UN Global Compact, one of the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiatives, is implementing an advanced Communication on Progress (CoP) platform to add value to all its members and facilitate sustainability reporting. Participants are required to respond to a standardized questionnaire on a digital platform, and all companies are expected to report between February and May each year in the new reporting system to be used starting in 2023.
Volunteer companies have joined the ‘Early Adopters’ group and started to try the new platform, give feedback and complete their reports since April 2022, which was announced as the transition year. Among Turkish ‘Early Adopters’ are; Aksa Akrilik Kimya Sanayi A.Ş., Aster Textile, Etapak Baskı ve Ambalaj Sanayi ve Ticaret Anonim Şirketi, Orimpex Tekstil A.Ş., Setaş Kimya ve Yeşim Tekstil Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş.
The new CoP system will provide the opportunity to measure progress and compare with other companies in the sector, as well as increase the reputation and brand value by transparently sharing the work of institutions towards the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact. It will guide organizations on what areas they should focus on and in which areas they should collect data, thus allowing them to track their sustainability performance and continuous progress. In addition, general progress and development areas at local, regional, and international levels will be determined with the reports of more than 14,000 companies from 160 countries with the new system.
UN Global Compact supports transparency with CoPs
CoPs are publicly available on the UN Global Compact website, from the time members publish their reports. While the CoP reporting clearly demonstrates the company’s commitment to the Ten Principles and the UN Global Compact, the number of CoPs released and the quality of the CoPs position the company’s reputation with investors, civil society, government, and consumers. At the same time, CoPs contribute to making informed choices by providing information about companies, and therefore stakeholder auditing is the basis of transparency. Flexible COPs can be prepared in any language as long as they contain three basic criteria.
The three main criteria that a CoP should include are as follows:
- A statement signed by the chief executive officer (CEO) expressing the organisation’s statement of continued support for the UN Global Compact and its ongoing commitment to the UN Global Compact Principles. This letter will be different from the first letter of commitment submitted to the UN Global Compact and will be renewed every year.
- A description of practical actions (e.g. relevant policies, procedures and activities) that the company has taken (or plans to implement) in each of the four areas (human rights, labour standards, environment and anti-corruption) corresponding to the UN Global Compact Principles.
- A measurement of the outcomes of these actions (e.g. indicating the level at which targets and predetermined success measures have been achieved, describing these results in a qualitative or quantitative manner).
