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Nick Wright, managing director of CR and Community Affairs, EMEA at UBS, talks about the changes he’s seen during his 10-year tenure at the Swiss bank

Q CSR impacts broadly on a business - how wide is your remit?
A Meaningful corporate responsibility in any company must, in my view, be woven through every strand of the business, be that the revenue generating, support functions, or supply chain. My remit is therefore similarly wide-ranging with an advisory and analytical component that is all encompassing and an executive aspect that is thematically focused to ensure best execution.

Q What are the key CSR areas for UBS?
A Our own Community Affairs programme focuses clearly on Education and Entrepreneurship within designated geographies. We concentrate on collaborative projects with a range of partners. We look to raise achievement and work readiness in deprived communities with the aim that through Educational and Entrepreneurship activities we can help transform lives and communities through raised levels of attainment, job and wealth creation. For corporate responsibility more generally, we take into account most aspects and concerns understood by the term, but with heightened focus on issues of specific industry relevance to us e.g. money laundering.

Q Where is your current focus (diversity, volunteering, etc)?
A Twofold: first to engage employees, our greatest asset and resource; second to deploy our unique and powerful skill set, position and business mix as agents for change and impact in the areas of Education and Entrepreneurship. This includes working with our clients as well as looking at structural change and product innovation through creative partnering.

Q Given your 10-year tenure at UBS, what have been the main changes you’ve seen?
A The increased centrality of the subject, its integration into and throughout the operations of companies, and its use as a transformational management tool. Corporate responsibility in a broad sense has come in many respects to frame the very debate as to the role, position and conduct of companies within society.

Q What are the main challenges in CSR today?
A The increased relevance of corporate responsibility has led to a commensurate rise in levels of scrutiny. The integrity, value and traction of such programmes therefore is more important than ever before, posing challenges for the measurement, evaluation, integration and governance of such activities. Given some of the statements made within the sphere, expectations are high!

Q What has been your most successful CSR initiative so far (and why)?
A Within my particular area of responsibility - The Bridge Academy, Hackney, London, where UBS has helped create and now partners a school, located in an area of significant deprivation. It is demonstrably changing the lives of students and the wider community. Public, private and voluntary sector expertise and action have been brought together to achieve outcomes that arguably might not have been possible through any one of these sectors individually. This project, which is a close fit to our values, has seen - and continues to see - deep levels of client and staff involvement. It also provides a hub and focus for a plethora of related but broader work than the purely educational and looks set to continue to provide a fertile platform into the future.

Q Some say the CSR debate has plateaued, do you agree?
A No. Arguably it has entered a new and more powerful phase. The debate over the relevance and application of corporate responsibility has shifted: even amongst many “free market commentators”. The questions now are increasingly about the “how” rather than the “why” or “what” of corporate responsibility. Indeed, not so much is it relevant or applicable in the world of business but how it should be driven, governed, managed and implemented.

Q How do you see the evolution and future of CSR?
A I see current trends being sustained with higher standards of account, and with the ability in the best cases to transform business models and become utterly mainstream.CSR will be the meeting point for the cross-over between the public, private and non-profit sectors. 

Peter Montagnon, currently senior investment adviser at the Financial Reporting Council, is to join the Institute of Business Ethics (IBE) in the new role of associate director.

The IBE, which was formed in 1986 to encourage high standards of business behaviour based on ethical values, has expanded its team in response to the increased demand for its practical advice and its experience in helping organisations strengthen their ethics culture.

 “I am delighted that Peter Montagnon has agreed to join the IBE team as associate director. The main thrust of his role will be to develop and help deliver ethics awareness and engagement activities to board and senior management. Peter’s experience and knowledge will be a great contributor to IBE’s thought leadership and I look forward to working with him,” said Philippa Foster Back OBE, director of the IBE.

Montagnon was a senior journalist on the FT for 20 years, before becoming director of investment affairs at the Association of British Insurers. In 2010 he joined the Financial Reporting Council as senior investment adviser, with responsibility for addressing corporate governance policy and strengthening the FRC’s understanding of the investor community.

Montagnon will take up his new position in September.
 

Orchestrated by CSR Europe and BiTC, 31 national European networks and organisations in 30 countries joined forces to deliver the first ever pan-European CSR Award Scheme. The winners have just been announced and celebrated at a gala dinner in Brussels.
 

