004, sparking a global movement.

81% of our participating companies attribute their progress on sustainability work to engaging with programmes and initiatives of the Global Compact.

Turning Business into a Force for Good

Kofi Annan

The United Nations Global Compact is the world's largest business sustainability initiative, founded in 2000 by late UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to unleash the business sector as a force for good. Participating companies commit to embedding a principles-based approach to sustainability into their business operations and to accountability and transparency by reporting their progress annually through our public reporting platform, the Communication on Progress.

The Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact are based in UN conventions and cover four holistic areas – human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption. While the Ten Principles represent the baseline and show that good practices in one area do not offset harm in another, the UN Global Compact also pushes companies to move beyond this baseline and engage in ambitious action aligned to societal needs, as outlined in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Our Strategic Ambition

We know the world won't solve our most pressing problems without mobilization from the private sector. That is why our strategic ambition is to:

Accelerate and scale the global collective impact of business by upholding the UN Global Compact Ten Principles and delivering the SDGs through ambitious, accountable companies and environments that enable change.

Working with thousands of companies worldwide, the UN Global Compact strives to turn business into a lever for broader systemic change. The power the private sector holds to turn the tide on issues such as climate change and gender equality cannot be understated. We are working to ensure that responsible business practices become the norm, not the exception, for the benefit of people and the planet.

Our Strategic Ambition

Ambitious, Accountable Companies

Through our principles-based approach, our capacity building programmes, and establishing new standards and best practices, the UN Global Compact directly influences the sustainability practices of thousands of companies worldwide. We work with companies to drive them toward higher levels of ambition, while pushing for increased transparency and accountability.

Environments That Enable Change

Companies operate in a complex web of regulations, institutional frameworks, incentive systems and within different societal, economic and political contexts and worldviews. Through our thought leadership, convening power, and global and local-level advocacy, the UN Global Compact influences the external corporate operating environment to incentivize sustainability-driven private sector action.

Our Sister Initiatives

Fostering change in the greater corporate sustainability landscape requires influencing actors outside of the business sector. The UN Global Compact is a founder and partner of two initiatives that promote sustainability across two key stakeholders, the investment sector, through the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) and higher education, through the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME).

In addition, we are proud to be a co-founder and partner of the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), currently considered the gold standard credible corporate climate commitments for emissions reductions. Learn more below: