Issue: 43
Georg Kell, Executive Director of the UN Global Compact Office said global crises are an opportunity to rethink and retool business practices and that UN-backed Principles for Responsible Investment will play a critical role in advocating long-term performance.
Local network representatives, civil society, government and business leaders from all over the world attended the forum to share best practices in advancing the UN Global Compact principles during one of the worst financial crises of the century.
The meeting’s agenda included finding ways of creating long-term sustainability and enhancing corporate social responsibility within the sphere of a set of core values in the areas of human rights, labor, environment and anti-corruption despite the inexorable economic times. In addition, the Seventh ALNF provided guidance that would contribute to the participants’ production of the annual Communication on Progress; a requirement of the Global Compact which serves to instill accountability, drive continuous improvement, safeguard the integrity of the Global Compact and to develop corporate practices.
Over the course of the two-day meeting, more than 350 participants from 77 countries gathered in Istanbul. The number of participants increased by 60% compared to last year’s meeting which took place in Bonn, Germany with 220 participants from 70 countries.
Speaking at the opening plenary, Mary Robinson, President of Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative and Member of the Board of the UN Global Compact stated: “Next year we mark the Global Compact’s 10th anniversary. The ongoing global economic and financial crisis highlights with new urgency the importance of embedding principles, values and greater responsibility into the global marketplace. So we certainly should use this time to take stock and plan for the future.”
In her opening presentation, General Director of Universal Forum of Cultures Foundation – Barcelona Center for the Support of the Global Compact Mireia Belil said: “The extraordinary participation in terms of number of countries and guests demonstrates that this meeting will be the place where we can really learn new points of views in very different ways and, at the same time, think about how we balance being local communities and being international.”
At the closing plenary, participants called for the necessity of increased transparency and accountability, in which the importance of accelerating the integration of the Global Compact’s vision and principles throughout and beyond headquarters was strongly encouraged.
The next ALNF will be held in conjunction with the 2010 Global Compact Leaders Summit on 24-25 June 2010 in New York.
The keynote speaker for the event was Oliver Johner, Communication on Progress analyst at the UN Global Compact Office in New York. Johner remarked:"The Communication on Progress (COP) is a key measure to protect the integrity of the United Nations Global Compact. In addition, COP drives a company's performance and is a good source for inspiration and learning."
A requirement of the Global Compact membership, a COP can be viewed as a disclosure to stakeholders (e.g., investors, consumers, civil society, governments, etc.) on progress made in implementing the ten principles of the UN Global Compact, and in supporting broad UN development goals.
Business participants are required to annually submit a COP on the UN Global Compact website and to share the COP widely with their stakeholders. The COP is an important demonstration of a participant's commitment to the UN Global Compact and its principles, and as such a violation of the COP policy will result in the change in a participant's status and eventually in the delisting of the participant. The COP should be mainstreamed in the company's existing communications methods. While the format for a COP is flexible, it must contain three important elements: a statement by the CEO, description of practical actions (i.e., activities and, if applicable, policies) the company has taken to implement the Global Compact principles and lastly, a measurement of outcomes.
The session was closed by remarks on the future of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) efforts by Serra Titiz, Founder and Managing Partner of Mikado Consulting. Titiz explained: "Today corporate responsibility is an expectation not an exception; and reporting is the outcome of a dedicated and structured corporate responsibility strategy”.
The Business Call to Action (BCtA) was initiated in July 2007 when UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, together with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, called for the private sector to take a greater role in the international community’s efforts to ensure that the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) are attained by 2015.
The overall goal of the BCtA is to accelerate progress towards the MDGs by encouraging companies operating in or trading with developing countries to adapt their business models, competencies and approaches to help improve the lives of people, while leveraging their core business expertise to realize commercial success.
In introducing the initiative at the Local Network side event, UNDP Private Sector Programme Manager Hansin Dogan said “There are many Turkish companies who are already practising business in a way that creates jobs and boosts prosperity in Turkey, which would potentially inspire other businesses through the BCtA platform, to reflect on their own strategies and operations and consider how they can do the same… BCtA encourages all the businesses to take their operations further by leveraging their investments to create more jobs, offer affordable goods that address poors’ needs, and develop new technologies and innovations, which can all result from business activity and considerably improve quality of life and reduce poverty.”
