Business must work with civil society

Johannesburg - Business must work with civil society in an attempt to promote corporate sustainability, Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, chairman of the United Nations Global Compact Foundation said on Wednesday.

"If business speaks alone on sustainability there will be some impact, but we must work with civil society and together look at long-term objectives... business cannot do this on its own," Moody-Stuart told the annual summit of the National Business Initiative (NBI) in Johannesburg.

The UN Human Global Compact - which included civil society and labour organisations - covered the areas of human rights, labour, the environment, and anti-corruption in its ten principles, he said.

"Businesses sign up to the UN Global Compact's principles but they have got to do more than that... every year they must report what they did regarding our principles."

While many businesses had not reported and had been crossed off the list, the number of those who had signed up to the UN Global Compact was still growing.

However, corporate sustainability has not penetrated the majority of companies operating in markets around the world.

The UN Global Compact had therefore developed a blueprint for corporate sustainability leadership to take it into its second decade.

"The blueprint led to agreement on four components, namely local networks and subsidiary engagement, global and local working groups, issue-based and sector initiatives and the promotion of the UN Global Compact."

Moody-Stuart said local networks had proved to be significant.

"Things are not always done in Geneva but in countries through local networks which we have spread around the world... these networks manage to bring both big and small business together."

An example was the Sudan where the local network had made progress in bringing together Sudanese companies and international companies.

"We brought investors to the Sudan to see how business is done there. If the country's problems are to be solved, it will need investment."