Global Compact International Yearbook 2009
The road to Copenhagen is the catchphrase: Climate Change is the top issue of inaugural edition, on the market since 1th of august 2009. In a very personal and exclusive foreword, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stresses the urgency of multilateral action: „One underlying message of this Yearbook is that a global, low-carbon economy is not only technologically possible, it makes good business sense“, said Ban. „We need the voice and energy of business to help us combat climate change.“ Sir Anthony Giddens adds the importance of the upcoming Copenhagen Climate Summit: „It is an important year, and everybody knows it because it is the year of Copenhagen. It’s a key for climate change policy. I do hope the Copenhagen negotiations will be successful, but there are reasons I have to be worried. “ Another key issue of this edition is the global economic crisis: 2008 will be remembered as the year of crises. The breakdown of financial institutions and markets and the subsequent worldwide economic downturn have put the spotlight on issues that the United Nations Global Compact has long advocated as essential responsibilities for modern business and today’s global markets: comprehensive risk management, long-term performance, and ethics. Georg Kell, Executive Director of the Global Compact, writes: „Restoring confidence and trust in markets requires a shift to long-term sustainable value creation, and corporate responsibility must be an instrument towards this end. If the crisis is any indication, it is now time to build on the advances made over the past 10 years by companies and investors in the area of ESG performance and bring this discipline to the mainstream. “
The road to Copenhagen is the catchphrase: Climate Change is the top issue of inaugural edition, on the market since 1th of august 2009. In a very personal and exclusive foreword, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stresses the urgency of multilateral action: „One underlying message of this Yearbook is that a global, low-carbon economy is not only technologically possible, it makes good business sense“, said Ban. „We need the voice and energy of business to help us combat climate change.“ Sir Anthony Giddens adds the importance of the upcoming Copenhagen Climate Summit: „It is an important year, and everybody knows it because it is the year of Copenhagen. It’s a key for climate change policy. I do hope the Copenhagen negotiations will be successful, but there are reasons I have to be worried. “
Another key issue of this edition is the global economic crisis: 2008 will be remembered as the year of crises. The breakdown of financial institutions and markets and the subsequent worldwide economic downturn have put the spotlight on issues that the United Nations Global Compact has long advocated as essential responsibilities for modern business and today’s global markets: comprehensive risk management, long-term performance, and ethics. Georg Kell, Executive Director of the Global Compact, writes: „Restoring confidence and trust in markets requires a shift to long-term sustainable value creation, and corporate responsibility must be an instrument towards this end. If the crisis is any indication, it is now time to build on the advances made over the past 10 years by companies and investors in the area of ESG performance and bring this discipline to the mainstream. “
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Agenda<br />
Financial Crisis<br />
0,000,000<br />
A human organism has exactly this number of cells. The body, by the way, replaces its<br />
cells every 14 days. The economic crisis will be with us longer.<br />
180,000,000,000<br />
180 billion dollars<br />
The US insurance corporation AIG received federal aid<br />
several times in the last few months, which now totals<br />
around $180 billion. At the same time, AIG paid bonuses of<br />
165 million dollars.<br />
If you stacked 100 dollar bills on top of each other, they<br />
would build a tower around 180 kilometres high. That is<br />
around 20.5 times higher than Mount Everest, the world’s<br />
highest mountain.<br />
105,000,000,000<br />
105 billion dollars<br />
This much is being contributed to the <strong>International</strong> Monetary<br />
Fund by the European Union alone, as was decided at the<br />
economic summit in London.<br />
Three-quarters of the harmful greenhouse gases in the<br />
atmosphere come from industrialized nations. Developing<br />
countries bear the brunt of the damage, however. The<br />
Oxfam NGO estimates that some 100 billion U.S. dollars<br />
are needed to protect poor countries from the effects of<br />
climate change.<br />
24,000,000,000<br />
24 billion dollars<br />
China supports the dollar with around 24 billion dollars<br />
monthly (as of May <strong>2009</strong>). Up to now, the Chinese central<br />
bank has bought a total of around 770 billion dollars worth<br />
of US treasury securities, reports the Neue Züricher Zeitung.<br />
What could this amount do? Worldwide, 800 million people<br />
suffer from hunger. This number could be cut in half with<br />
24 billion dollars per year.<br />
1,000,000,000<br />
1 billion dollars<br />
One billion seems to be the smallest unit of measure in the<br />
current worldwide rescue plans. Amounts below that seem<br />
hardly worth mentioning in the media.<br />
Experts estimate that at least one billion people worldwide<br />
have to live on an income of one dollar per day. The billion<br />
that hardly plays a role any more in the worldwide financial<br />
merry-go-round would give these people a good day. Not<br />
much, perhaps, but more than many a “rescue package” is<br />
worth.<br />
<strong>Global</strong> <strong>Compact</strong> <strong>International</strong> <strong>Yearbook</strong> <strong>2009</strong> 23
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