Decrease in the quantity and quality of water in many arid and semi-arid areas, lesser amounts of clean water available to more than one billion people who already experience severe water shortages, increase in the incidence of diseases, reduction in agricultural productivity in the tropics and sub-tropics, depletion of species, displacement of tens of millions of people in low-lying areas and the disaster list goes on… While the world is discussing the dreadful consequences of climate change, a billion dollar sector is emerging in the forefront: Carbon Trade.
More than 157 countries have agreed to work together to fight global climate change under the Kyoto Protocol on February 16, 2005. Ratifying the Protocol, 32 industrialized countries have put in place policies and measures to reduce 5.2% of their carbon emission levels in 2008-2012 compared to 1990 levels. Industrialized countries should either reduce their emissions or purchase emission reductions from developing countries via specific mechanisms.
In the context of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), 186 Kyoto Protocol signatories concert to industrialized countries – who are responsible for the vast majority of emissions that cause climate change –taking the first steps towards sustainable energy consumption, use of clean technologies and developing sustainable land management practices. The Convention divides countries into three main groups according to differing commitments: Annex I Parties to which Turkey is a member, include the industrialized countries that were members of the OECD in 1992, along with countries with economies in transition (the EIT Parties), including the Russian Federation, the Baltic States, and several Central and Eastern European States. Annex II Parties consist of the OECD members of Annex I, but not the EIT Parties. They are required to provide financial resources to enable developing countries to undertake emissions reduction activities under the Convention and to help them adapt to adverse effects of climate change. Non-Annex I Parties are mostly developing countries.
The term carbon finance refers to the resources provided for a project to purchase carbon emission reductions. One only has to go back less than 10 years to see that commitments to carbon finance for the purchase of carbon have increased dramatically. In 2005, greenhouse gas emission reductions in the global market grew to more than $10 billion. The World Bank’s newly released report: “State and Trends of the Carbon Market 2008” showed that carbon trade doubled every year, from US$0.7 billion in 2004 to US$126 billion in 2008.
In this scope, United Nations Development Programme, World Bank, Turkish Ministry of Environment and Forestry and Republic of Turkey Prime Ministry Undersecretariat of Treasury conducted a workshop on “Opportunities in Carbon Trade’ on the 17th and 19th of June in Ankara and Istanbul, respectively. The workshop hosted presentations from speakers from the World Bank, United Nations Development Programme and the government. Among the participants were government officials and local project developers.
Over the course of the workshop, the Kyoto Protocol in relation to carbon trading, the importance of carbon finance, project development for carbon trading and project cycle issues as well as previous projects developed in this field were discussed. In his opening speech, the World Bank Carbon Finance Team Leader Venkata Putti underlined Turkey’s high potential in the field of carbon finance and stated that the workshop’s primary goal is to share know-how in developing carbon finance projects. His presentation was followed by Deputy Director General of the Undersecretariat of Treasury Foreign Economic Relations Özgür Pehlivan who pointed out that although Turkey does not have any binding commitments concerning greenhouse gas reduction between 2008 and 2012 climate change strategies for 2012 will be determined after United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen this December. Pehlivan continued his speech by highlighting Turkey’s carbon emission level which has accumulated to 95% in the last 15 years adding that the responsibility for the increase falls on the shoulders of the energy sector. To avoid such abrupt rises in energy consumption, he referred to the importance of utilizing energy efficiency and clean energy.
Environment and Sustainable Development Programme Manager Katalin Zaim from the UNDP Turkey Office cautioned the audience by starting her presentation with reference to climate change as a ‘disaster’ for both global ecology and global economy that affects the poor in developing countries. Zaim further remarked that clean energy investments are substantial in overcoming challenges presented by climate change and the economic crisis.
Following the opening statements, the World Bank Carbon Finance Team Leader and environmental expert Venkata Putti cautioned that more than 90% of climate change is a result of human activities and drew attention to the serious outcomes of 2 °C increase in temperature. Putti further explained the Kyoto Protocol in detail and evaluated the carbon market trends in the context of to the current economic crisis. In his second presentation, he provided comprehensive information about integrating carbon finance into various projects.
UNDP’s Anna Kaplina assessed post-Kyoto policies and Turkey’s status quo pertaining to carbon finance and Kyoto Protocol while Dimitry Goloubovsky explained DNA (Designated National Authorities) structures and functions. Antonio Lim from the World Bank followed with a presentation on the roles of DNA’s, project owners and the World Bank in the carbon finance project cycle.
Finally, Forestry Deputy Director General İsmail Belen gave examples of biomass activities for clean energy in Turkey and Monali Ranade from the World Bank Carbon Finance Unit concluded with extensive coverage of biocarbon funds, developing carbon assets from wastes and biomass and the establishment of a carbon partnership facility.
