The fourth edition of the Business & SDGs High Level Meeting, promoted by Global Compact Network Italy and organized with the support of Terna, was held on April 4 in Rome.
The meeting was attended by Managing Directors, Presidents and top managers of Italian companies involved in the United Nations Global Compact and daily committed to implementing the 10 UNGC Principles and achieving the SDGs. Among the participants: Aeroporti di Puglia, Assicurazioni Generali, BNP Paribas Cardif, Gruppo Sofidel, Gruppo Unipol, Rina, Viscolube, A2A, Carbonsink, Edison, Eni, Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane, Gruppo Hera, Leonardo, Maire Tecnimont, Pirelli, Saipem.
In December 2016, the Global Compact Network Italy (here in after GCNI) started working on a new collection of business practices focusing on the implementation of strategies, policies and projects to support the achievement of the United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals 2030.
Since then, an intense and ongoing dialogue and research has been carried out involving 11 organizations belonging to the GCNI and has culminated in the publication of the Report “ITALIAN BUSINESSES: PRACTICES TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT.Following the path defined by the Sustainable Development Goals”.
The second appointment of the "Business & SDGs Workshops"cycle promoted by the Global Compact Network Italy Foundation - as part of the 2017 Activities Program in support of the UN Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development - will be held on July 12th in Milan at the Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei, Corso Magenta 63, from 1.30 pm to 5.00 pm. The meeting is organized in collaboration with Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei and Fondazione Sodalitas.
In pursuing the Sustainable Development Goals, the 2030 Agenda poses an unavoidable challenge: "to intensify multilateral partnerships that develop and share knowledge, skills, technological and financial resources" (SDG 17) into a collective action logic. Only through close collaboration between the different actors who are mutually and voluntarily engaged in innovative relationships to pursue shared goals is it possible to embark on an inclusive and sustainable growth program.
Multi-stakeholder partnerships have proven to be a strategic and essential tool in boosting the corporate world’s contribution to sustainable development. By putting together common skills and resources, they have created projects, actions and experiences of great value for the people and the needs that they aim to protect and promote.
The second edition of the“Business & SDGs High Level Meeting” was held at the Edison SpA headquarters in Milan on 18th May. It was sponsored by the GCNI Foundation as an opportunity to encourage a shared reflection at the highest level amongst prominent actors in the national sphere, regarding the role the private sector is called upon to play in support of the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Agenda. People from the highest offices (Presidents, Managing Directors, Leading Managers) of large and medium-sized Italian companies from various production sectors, with a solid sustainability profile, met together around the table: A2A, AirPlus International, Alcantara, BNL – Gruppo BNP Paribas, Borsa Italiana, E&Y, Enel, Edison, Gruppo Hera, Saipem, Salini Impregilo.
The Giro d’Italia CSR, the Italian tour within the 7th edition of the Salone CSR and social innovation,opened in Turin on January 30, 2019. The event – promoted by Bocconi University, CSR Manager Network, Global Compact Network Italy, ASviS, Fondazione Sodalitas, Unioncamere, Koinètica – is an awaited appointment for those working on sustainability, social innovation and CSR, and is considered the most important event dedicated to these topics in Italy. Thanks to a comprehensive cultural program, characterized by an interdisciplinary approach, the event provides in-depth information and updates on strategies and sustainability tools for businesses and other organizations. This year, the focus is on the “areas of sustainability”.
The second edition of the Italian Business & SDGs Annual Forum will be held on September 27th 2017 from 9.00 am to 4.30 pm, in the town of Lucca at the prestigious Palazzo Pfanner. The Forum is promoted by the Global Compact Network Italy Foundation in collaboration with Sofidel Group, which kindly hosts the event, and it is organized with the support of A2A SpA and Edison SpA. The initiative will be held under the auspices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the Municipality of Lucca, Confindustria Toscana Nord - Lucca, Pistoia, Prato.
BACKGROUND
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), represents a culmination of more than four decades of multilateral dialogue and debate on tackling environmental, social and economic challenges faced by the world community. It is the most comprehensive and shared blueprint to date for eliminating extreme poverty, reducing inequality, and protecting the planet.
