Origins of the Global Compact

«The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, first proposed the idea of the Global Compact on 31 January 1999 in his appeal to the World Economic Forum. The operational stage of the Global Compact project was launched the following year on 26 July 2000 in New York at the United Nations headquarters.

The Secretary-General invited the leaders of the world economy to join the Global Compact: an international initiative to support nine universal principles on human rights, work and the environment, which would bring together companies, United Nations agencies, unions and the population as a whole. Since June 2004 a tenth principle has been added, that of fighting corruption.

The ten principles of the Global Compact derive from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the ILO Declaration, the Rio Declaration and the United Nations Convention against Corruption.

Aims

Based on the power of strong collective action, the Global Compact seeks to encourage responsible business citizens to ensure that the business world can contribute to finding solutions to the challenges of globalisation. In this way, the private sector - in partnership with other corporate players – can contribute to the realisation of the Secretary-General’s aim: a more incisive and sustainable global economy.

The Global Compact is a voluntary business citizenship initiative which has two complementary goals:

• To make the Global Compact and its principles become an integral part of the strategy and operations of companies.

• To facilitate cooperation among the main players and promote partnerships in line with the objectives of the United Nations»

(from the website Global Compact Italia: www.globalcompactnetwork.org)

Acea’s involvement

Acea joined the Global Compact in April 2007, with a Letter from the Chairman addressed to the Secretary General of the United Nations. This choice aimed to highlight the coherence between the principles set out in the codes of values adopted by the company, aimed at providing it with an ethical compass, and the principles promoted by the United Nations.

Acea’s commitment was confirmed in 2009 with renewal of the company’s involvement and publication of the first Communication on Progress.