The results of this year’s inaugural European CSR awards show that companies of all sizes are doing outstanding work through innovative partnerships. The winning examples offer an invaluable source of case studies and evidence to learn from, share, celebrate and inspire others.

The winning partnerships make apparent the trend of adopting key social issues aligned to the core business. The organisers, CSR Europe and BiTC, say they are encouraged by the integration of CR into core business.
The innovation showed by winning partnerships is impressive, organisers believe, highlighting the use of new technologies to address social issues and in many cases developing new products.

In terms of impact, while some examples show impressive quantitative impact, some models are yet to be scaled up to unleash their potential for generating social change. On the business side, it’s particularly interesting to see the development of new products and services through these partnerships and the generation of sales.

The variations in the types of collaboration are many, incorporating many different sectors and also various organisations within the same sectors coming to work together. This is a matrix of collaboration that brings depth and breadth to the way in which social challenges are addressed. Critical to the sustainability of these partnerships is the financial viability of the model and the delivery of the mutual benefit, maintain the organisers.

Trends among winning projects
In many cases partners included various companies within the same supply chain and even competitors who have come together to increase their overall impact. Some examples include companies generating local platforms where a variety of businesses and other partners can share their ideas and experience.

There is a clear trend towards engaging customers and citizens in partnership activities. They are in some cases the target market where the programme aims to raise awareness. In many cases the customers are targeted through cause related marketing to act as responsible citizens or even contribute directly to a social cause.

The size and composition of partnerships illustrates that companies are engaging in more inclusive forms of collaboration. It is becoming standard practice that more than one company engages with more than one non-business partner. This greatly enhances the ability to scale up collective impact. The results show that 32% of winning partnerships involve at least three types of partners. Apart from NGOs, partnerships also include public organisations, academia and the media. Having a variety of stakeholders brings skills, resources and knowledge to the projects for the benefit of both society and businesses.

Not only do partners come from all sectors but they come in all sizes too – companies partnering with a variety of organisations from global NGOs to small community based organisations. Partners include different government schemes such as debt advice services to big ministries. Given the complexity of societal issues, universities also partner to provide technical expertise.

Building long term partnerships
The vast majority of winning initiatives involve long-term partnerships, which show a clear evolution in the relationship after a successful initial cooperation. The span of the cooperation allows partners to address CSR issues thoroughly and comprehensively while successively scaling up their impact over time and improving the projects.

New ideas, business models, products and services resolving around existing sustainable challenges, such as demographic change, human rights violations, financial crisis, environmental degradation, and poverty are apparent in the winning partnerships.

Caring about the environment
The winning partnerships indicate that having a positive impact on the environment is one of the top priorities and at the same time a necessary factor for a successful and competitive company. Fifty per cent of the partnerships focused on education and in some cases connected with employability, in other cases it was with sustainability but they also covered a variety of social issues such as road safety.

A number of the partnerships focus on increasing employability through providing training and education to a variety of social groups and fostering the entrepreneurship of young people. As a result, people can apply their acquired skills to access the job market or create their own companies.

Whether it’s a new model for organic farming, the involvement of community-based designers or bolstering tourism through sport, these partnerships are having a long lasting effect.

Many companies have created new business models and partnerships which aim to alleviate poverty and deliver economic results for instance in the areas of health and local development.

The balance between minimising risks through accountability, good governance and transparency and, at the same time, maximising opportunities through social innovation, delivering new products and services are key business impacts collaboration delivers.

Creating new markets & sales opportunities
Through innovative products and services, companies can gain new customers and consequently increase their sales and profit (as well as opening up new markets). Some of the partnerships improved their use of resources, which led to cost savings whilst ensuring the sustainability of essential resources for commercial operations.
A benefit acknowledged by all companies is that of an enhanced reputation and gaining the label of a responsible business. The benefit and perspective to companies varies from an international to a national or to a local focus: some companies mentioned international recognition, while others mentioned the importance of being seen as an integral part of the local market. Engagement of employees brings both business and social benefits too. Companies gain loyal and more productive staff; employees can develop their skills, knowledge and positive image about their employer while society enjoys positive impact activities.