Voluntary Carbon Markets
Another workshop on carbon markets was organized in Ankara on 24th June. Great interest was shown for the workshop cooperatively organized with Ministry of Environment and Forestry, State Planning Organization and Turkish Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association in the scope of UNDP’s 'Capacity Building for Climate Change Management in Turkey' project.
At the opening of the workshop, Fulya Somunkıranoğlu from Ministry of Environment and Forestry evaluated the current situation of Turkey in the Kyoto Protocol and the post-2012 period. She further said that if Turkey does not determine its place in the new climate regime and greenhouse gas limitation rates, it will have to accept the rate that some other countries may impose. Following her presentation, Gediz Kaya, a representative of Turkish Carbon Platform which is an initiative founded by various companies active in the field of carbon asset development and trade, stated the objectives of the platform and its mission. After introducing the platform, she provided detailed information on the dramatic rise of the voluntary markets, the standards used in carbon trade and the potential scenarios for Turkey’s position after 2012. Kaya expressed Turkish carbon market’s ongoing and future concerns and mentioned their need for immediate support in terms of data generation. Furthermore, UNDP “Capacity Building for Climate Change Management in Turkey” project manager Bahar Ubay highlighted the structure and functions of DNA’s (Designated National Authorities) and provided examples of global DNA applications.
The workshop’s aim was to contribute to process of developing financial models to make the voluntary carbon markets more effective, preparing regulations for appropriate functioning of the market and improving DNA capacities. In the workshop, outcomes such as the necessity of research centers and graduate programmes were proposed along with the need for establishing technical units in the related ministries. The foundation of a Voluntary Carbon Stock Market, the encouragement of firms in the field, economic incentives and support from energy firms were among the ideas for financing the carbon market in Turkey. Moreover, the importance of setting up a banking system with a focus on carbon finance was discussed. Another important outcome from the workshop was to increase the collaboration with international organizations. Finally the need for comprehensive terminology was laid out while the necessity of defining DNA’s, their mission and responsibility was also expressed.
Speaking on the reception of the award, Vodafone Turkey Foundation’s chairman Rengin Onay underlined that being awarded Golden Compass was not only important for the foundation but also a great motivational factor for the socially and physically disabled youth. Onay continued: The Dreams Academy is a project where common dreams are realized. As the Vodafone Turkey Foundation, we are exteremely happy to recieve the award for the project which instills a sense of civil society, volunteerism, sharing, accepting differences, problem solving, and productivity into the core of life. I give my sincere gratitude to those who have contributed to this project.”
Developed under the partnership of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Alternative Life Association (AYDER) to support the disabled youth’s contribution to social life and encourage them for employment the Dreams Academy, an international social awareness project consisting of rhythm, dance, drama, movie, photography, DJing, instrument playing, painting and design workshops, is funded by Turkey Vodafone Foundation. The trainings at the Dreams Academy are organized in places designated by the Beşiktaş Municipality.
The Alternative Life Association (AYDER) is founded as a continuation of Alternative Camp Project launched in 2002. The Project to which more than 600 national and international volunteers have contributed in the last 5 years, has been beneficial to approximately 2,500 handicapped individuals. The association aims to create alternative solutions for all of Turkey's disabled population by producing innovative and sustainable projects to reach a "barrier free Turkey". AYDER is the first non-governmental organization to sign the United Nations Global Compact.
Since its establisment in 2002, the Vodafone Group Foundation helps underprivileged children by delivering aid in the form of disaster reliefs, sports and music initiatives through distinctive projects. Vodafone’s 23 local foundations worldwide have invested over 100 million pounds in such projects. Founded in May 2007 and based in Istanbul, Vodafone Turkey Foundation is carrying out social investment policies in line with the principles of the Vodafone Group Foundation. Vodafone Turkey Foundation is a part of Vodafone’s promise to be a responsible global citizen and a member of the global community. With a vision that involves being the most respected corporate foundation in Turkey by making effective social investments, the mission of Vodafone Turkey Foundation is to contribute to the development of Turkish society and leverage living standards.
World Environment Day on June 5th, reminded the global community of the opportunities that lie in addressing climate change in a way that promotes economic recovery for countries and their people. New strategies must be adopted if poverty eradication and economic growth are to be sustained in the face of significant environmental and climatic change.