The 2030 Agenda is universal in scope and commits all countries, irrespective of their income levels and development status, to contribute towards a comprehensive effort towards sustainable development. It also calls for the participation of all segments of society to contribute to its implementation: governments, businesses and civil society actors are considered as equally responsible for progressing and achieve it.
The Sustainable Development Goals reflects many of the European Union's priorities for sustainable development. They pose a unique opportunity for Europe and its Member States to generate real sustainable impact towards an innovative, prosperous and inclusive society.
For this reason the EU is committed to be a frontrunner in implementing them both in its internal and external policies and many of its Member States and the European continent at large are proceeding in the same direction. Likewise, both business and civil society organizations in Europe have explicitly expressed their commitment towards the 2030 Agenda and its Goals and have already started to work on this direction.
The second edition of the Italian Business & SDGs Annual Forum, promoted by the Global Compact Network Italy (here after GCNI), was held on 26th-27th September 2017 in the splendid medieval-Renaissance town of Lucca. The event was hosted by the Sofidel Group and organized with the support of A2A and Edison.
The activities began on the evening of 26th September, with a Networking Dinner reserved for participants in the Forum at the "San Colombano" restaurant, built in an old rampart of the old town walls. Before the dinner there was a cultural tour of the city and a visit to the "Giacomo Puccini Museum".
On 25th October 2017, the Global Compact Network Italy, in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI), organized a Conference called “The Sustainable Development Goals: Experiences and Progresses on Their Implementation in Europe”held at Palazzo della Farnesinain Rome.
The main objective of this event was to hold a debate, among the members of the mixed panel of speakers and between them and the public present, on the policies and trends registered so far in the support of the 2030 Agenda in various sectors and at various levels, as well as on future opportunities in terms of launching new multi-stakeholder partnerships for the Global Goals.
The fourth edition of the Italian Business and SDGs Annual Forum promoted by Global Compact Network Italy will be held in Trieste on October 14 and 15. The Forum, that will be hosted by Hera Group with the support of Assicurazioni Generali and illycaffè,and under the patronage of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs & International Cooperation (MAECI), of the Municipality of Trieste and of Confindustria Friuli Venezia Giulia, will address mainly Italian companies and organizations participating in the United Nations Global Compact. The 2019 SDGs Forum will discuss innovation in support of sustainability, in the knowledge that the ambitious objectives of the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda will not be achieved without a truly new, brave and far-sighted approach by all parties involved.
For the implementation of the SDGs it is necessary: 1. to adopt ways of thinking and acting oriented towards innovation; 2. to build and experiment new business models; 3. to develop/adopt technologies to improve existing processes or, in a more disruptive logic, open new paths and opportunities (e.g.: block-chain, artificial intelligence, big data, 3D printing, unmanned aerial systems, new generation robotics, digital agriculture, genetic editing, augmented reality, microbiotics, autonomous road vehicles, etc.).
The event was organized by the United Nations Global Compact in collaboration with the Global Compact Network Argentina and brought together local and global leaders representing firms, civil society, governments, and the UN Global Compact local networks, with the aim of catalysing the action and impact on the 10 Principles and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
In view of the next global meeting - which will be held during the second half of the year and will be dedicated to a discussion on the progress made at national level on the implementation of the SDGs - Making Global Goals Local Business – Argentinarepresented an opportunity for firms all over the world to take an active part in sharing the current status recorded throughout Latin America with regard to the pursuit of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Argentina, in particular, is a good example of multi-stakeholder collaboration in support of the Global Goals, from which all those present were able to take insights and inspiration.
Supply chains are the most important levers for companies to create positive impacts in the world, with about 80% of global trade passing through them every year.
For this reason, the United Nations Global Compact has set up an International Platform for Action (Action Platform “Decent Work in Global Supply-Chains”) bringing together institutional partners, local UNGC networks (including Global Compact Network Italy) and companies from all over the world with the aim of planning concrete actions and developing tools that have an impact on the welfare of corporate workers along the supply chain. The Action Platform works to:
On 18th May, the first of the four“Business & SDGs Workshops” to be promoted by the Global Compact Network Italy Foundation in 2017 was held in Milan, as part of the activities program aimed at supporting the implementation of United Nations 2030 Global Goals. This first event, dedicated to the theme of "Sustainable Finance in Support of SDGs", was organized together with UNEP Inquiry and kindly hosted by Edison SpA.