The variety of sectors represented among both SMEs and large companies is wide-ranging. The winners represent all sectors of industry which demonstrates that all businesses – regardless of sector – are ready to play a proactive role in addressing current and future sustainability challenges. The results also show that 44.5% of the winning initiatives address the topic of the environment as a key sustainability issue; while 71.5 % of projects concentrate on community development. The selection of topics also shows that partnerships tend to tackle multiple social issues. The overlap is clearly demonstrated for instance in education projects addressing environmental issues.

Be inspired and read all 57 winning case studies at http://www.europeancsrawards.eu/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Goldenbook.pdf

2013 Winners

Austria
Large: The Bank for people without a bank – Johnanes Herbsthofer Malerei + Onlinefarben Handels KG
SME: Climate neutral online & services – Die Zweite Wiener Vereins-Sparcasse

Belgium
Large: 100% Sustainable Fish – Delhaize
SME: Human-Capital Card – Ertzberg and T’Lampeke

Bulgaria
Large: Partnership with UNICEF Bulgaria to support the BENEFACTOR regular donation programme – Piraeus Bank Bulgaria
SME: Chance for Equal Quality of Life Happiness for All – EO Dent Ltd

Croatia
Large: European CSR Awards – Coca-Cola HBC Croata
SME: European CSR Awards KONCAR – Electrical Engineering Institute, INC.

CZ Republic
Large: Accenture Academy – Accenture Central Europe BV
SME: Endowment fund Stairs into the Life – Privni Chodska Develop, AS

Denmark
Large: Grundfos Holding A/S
SME: Biocover- SyreN System

Estonia
Large: Youth Entrepreneurship Development Programme ENTRUM – Eeste Energia
SME: Smartlab (original: Nutilabor) – Microsoft Estonia

Finland
Large: Diversity in Employment – Manpower Group Finland
SME: Poimapper for mHealth – Pajat Solutions

Finland-International
Nokia & WWF collaborating for the environment – Nokia

France
Large: Mecenova Trophies 2013 – Employees social commitment – Bouygues Immobilier

Germany
Large: Tchibo Gmbh & HiPP GmbH
SME: Studiosus Reisen Munchen & Thomas Becker – Atelier

Greece
Large: Mission Water – Coca-Cola HBC Greece SAIC
SME: All together, we can – Radio & Telecommunications Enterprises SA

Hungary
Large: Net Program – E.ON Hungary Group
SME: Talking responsibility for the good of future generations – Dr Laszlo Czinki

Ireland
Large: Think Big – Carambola Kidz
SME: New Library in Our Lady of Mercery Primary, Sligo – Telefonica 02

Italy – International
Your Choice, Your Project – UniCredit

Italy
Large: Your Choice Your Project – Barilla G.er.R Fratelli Societa per Azioni
SME: Medicine in Paraguay – Guna

Kosovo
Large: Meridian Corporation LLC Kosovo
SME: Sharrcem LLC

Luxembourg
Large; ALD bluefleet – Carbon offset – ALD Automotive
SME: Increase the number of potential donors of Bone Marrow – Ketterhill

Macedonia
Large: Embrace as a gift – IMB Mlekara AD Bitola
SME: Eco-ray on the Balkan Peninsula – Rade Koncar – Service DOO Skopje

Montenegro
Large: Uniqa Montenegro & UMHCG – UNIQA
SME: Dream together – ELKO Tim

Netherlands
Large: DSM and WFP – DSM
SME: Post NL and Fairmail

Norway
Large: Coca-Cola Enterprises Norway
SME: UNIT4 Agresso

Poland
Large: Orange Polska
SME: Horus Innowacyjne Materialy Przemslowe Sp. Z.o.o.

Romania
Large: The Coca Cola System Romania
SME: Eco-Rom Ambalaje

Serbia
Large: B92
SME: Sunce Marinkovia d.o.o.

Slovakia
Large: Slovenske elektrarne, as
SME: SK-NIC, as

Slovenia
Large: INFORMA ECHO doo
SME: BTC dd

Spain
Large: INDRA
SME: Fruits de Ponent

Switzerland
Large: Abegglen
SME: Migros

Turkey
Large: Bilim Ilac Sanayi ve Ticaret AS
SME: Dogan Organik Urunler Sanayi ve Ticaret AS

UK
Large: W M Morrison Supermarkets
SME: Pera Innovation

Ukraine
Large: Prykarpattyaoblenergo 

The UK is ranked ninth amongst the world’s twelve largest economies for employee engagement levels (Kenexa 2009). Productivity statistics also paint a worrying picture with a recent ONS survey revealing that the UK lags 15 points below the rest of the G7 industrialised nations in productivity (International Comparisons of Productivity 2011 - September 2012).

