General Assembly 2024 & Global Compact Dialogue

We are excited to invite you to our annual General Assembly followed by our Global Compact Dialogue both taking place on Thursday, June 6th 2024 on the premises of Zühlke in Schlieren (Zurich).

General Assembly | participants only

The official General Assembly is scheduled for 10:45 and is open for participants of the UN Global Compact Network Switzerland and Liechtenstein only. Every employee in our participating organizations is invited to attend, with each company entitled to cast only one vote. Attendees of the General Assembly are welcomed to a complimentary lunch offered by Zühlke. If you would like to also join the Global Compact Dialogue happening in the afternoon, please indicate so during the registration process.

Global Compact Dialogue | open to the public

In the afternoon, we are hosting an interactive session featuring diverse inputs and workshops on the topics of living wage, gender equality, and climate action. Kindly choose your preferred workshop during the registration process. Following the Dialogue, attendees are encouraged to stay for a networking apéro. Refer to the programme below for additional details.

Programme

10:00 Welcome coffee

10:45 General Assembly (UN Global Compact participants only)

12:15 Lunch and Networking

Global Compact Dialogue

13:30 Welcome and introduction by UN Global Compact Network Switzerland & Liechtenstein: Sustainability Challenges 2024

13:35 Welcome by Zühlke (Host)

13:50 2030 Agenda and UNGC Forward Faster initiative | Lucas Ribeiro, Climate Ambition Accelerator Lead at UNGC

14:00 Panel discussion on 'Taking impactful measures for a sustainable future' with:

           - Serena Alonso, Human Rights Specialists at dormakaba

           - Carina Hotter, Social Responsibility Project Manager at Givaudan

           - Carrie Scott, Head, Sustainability and ESG at Novartis

           - Lucas Ribeiro, Climate Ambition Accelerator Lead at  UNGC

14:45 Parallel workshops on three topics of the UNGC Forward Faster initiative:

           - Ensuring a Living Wage for All

           - Driving Gender Equality in the Workplace

           - Science-Based Climate Action: Managing key decarbonization challenges

16:00 Wrap-up, apéro, and networking

17:00 End

Workshop details

Ensuring a Living Wage for All

This workshop brings together representatives from Swiss organizations in order to understand and exchange ideas on how to ensure that all workers are paid a living wage that enables them to meet their basic needs and support themselves and their families to a standard that is universally considered decent. Participants will explore the business case and the possible actions they can take to make progress. Participants will:

• understand what is a living wage and how does paying a living wage fit into broader social sustainability agendas to tackle social inequalities?
• identify actions companies can take and further opportunities to provide a living wage across own operations and the value chain
• share challenges, good practices and experiences on overcoming barriers to make living wage a reality

Driving Gender Equality in the Workplace

This workshop brings together representatives from Swiss organizations in order to understand and exchange ideas on how to improve gender equality. Participants will delve into the business case for gender equality and steps to advance equal representation, participation and leadership as well as equal pay for work of equal value. Participants will:

• unpack the business case for gender equality and gain knowledge to increase gender and diversity related legislation and requirements
• engage in discussions with gender specialists and peers about strategies and effective resources for overcoming barriers to promote gender balance and equal pay
• exchange with colleagues and build a network of peers committed to advancing gender equality

Science-Based Climate Action: Managing key decarbonization challenges

The workshop connects sustainability and climate specialists from Swiss organizations to foster discussions on key decarbonization challenges and opportunities, in order to support reaching science-based targets. In smaller discussion groups, we will explore effective climate strategies and exchange good practices on how to address common challenges such as supplier engagement, scope 3 data availability and quality. Participants will:

• discuss challenges and opportunities and share good practices on key topics related to climate targets
• connect and exchange with other climate specialists
• provide inputs to the Swiss Global Compact network and the Science Based Targets initiative for further support

We would like to thank Zühlke for being our generous host. Further details on how to get to the event location and a map can be found in this PDF.