UNDP estimates that an additional 600 million people will face food shortages and malnourishment in the coming years, 1.8 billion will struggle to find water and 330 million will be displaced due to the disastrous effects of climate change. UNDP takes a serious stance in finding and implementing solutions to reduce poverty and sustain biodiversity by providing policy and technical assistance to governments and people as they work to alleviate or prevent the impacts of rapidly intensifying climate change.
All arrows point in the same direction. The effects of climate change will increasingly be felt by everyone in the global community. Everyonr will be affected by food and water shortages, by disappearing species, by the expansion of warm weather and by rising sea levels. Although leaders from around the world will meet in Copenhagen for high-level climate change talks this December, the decisions made may not be sufficient. This is everyone's planet and as UNDP administrator Helen Clark aptly stated, it is time to “treat our planet better, and lighten our carbon footprint”.
The total has been boosted by individual tree planting efforts by people around the world taking part in a global tree planting drive for World Environment Day, a hands-on way for communities to urge world leaders to "seal the deal" at the crucial UN climate change talks in Copenhagen in December.
The campaign hit the three billion mark less than two month ago, when the Turkish Ministry of Environment and Forestry announced that collective efforts by the Government, NGOs and civil society had led to the planting of over 300 million trees during 2008.
Under the Plant for the Planet: Billion Tree Campaign, people are encouraged to enter tree planting commitments online with the objective of planting at least seven billion trees worldwide by December 2009 - one for every person on the planet. Turkey currently ranks second in the Top 10 Tree Planting countries, with 707 million trees planted thus far. To date, tree plantings have taken place in 166 countries around the world as part of the Billion Tree Campaign.
Twitter for trees
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has also mobilized action across the globe through the hugely successful Twitter for Trees campaign. The initiative was driven by a simple yet powerful idea: UNEP pledged to plant one tree for every follower who joined by World Environment Day on 5 June.
The campaign was a runaway success, with 10,300 people following the UNEPandYou page by World Environment Day weekend. UNEP will therefore plant 10,300 indigenous trees in several locations around the world as part of the Twitter for Trees tree-planting drive, which will feed into the Billion Tree Campaign.
The high-level Energy and Climate Change Advisory Group held its first meeting in June at UN Headquarters under the chairmanship of Kandeh K. Yumkella, Director-General of the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and head of the inter-agency mechanism known as UN-Energy.
The Group will help the UN prepare for Copenhagen, especially regarding the role that energy plays in climate change, and monitor implementation of what is decided at the conference, Mr. Yumkella told a news conference in New York.
Countries will meet in December to ‘seal the deal’ on a successor agreement to the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emissions targets. The first phase of the 1997 Protocol expires at the end of 2012.
The Group will consider ways to comprehensively address climate change and boost energy efficiency and clean production, with a focus on developing countries.
Mr. Yumkella said it is important to focus on developing countries because they not only required help in tackling climate change, but also needed access to energy options. Many parts of the developing world still burned charcoal, wood and other biomass, which led to ecological damage and is a primary cause of pulmonary diseases.
Among those invited to participate in the group are top executives from companies such as Tata (India), Suntech Holdings (China), Edison International (United States), the New Energy and Technology Development Organization (Japan), and ESKOM Holdings (South Africa), as well as political figures, including former Costa Rican President Jose Figueres, and UN officials.
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The 15th Conference of the Parties under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, popularly known as COP15, will convene on 7 December 2009 in Copenhagen to respond to one of the greatest challenges facing humanity: climate change. The negotiations will need to find ways to protect the planet and create a green economy that will lead to long-term prosperity.
Reaching a deal by the time the meeting ends on December 18 will depend not only on political negotiations but also on worldwide public pressure. The United Nations’ “Seal the Deal” campaign encourages users to sign an online, global petition which will be presented to world leaders. The petition will serve as a reminder that world leaders must negotiate a fair, balanced and effective agreement in Copenhagen, and that they must seal a deal to power green growth, protect our planet and build a more sustainable, prosperous global economy that will benefit all nations and all people. The petition urges world leaders to:
The conference traces its origins to the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janiero, Brazil, which aimed at coordinating international action against climate change. Six years later the Kyoto Protocol was signed in Japan and two years ago signatories gathered in Bali, Indonesia, to launch negotiations for stronger action against climate change. This process will now culminate at the meeting in Copenhagen.
Formerly the chief economist at the World Bank, Bourguignon is currently the director of the Paris School of Economics. On 9 July, he gave a seminar titled “Social safety nets in good and bad times” at METU.
