4.2.2: The UN Global Compact

The Global Opportunity Report

The 2016 Global Opportunity Report identifies and ranks global sustainability opportunities, according to public and private sector interests and their potential impact on societies and businesses.

It demonstrates how global sustainability challenges and risks can be seen as opportunities, and aims to encourage leaders to secure these business opportunities. By revealing the opportunity landscape beyond these risks, it provides an open innovation platform where stakeholders worldwide can explore and capture sustainability opportunities and solutions relevant to them across multiple risk domains and regions.

As the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative, the UNGC recognizes private sector as the primary agent driving economic growth. It enlists businesses to ensure that markets, commerce, technology, and finance advance along paths that benefit society and the environment alongside the global economy.

Acting as a leadership platform for the development, implementation, and disclosure of responsible corporate practices, the UNGC has also been effective in aligning the concerns of the international community with business goals. This has fostered partnerships, cooperation, collaborations, and openness across the private sector, governments, civil society, NGOs, international institutions, and governing bodies, to further the success of the SDGs.

Transitioning awareness to actions

Through the “Making Global Goals Local Business campaign” the UN Global Compact seeks to raise awareness of the SDGs among businesses around the world.  It provides its partners and participants with an extensive toolbox to assist in translating awareness to action. These tools include next-generation solutions platforms, as the UN Global Compact Academy, and interactive resources, such as the SDG Compass and SDG Industry Matrix.