University of Vaasa - Vaasan yliopisto

Table 1. United Nation Global Compact Principles (UNGC 2000)
Human Rights Principle 1: Businesses should support and respect the
protection of internationally proclaimed human rights; and
Principle 2: make sure that they are not complicit in human
rights abuses.
Labor Standards Principle 3: Businesses should uphold the freedom of
association and the effective recognition of the right to
collective bargaining;
Principle 4: the elimination of all forms of forced and
compulsory labor;
Principle 5: the effective abolition of child labor; and
Principle 6: the elimination of discrimination in respect of
Environment
Anti-Corruption
employment and occupation.
Principle 7: Businesses should support a precautionary
approach to environmental challenges;
Principle 8: undertake initiatives to promote greater
environmental responsibility; and
Principle 9: encourage the development and diffusion of
environmentally friendly technologies.
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Principle 10: Businesses should work against corruption in all
its forms, including extortion and bribery.
The GCCI was launched by the World Economic Forum in 2001. According to
Professor Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic
Forum, corporations are having more influence over the lives of stakeholders which
is due to diminishing role of the state due to advances in technology (Schwab 2008).
In 2003, ten major European project finance banks agreed a set of guidelines named
the Equator Principles, aimed at incorporating environmental and social
responsibility into their lending practices (Equator Principles 2003). The principles
were formulated with the support of the International Finance Corporation, the
private sector lending arm of the World Bank. In 2004 the UN also promoted its
Responsible Investment Initiative which led in 2006 to agreement on six Principles
for Responsible Investment in a global charter signed by 32 pension and investment
funds (Sadler & Lloyd 2009). Table 2 shows the Equator and PRI principles.