Yet we know that there is proven link between employee engagement and wellbeing driving productivity and that the resilience of the workforce is critical to business success. Most organisations will spend money on treating people when they’re sick, when what they need to focus on is keeping the well, well. Sickness absenteeism, or leaving a job entirely due to health issues, has a huge cost to business in both sick pay and recruitment costs.
In contrast, employee engagement and wellbeing contribute to sustained employee performance, and play a key role in attracting and retaining talent.

Companies, now more than ever, need to invest in the engagement and wellbeing of their employees to appeal and retain the best people, and must start to consider employee engagement and wellbeing as a strategic boardroom issue. But how can companies make the business case for investment in employee engagement and wellbeing and better demonstrate its impact?

The Workwell campaign from Business in the Community is committed to improving levels of understanding of the role of workplace wellness, and provides companies with a robust framework to enable them to take a proactive, strategic and integrated approach to supporting people to stay healthy and productive. Business in the Community’s Workwell model enables CR practitioners who recognise that a flourishing workforce is part of the ‘CR picture’ to articulate the inextricable link between engagement and wellbeing to driving sustainable performance.
The Workwell model focuses on four principles that contribute to employee engagement and wellbeing.

Principle 1: Better work
Creating a happy, engaging working environment and providing employees with ‘better work’ is the first principle of the framework. Better work can be characterised by:
• A management style and an organisational culture that promotes mutual trust and respect
• Employment security
• Talent management
• Job design: task and variety challenge
• Autonomy, control and task discretion
• Non monotonous and repetitive work
• Employee voice.

Principle 2: Better relationships
Good relationships – at work and at home – provide the ‘social capital’ which individuals need to maintain mental health and engagement. Employers have a responsibility to promote and enable better communication and social cohesion to support good relationships in the workplace particularly among:
• Line manager
• Team colleagues
• Support networks.

Relationships outside work (family and friends) can also be supported through flexible working practices and through involvement in social initiatives.

Principle 3: Better specialist support
Better specialist support can help teams manage health issues at work or facilitate a more efficient return to work for those off work. Better support and interventions to manage health and wellbeing can be provided by:
• Occupational health
• Human resources
• Employee assistance / counselling
• Training for line managers and employees.

Principle 4: Better physical & psychological health
Create a safe and pleasant work environment by:
• Promoting a physically safe working environment with optimal air quality, temperature, noise, lighting and layout of work spaces
• Promoting healthy behaviours such as emotional resilience which builds self esteem, healthy eating, physical activity, smoking cessations, sensible drinking and avoidance of drug misuse.

A new chapter for CSR reporting, BITC’s Workwell benchmark was developed in response to research showing a positive link between strong people management and organisational performance, with FTSE 100 companies that have robust arrangements for reporting on employee engagement and wellbeing outperforming the rest of the FTSE 100 by 10%.

The benchmark also responds to investor demands for a standardised measurement of employee management that could inform their investments.

Consultation with the investment community found that evidence of responsible people management could be reported as:
• Better health
• Better engagement
• Better attendance
• Better retention & recruitment
• Better brand image
• Better customer satisfaction
• Better performance
• Stronger resilience
• Higher productivity.

The Workwell Model, which outlines specific metrics and KPIs against each of the four principles, can be downloaded free of charge from: www.bitc.org.uk/workwell

Louise Aston is campaign director of Business in the Community’s Workwell campaign 

Groupon Grassroots, Groupon’s social innovation programme, is partnering with WWF to globally address a common cause - the environment - by launching more than 20 campaigns around the world.

The expansion of Groupon Grassroots will enable people everywhere to discover local causes, rally together and lend a helping hand. Campaigns will be tailored by region and local needs; the US campaign, for example, is focused on saving black-tailed prairie dogs.

“Groupon Grassroots represents the genesis of Groupon and the company’s core mission of creating local impact through collective action,” said Patty Morrissey, head of Social Innovation at Groupon. “Groupon’s massive international presence allows us to unify this mission globally, and kicking it off with WWF promises to have a spectacular impact.”

Picture credit: WWF / Troy Fleece

The Carbon Trust is to launch the world’s first international business standard to certify the management and reduction of waste.