The Human Development Dialogue supported by the UN Turkey Office and the World Bank Turkey office complements ongoing initiatives and activities throughout Turkey. Linking up with existing centers of dialogues at major universities in the country, the Dialogue invites speakers from abroad to talk about new analytical findings and evidence as well as ongoing policy discussions and reforms with regard to human development.
Being the 6th in the series of the Human Development Dialogue, “Social safety nets in good and bad times” provided detailed insight on social safety systems, building effective and efficient social safety nets, and the size and structure of safety nets.
Underlining the importance of developing of social safety nets which are directly correlated with increased social welfare, Bourguignon drew attention to the fact that effective social safety systems encompass society as a whole. Exemplifying Brasil, Bourguignon said that the country reduced social inequality rates through social policy reforms. Given the current fluctuations in the economy evident throughout the world, he further mentioned the importance of social insurance and assistance as automatic stabilizers. Bourguignon explained unemployment in times of systemic crises actually benefits social safety mechanisms by compensating for the drop in fiscal demand. As a consequence, he claimed that investments will continue enabling ease in overcoming crises.
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As effects of the financial and economic crisis continue to mount, countries everywhere are struggling to sustain their development achievements. Lower income countries in particular are facing critical increases in deprivation, and thus particularly vulnerable to the inconsistencies of an economic crisis. Households are finding it even harder to afford basic necessities while governments are likely to reduce public health and education services. Lacking social safety nets, families will begin taking their children out of school, selling off livelihood assets and whittling down diets, with the long-term effects of such changes likely to outlast the crises themselves. Only a continued and increased commitment to human development can help the world weather these tumultuous times.
Reflecting on the current pessimistic picture, the 2009 report strongly advocates the international community to live up to its commitments even at times of burgeoning financial crisis where what is at stake for the millions in developing countries who had benefited from the strong growth of the past decade as well as the plight of the poor, who did not benefit from this global growth must be taken into account. Living up to commitments stresses the importance not letting these harsh economic times get in the way of the progress towards achieving the MDGs.
Staying on Course: UNDP Strategic Plan 2008-2011
To ensure that aid goes to the poorest countries and to prevent the economic crisis from becoming a crisis of human development and security, the report states that the UNDP will stay the course as spelled out in the UNDP Strategic Plan 2008-2011.
Throughout 2008, UNDP has worked with its many global partners to address some of the most immediate challenges presented by the food, fuel and financial crises, and will continue to lead in developing strategic options for addressing their long term implications. The Strategic Plan which provides a clear and coherent blueprint for UNDP’s development action, will continue to set UNDP’s overall strategic vision and development, management and resource priorities. For the first time ever, the strategy will include specific indicators and targets for development, UN coordination and management results, an innovation that will help keep the organization on track and focused on the challenging times ahead.
Specifically, the Plan defines UNDP’s operational activities around its four development focus areas – poverty reduction and achievement of the MDGs, democratic governance, crisis prevention and recovery and environment and sustainable development – and clearly differentiates between a strengthened role for UNDP in supporting UN coordination and its role in operations activities. Most importantly, the Plan reinstates UNDP’s commitment to ensuring that all policy advice, technical support, advocacy and cooperation with other stakeholders are aimed concrete improvements in people’s lives by amplifying choices and opportunities open to them.
In the field of poverty reduction, UNDP contributed to the development of tools and analysis for the monitoring of MDG achievements by partnering with UN regional commissions and civil society organizations most notably in Madagascar, Pakistan and Uganda. In addition, several countries have now substantially moved into the implementation phase of national-scale MDG programmes in parts of Africa. This work also contributed to an overall assessment of the quality of information being used for MDG monitoring.
UNDP’s global democratic governance team supported the work of 129 UNDP Country Offices in enhancing public policy dialogues and participatory decision-making, especially at the local level by implementing initiatives to strengthen national parliaments and providing direct support to countries in the past year.
With regards to environment and sustainable development, the UNDP endorsed a new climate strategy in 2008 which foresees capacity development in developing countries to make informed policy and investment decisions to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The strategy also sets out how UNDP works with UN agencies, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) – consisting of UNDP, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Bank – civil society and the private sector.
Contributions over $4 million
In 2008, the UNDP spent approximately $1.25 million on poverty reduction programmes, $1.43 million on programmes fostering democratic governance, $656 million to support crisis prevention and recovery and $404 million on environment and sustainable development programmes. Together with other programme expenditure, the UNDP’s programme support for the year 2008 totalled around $4.1 million.