4 June 2012: The UN Global Compact has announced the findings of its 2011 Implementation Survey, including that companies of all sectors are stepping up efforts to incorporate environmental and social considerations into their management strategies and policies. However, it stresses that more work needs to be done to achieve corporate sustainability and translate commitments into tangible action.

The survey results are contained in a publication titled “Annual Review of Business Policies and Actions to Advance Sustainability: Global Compact Implementation Survey 2011,” which was launched at UN Headquarters in New York, US, on 4 June 2012. The survey was completed anonymously by over 1,300 companies.

Georg Kell, Executive Director of the UN Global Compact, highlighted that: 49% of all companies reported that their sustainability commitments were developed or evaluated at the management board level; only 9% of all companies reported that their lobbying activities were aligned with their sustainability principles; among the four issue areas covered by the Global Compact principles, companies were taking action on the environment and labor standards the most; and little more than 28% of respondents ranked their companies’ sustainability performance as “advanced.”

Kell noted that the business case for corporate sustainability is becoming increasingly recognized. The Global Compact will host the Corporate Sustainability Forum at the upcoming UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+2o). [Press Conference] [UN Global Compact Press Release] [Publication: Annual Review of Business Policies and Actions to Advance Sustainability: Global Compact Implementation Survey 2011]