While it is estimated that around 11.2bn tonnes of solid waste is collected each year globally – the organic parts of which contribute around five per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions – Carbon Trust research has found that only 21% of senior executives of large companies in the UK, USA, China, South Korea and Brazil have sustainability targets for waste and 49% are not yet confident that there is a business case for investing in managing waste.

The Carbon Trust Waste Standard will require businesses to measure, manage and reduce their solid and hazardous waste. To achieve the standard organisations will need to demonstrate that waste streams are being reduced every year, or disposed of more effectively, for example through increased reuse, recycling or energy recovery.

Tom Delay, chief executive of the Carbon Trust commented: “For the past five years we’ve worked with companies across the world to cut carbon emissions and it is now time for us to apply this expertise to the global problem of waste. The new Waste Standard, combined with Carbon Standard and Water Standard, will help organisations take a more stringent approach to resources so they can operate in a more efficient, cost-effective way, as well as preserving global resources.”

The new Carbon Trust Waste Standard will also include a qualitative assessment to show that waste is being managed responsibly or prevented. This will include considerations outside of an organisation’s direct control, such as having a diligent procurement policy for goods and waste management services, or looking at downstream impacts through products and packaging.

The standard will launch later this year.

Picture credit: © Pn_photo | Dreamstime.com
 

How about this for the ultimate in greenwashing? Michinoku, a Japanese company which was - up until recently - making pampered pooch treats from one of the rarer species of whale, described itself as a green company because it used geothermal energy to melt the fat off whale carcasses…

Governments are to share their tax information automatically under an agreement reached by last month’s G8 summit to eliminate tax dodging.

This openness will be accompanied by an order to shell companies, frequently used to exploit tax loopholes and invest money anonymously, to name their effective owners.

Critics, however, complain that although the new measures target evasion, they leave untouched the perfectly legal tax avoidance devices used by large companies.

The G8 members – Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the UK and the US – expect their agreement to flush out tax evaders and money launderers by exposing the beneficiaries of shell companies, special purposes companies and trust arrangements.

The UK, for example, will compile a central register of beneficial owners but will conduct a consultation on making it publicly accessible.

The G8 agreement follows a recent similar proposal from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and comes a week after the UK announced a deal with its crown dependencies and overseas territories, including the Channel Islands, Gibraltar and Anguilla, under which information on the foreign companies banking their profits there will be shared. About a fifth of offshore tax havens used by multinationals to shelter or hide cash are British dependencies.

Delegates at the summit paid particular attention to mining companies, many of which were reported to be using complicated ownership structures in the Netherlands and Switzerland to avoid taxes on minerals extracted in developing countries.

A more aggressive unilateral measure will be introduced in the US this year compelling financial enterprises to reveal all citizens’ assets held overseas. The penalty for non-compliance would be a heavy tax.

Commentators say nations inside and outside Europe could copy the US. The G8 communiqué said significantly: “We call on all jurisdictions to adopt and effectively implement this new single global standard at the earliest opportunity.”

On avoidance, through which several large companies, including Amazon, Apple, Google and Starbucks, have legally minimised their tax bills, the G8 members appealed to individual nations.

The communiqué said: “Countries should change rules that let companies shift their profits across borders to avoid taxes.”

The present legislation allows revenue from UK customers to go directly into foreign bank accounts, permitting companies to avoid UK tax, even if they trade in the country.

The G8 members drew some hope from a meeting of G20 finance ministers, due this month, which could propose rule changes. They promised to “take the necessary individual and collective action” to back G20 recommendations.
The more cynical observers likened the resolve of the UK prime minister David Cameron to rewrite the rules to the 2009 declaration by his predecessor Gordon Brown welcoming “the beginning of the end for tax havens”. Such optimism was seen by many as premature.

Murray Worthy, tax campaigner at the UK anti-poverty group War on Want, said: “Talk of stopping companies shifting profits to avoid taxes is a huge step forward, but we have heard great promises from the world’s heads of state before. It is what they do that counts.”

Alex Prats, Principal Economic Justice Advisor, Christian Aid told Ethical Performance: “The summit was a success in that there was clear acceptance that the tax abuse we estimate costs developing countries some US$160bn a year must be stopped. The question is how. The summit endorsed Automatic Exchange of Information. It also supported country-by-country reporting by multinationals to help end profit shifting into low-tax jurisdictions, but, unfortunately suggested such information would only be shared with tax authorities. And it failed to live up to expectations over establishing public registries of ownership of companies and trusts, which would help end tax haven secrecy. It agreed registries be established, but again, only open to the authorities. So it was a start, but there is still a long way to go.”
 

