United Nations Association of Australia (Vic) Sustainability Leadership Masterclasses
United Nations Association of Australia (Vic) Masterclass: ‘The UN and Global Business Initiatives for Sustainability Leadership’
The United Nations Association of Australia Masterclass entitled ‘The UN and Global Business Initiatives for Sustainability Leadership’ was the first in the series, held on Thursday 6 October in partnership with PwC and RMIT University Graduate School of Business and Law. The Masterclass provided an overview of key global trends and UN initiatives on corporate responsibility and sustainability leadership. It provided an opportunity for networking and information exchange for corporate, government and NGO professionals working in this area and those interested in learning more about how they can get involved in global initiatives for sustainability.
Thursday 6 October
8.30am to 12.30pm
Emily McPherson Building
RMIT University
Guest Speakers:
Rosemary Sainty (Former Head, Secretariat, UN Global Compact Network Australia)
Andrew MacLeod (CEO, Committee for Melbourne & Foundation Chair UN Principles for Social Investment)
Lena Geraghty (Network Manager, Global Reporting Initiative Focal Point Australia)
Mark Ingram (Executive Director, Business for Millennium Development)
Vanessa Zimmerman (Former Legal Advisor to the UN Special Representative on Business and Human Rights)
Facilitator:
Joseph M. Siracusa (Associate Dean of International & Justice Studies and Professor of Human Security and International Diplomacy in Global Studies at RMIT University)
Who is this Masterclass for?:
Corporate, government and NGO professionals working on sustainability, corporate responsibility, philanthropy, community engagement, stakeholder relations, corporate affairs/strategy, business and human rights, supply chain management and procurement.
The Masterclass will address key global trends in sustainability leadership and UN initiatives including:
The United Nations Global Compact is a strategic policy initiative for businesses that are committed to aligning their operations and strategies with ten universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labor, environment and anti-corruption. By doing so, business, as a primary driver of globalization, can help ensure that markets, commerce, technology and finance advance in ways that benefit economies and societies everywhere. With over 8700 corporate participants and other stakeholders from over 130 countries, it is the largest voluntary corporate responsibility initiative in the world.
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is a network-based organization that produces a comprehensive sustainability reporting framework that is widely used around the world. GRI is committed to the Framework’s continuous improvement and application worldwide. GRI’s core goals include the mainstreaming of disclosure on environmental, social and governance performance. GRI's Reporting Framework is developed through a consensus-seeking, multi-stakeholder process. Participants are drawn from global business, civil society, labour, academic and professional institutions.
UN Principles for Social Investment
Social investment is the practice of making voluntary financial and non-financial contributions that demonstrably help local communities and broader societies to address their development priorities. The United Nations Global Compact Principles for Social Investment (PSI) promote contributions by corporations that are Purposeful, Accountable, Respectful and Ethical. The PSI seek to increase the positive impact and scalability of such contributions for the advancement of societies.
Business and the Millennium Development Goals
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are the most broadly supported, comprehensive and specific development goals the world has ever agreed upon. These eight time-bound goals provide concrete, numerical benchmarks for tackling extreme poverty in its many dimensions. They include goals and targets on income poverty, hunger, maternal and child mortality, disease, inadequate shelter, gender inequality, environmental degradation and the Global Partnership for Development. The Business and Millennium Development Goals: A Framework for Action provides a framework for action on how companies and business coalitions can work with the UN system, governments, and civil society organisations to help achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which are aimed at making globalisation a more positive force for more of the world's people.
Business for Millennium Development helps Australian Businesses identify and develop opportunities in developing communities and provides a leadership forum that will act as a catalyst for change towards alleviating poverty and driving sustainable development in the emerging economies of the Asia Pacific. Its vision is to promote the business opportunity provided by aligning core business with the Millennium Development Goals and to support Australian businesses to operate, innovate and grow in true partnership with the communities in which they operate and help its members build commercially viable, scalable business enterprises with those who are poor, for mutual benefit.
UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights
The UN Guiding Principles are the product of six years of research and extensive consultations, led by the Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon's Special Representative for Business and Human Rights and Harvard Professor, John Ruggie. The principles seek to provide for the first time an authoritative global standard for preventing and addressing the risk of adverse human rights impacts linked to business activity. The Principles outline a number of ways in which businesses can prepare a company policy commitment to respecting human rights, diligently carry out human rights and implement operational-level grievance mechanisms to address human rights breaches.
For further information about our masterclasses please contact Catherine Sutherland, Program Manager
Ph: (03) 9670 7878 or Email
United Nations Association of Australia (Vic) Sustainability Leadership Masterclass with Paul Hawken.
Exclusive Masterclass for senior management with Paul Hawken - Environmentalist, Entrepreneur & Author.
The Masterclass provided a unique learning forum with Paul Hawken, internationally renowned consultant to heads of state and CEOs on economic development, industrial ecology and environmental policy. The Masterclass represented a rare opportunity for senior executives, directors and decision makers in Melbourne and Sydney to exchange ideas with Paul Hawken in these very special events.
Masterclass flyer available for download here.
Melbourne Masterclass
Thursday 27 October
11am to 3.00pm
Hosted by GHD
Sydney Masterclass
Monday 31 October
11am to 3.00pm
Hosted by KPMG
BACKGROUND – PAUL HAWKEN
Paul Hawken is an environmentalist, entrepreneur, and author. His work includes starting ecological businesses, writing about the impact of commerce on living systems, and consulting with CEOs and governments on economic development, industrial ecology, and environmental policy.
He has appeared on numerous media including the Today Show, Larry King, Talk of the Nation, Charlie Rose, and has been profiled or featured in hundreds of articles including the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Washington Post, Business Week, Esquire, and US News and World Report.
His writings have appeared in the Harvard Business Review, Resurgence, New Statesman, Inc, Boston Globe, Christian Science Monitor, Mother Jones, Utne Reader, Orion, and other publications. He authors articles, op-eds, and peer-reviewed papers, and has written seven books including four national bestsellers The Next Economy (Ballantine 1983), Growing a Business (Simon and Schuster 1987), and The Ecology of Commerce (HarperCollins 1993) and Blessed Unrest (Viking, 2007). The Ecology of Commerce was voted #1 college text on business and the environment by professors in 67 business schools in 1998. Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution (Little Brown, September 1999) co-authored with Amory Lovins, has been read and referred to by several heads of state including President Bill Clinton who called it one of the five most important books in the world today.
His books have been published in over 50 countries in 27 languages. Growing a Business became the basis of a 17-part PBS series, which Mr. Hawken hosted and produced. The program, which explored the challenges and pitfalls of starting and operating socially responsive companies, was shown on television in 115 countries and watched by over 100 million people. Paul has founded several companies including some of the first natural food companies in the U.S. that relied solely on sustainable agricultural methods.
