Dan Thomas, CCO of UN Global Compact with Matt Bird at World Economic Forum (Davos, Switzerland)

HIGHLIGHTS

• SDG Media Zone brings UN Conversation to global audience
• 20th year anniversary of the UN Global Compact
• UNGC has over 14,000 signatories from over 160 countries

(ESG News) – In 2000 U.N. Secretary General Kofi Atta Annan challenged companies to care as much about people as profits. That led to the development of the Global Compact, which on its 20th anniversary in 2020 had grown from 44 corporate signatories to more 10,000 companies and other entities signing on. Still, the work remains far from complete, as Dan Thomas, the Chief Communications Officer of the U.N. Global Compact, discussed at the 2020 World Economic Forum in Davos.

“We’re challenging business leaders to be more ambitious around the agenda and really drive action in the next 10 years, which we’re calling the decade of action,” Thomas told Matt Bird, host of the Traders Network Show. The two spoke in the Sustainable Development Goals Media Room, a venue created as a way to promote the 17 goals, which are meant to serve as a roadmap for sustainable development. Goals range from addressing gender inequality to ending food insecurity to mitigating climate change. And the 17 goals are backed by 169 targets that companies can use to track their progress toward sustainable practices in a measurable way.

“It’s an agenda that is intended to transform the world, to make it more sustainable, lift people out of poverty and create peace and justice in the world for everyone,” Thomas said. “It’s a complex tapestry of interconnected goals. The business community sees the value of these goals.”