Three insights from United Nations Global Compact 20th Anniversary!

More than 20,000 sustainability champions in 180 countries attended UN Global Compact's 20th anniversary Leaders Summit online, during a 26 hours of continous virtual programming!

The UN Global Compact was announced by then UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in an address to the World Economic Forum on 31 January 1999, and was officially launched at UN Headquarters in New York City on 26 July 2000.

UN Global Compact, aim to mobilize a global movement of sustainable companies and stakeholders to create the world we want. That’s UN Global Compacts vision.

To make this happen, the UN Global Compact supports companies to:

1. Do business responsibly by aligning their strategies and operations with Ten Principles on human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption; and
2. Take strategic actions to advance broader societal goals, such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals, with an emphasis on collaboration and innovation.

My reflections from the summit, to put it simple, are the following:

1. Humanity is awakening!
2. New kind of Leadership is required!
3. Still long way to go!

1. Humanity is awakening!

COVID-19 has impacted business at all levels around the world, and has developed pitfalls and inconsistencies in supply chains and other business practices. The coronavirus pandemic has damaged humanity but it has also been exposed to pre-existing wounds.

The impact of the pandemic has demonstrated that failure to address one crisis increases the magnitude and intensity of others. For instance, growing populations and consumption habits are leading to deforestation which puts different species in closer contact, increasing the risk of zoonotic viruses affecting humanity.

Similarly, the 2.7 billion people currently living under water scarcity have less water to drink, maintain proper hygiene, or grow required crops for their livelihoods.

This figure is an example how COVID-19 are affecting all the SDGs.

It’s now clearer than ever that system change is needed and brands, investors and consumers are waking up to the facts.

2. New kind of Leadership is required!

The COVID-19 pandemic has made it clear that there is an urgent need for a new type of business leadership — one that makes the longterm sustainability and resilience of our world a top priority.

During the Summit, UN Global Compact launched a new report, LEADERSHIP FOR THE DECADE OF ACTION where pioneering leaders were studied.

The sustainability pioneers that were studied are all successful leaders and they all share the same experience of the commercial and leadership sence they have had to demonstrate to get to where they are today. They have innovated and pushed real change within their organizations by driving it to the core of organizational strategy and culture.

They have also recognized that sustainability is not a destination, but a journey. They understand that they can and must build on the successes they have had to date, but that they should not rest on them. 

These sustainable leaders demonstrate four critical leadership attributes that are driven by their sustainable mindset:

• Multilevel Systems Thinking

Sustainable leaders go beyond a deep understanding of their own organizational system and incorporate the interplay with the larger business, societal and environmental systems around them. Critically they cut through that complexity to drive targeted decisions and actions that turn sustainability into a competitive advantage. 

• Stakeholder Inclusion

Sustainable leaders do not manage stakeholders — they include them. They actively seek to understand a wide range of points of view in order to drive decision-making with all those stakeholders in mind and where possible, actively involve those stakeholders in actioning the decisions and sharing the benefits.

• Disruptive Innovation

Sustainable leaders possess the courage to challenge traditional approaches — they ask why it cannot be done differently. They cut through bureaucracy to drive the breakthrough innovation that is needed to find novel solutions that do away with a trade-off between profitability and sustainability.

• Long-Term Activation

Sustainable leaders do not simply have an orientation towards the long term, they set bold goals and drive coordinated action and investments in the pursuit of them. To do this requires a great deal of courage to stay the course in the face of setbacks and to make decisions that may be unpopular with some short-term oriented stakeholders

The conclusion is that sustainability is a leadership issue and imperative to long-term success and it requires the right mindset and leadership attributes.

It starts at the top, but it must become part of the structure of the organization. To achieve this, it is critical for organizations to embed sustainability into their leadership frameworks and processes. CEOs and boards need to be ambitious in driving a new vision for leadership and they need to develop and foster sustainable leaders in their ranks.

This is however, NOT a matter of hiring a single individual to own sustainability.

The systemic challenges the world faces today mean that sustainable leadership cannot be limited to a small minority; it requires companies to cultivate leadership at all levels.

3. Still long way to go!

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a robust framework for addressing many inequities, but the evidence is clear that we are not on track to meet them. While there have been bright spots of progress in a number of areas, advancement towards the SDGs has been slow or even reversed. Climate change, loss of biodiversity, extreme poverty and widening social and health inequalities continue to pose existential threats to our future.

The UN Global Compact Progress Report 2020 and the UN Global Compact-Accenture Strategy CEO Study 2019 both show that businesses need to step up their efforts in this area.  

The good news however, according to UN Global Comapct is that it is still possible to shift the world onto a 1.5°C trajectory, reduce global inequalities, and achieve the SDGs by 2030. However, this will require bold leadership to transform business models and economies so the SDGs are achieved.

So what will be after COVID-19?

I am convinced that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the clearest globally-agreed articulation of social and environmental outcomes to achieve by 2030. As such, they can set a common frame for governments, business, academia and civil society, to develop sustainable guidelines.

However, true sustainability in business requires a profound transformation throughout entire industries and it will take more than brand pledges to achieve this. In order to adopt sustainable practices across global markets, transparency and verification will therefore be needed.

With crisis and risks comes opportunities! Especially within sustainability!

This crisis is an opportunity to Future-Proof and change your business models towards sustainability and stimulate innovation to preserve our world for the coming generations.

This pandemic is a true wake up call for sustainability!

Eva Vati is an Entrepreneur and Business Strategist who helps executives, businesses, and entrepreneurs future-proof their companies. 

She is the CEO and founder of VATI of Sweden, which is the first company in the world giving certification on integrating sustainability into business strategy. She has a loyal community of over 15,000 people who are committed to creating a better world by running businesses that promote sustainability, equality, and diversity.  

She recently won a prize for Innovative Startups 2020 by Vinnova - Sweden's Innovation Agency.

She is on a mission to spread the message of “Dare to Lead” on a global scale.