Concerted action against food wastage in the UK and an expansion of the government’s bilateral nutrition programmes have been urged by British MPs.

The parliamentary international development committee issued a global food security report as world leaders gathered for last month’s international nutrition summit hosted by the UK government.

Sir Malcolm Bruce, the Liberal Democrat MP who chairs the committee, said: “There is no room for complacency about food security over the coming decades if UK consumers are to enjoy stable supplies and reasonable food prices.

“UK aid to help smallholders increase food production in the developing world is of direct benefit to UK consumers as rising world food prices will reduce living standards of hard-pressed UK consumers. There is … considerable scope for the government to launch a national consumer campaign to reduce domestic food waste within the UK food production and retail sectors, with clear sanctions for companies that fail to meet these targets.”

Food availability worldwide, however, is being compromised and food prices are becoming higher and more volatile because of the use of agriculturally produced biofuels, a trend intended to bring environmental benefits, the committee said.

It predicted EU targets requiring 10% of transport energy to be drawn from renewable sources by 2020 could raise food prices dramatically because biofuel plants and trees displace food crops – some of which provide power generation more damaging than fossil fuels.

The MPs proposed that agricultural products should be excluded from the UK’s Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation requiring fossil fuel suppliers to confirm that a percentage of their road transport fuel is renewable.

They then asked why the international department worked bilaterally in 29 countries but ran nutrition programmes in only 16 of them. They want the government to expand its coverage.

A second demand from the MPs was for the department to explain why it failed to fund social protection programmes in 14 of the 29 countries, even though this measure protects the food security of the poorest against price rises.

Another worry was that in developing countries corporations are buying large areas previously farmed by smallholders. The committee recommended that UK corporations must be transparent about land deals.

It emphasised that smallholder farmers had a vital role in feeding the world’s population, projected to reach 9.3bn by 2050.

It therefore asked the government to increase funding for agricultural services, especially to help women, and the formation of inclusive farmer organisations and co-operatives, enabling smallholders to work with large companies and markets.  

Companies interact with children on a daily basis, although often this is neither directly nor purposefully. Children are workers in their factories and fields, family members of their employees, and community members in the neighbourhoods where they operate. In many countries, children are increasingly recognized as a consumer group themselves, with discretionary income to spend and increased influence on family purchases. They are a market force to be reckoned with, but nonetheless need protection.

Even while business and human rights discourse has evolved significantly, children have not been adequately considered by business as a key stakeholder group. A business focus on children’s issues is often relegated to eradicating the practice of child labour, or to investing in local community initiatives that support children. The past few decades have indeed seen greater corporate commitments to cleaning up global supply chains in order to eradicate the use of underage workers. Yet the need goes beyond child labour considerations.

Morals aside, there is good reason for companies to pay attention to their impacts on children’s rights. Exclusion of a holistic child rights lens within corporate human rights initiatives can create a number of risks for business, not least reputational risks from stakeholder allegations of direct or indirect violations of children’s rights; legal risks from lawsuits for alleged violations; financial risks from mishandling children’s rights within business operations; security risks from failing to earn the company’s social license to operate; and market share risks from consumer action on lack of attention to child protection. Furthermore, governments are increasingly likely to implement policies that govern business’ respect for children’s rights.

Recognising a need for explicit guidance about what it means for business to respect and support children’s rights, the UN Global Compact, Save the Children and UNICEF – together with companies and other stakeholders – released a set of 10 Principles on Children’s Rights and Business (‘the Principles’) in March 2012. Building upon the UN Guiding Principles, the Principles identify a comprehensive range of actions that all business should take to prevent and address risks to children’s rights and maximize positive business impacts in the workplace, marketplace and the community.

In February, UNICEF began a three-month consultation and pilot process to review and begin implementing the Principles. Participating companies are reviewing the Children’s Rights Checklist – an impact assessment tool; the UNICEF Workbook - Children are Everyone’s Business and the Reporting Guidance to embed children in sustainability reporting. Following the pilot, UNICEF will release the tools and make them publicly available.

Amaya Gorostiaga, CSR unit, UNICEF’s private fundraising & partnerships division