Highlight 19/2022 – The UN Global Compact and its influence in the business response to Ukraine’s humanitarian crisis

Olha Krylova, 8 April 2022

The UN Global Compact was established in July 2000 by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to mobilize companies around the world in aligning their operations and strategies around ten universal principles. Over the last 20 years, the UN Global Compact has grown from  44 businesses into what is today the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative and a global movement of more than  12,000 businesses and 3,000 non-business stakeholders across 160 countries. The UN Global Compact is a vehicle for governments to engage with the private sector to advance their SDG-related policy objectives.

To assess the contribution of the UN Global Compact to Agenda 2030, it is necessary to evaluate its achievements and challenges. According to the UN Global Compact Progress Report 2020, only 29% of businesses feel that their industry is moving fast enough to deliver the SDGs by 2030 and only 6% of businesses  have a carbon emissions reduction target. The biggest challenge that companies report in advancing to the next level of implementation is extending their sustainability approach through the supply chain (47% of respondents). Thus, the UN Global Compact has space for improvement.

However, the UN Global Compact has also made some significant contributions. An example of business action undertaken in line with the UN Global Compact is the Ukraine Humanitarian Crisis Business Guide, issued in March 2022, after further escalation and full-scale invasion of Russia in Ukraine on 24 February 2022. This guide provides concrete actions for businesses to urgently respond to the war in Ukraine and corresponds to SDG 16 – Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions. The guide consists of 5 steps that undertakings can take to provide help to Ukraine:

1. Establishment of the Regional Refugee Response Plan (RRP). It responds to the needs of people who seek refuge in countries neighboring Ukraine. The RRP targets 2.4 million of the estimated 4 million people in need. It focuses on humanitarian needs, including emergency shelter and core relief items, cash assistance especially for the most vulnerable individuals, and protection including access to territory, psychosocial support.
2. Financial contributions. The private sector can make financial contributions by supporting the Ukraine Humanitarian Fund (UHF).
3. In-kind contributions. Businesses wishing to contribute with in-kind goods or services can do so through the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
4. Advocacy. Undertakings can advocate for the fighting to stop and all hostilities to end.
5. Commercial offers. Undertakings can submit commercial offers to the UN Global Marketplace.

This sample of concrete actions reveals what the UN Global Compact can achieve in practice. Of course, the UN Global Compact can be criticised, as poverty, inequality, hunger, migration, and environmental disasters are still on the table and the private sector is not fully committed to its implementation. Yet, the number of companies involved in the UN Global Compact has significantly increased since 2000. The example of actions in Ukraine highlights the strong role that the private sector can play in humanitarian affairs. The capacity to reach international peace and sustainability can be shaped by the willingness and readiness of companies. At the end of the day, a successful achievement of Agenda 2030 largely depends on effective public-private partnerships.

Olha Krylova, Highlight 19/2022 – The UN Global Compact and its influence in the business response to the Ukraine humanitarian crisis, 8 April 2022, available at www.meig.ch

The views expressed in the MEIG Highlights are personal to the author and neither reflect the positions of the MEIG Programme nor those of the University of Geneva.