FAQs

The United Nations Global Compact is the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative and aims to mobilize a global movement of sustainable companies and stakeholders. It provides a platform for business and non-business entities to proactively network and engage in the areas of human rights, labour, environment, and anti-corruption. Participation in the UN Global Compact is a visible commitment to the implementation, disclosure, and promotion of its Ten universal Principles.

Local Networks, such as the Swiss & Liechtenstein Network, advance the initiative and its Ten Principles at the country level. Our role is to support organisations engage in the UN Global Compact with respect to the implementation of its principles and provide guidance to put sustainability commitments into action. By providing a platform for dialogue and learning, we create opportunities for multi-stakeholder engagement and collective action.

Participation in the UN Global Compact is open to any business genuinely committed to implementing the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact throughout its operations and sphere of influence and communicating on its progress each year.

Properly constituted (under prevailing national law) companies from any industry sector are eligible for participation, except those listed here.

Non-business organisations (e.g. civil society organisations/NGOs, business associations, foundations, academic institutions, public sector organisations, labour organisations and cities) are also encouraged to become Participants of the UN Global Compact.

The UN Global Compact applies the leadership principle. If a parent company is a Participant to the UN Global Compact, the commitment is assumed to apply for all subsidiaries as well. Subsidiaries that wish underline their commitment and become a UN Global Compact signatory alongside their parent are invited to become a member of the UN Global Compact Network Switzerland & Liechtenstein and to actively participate in our activities at the local and global level. To learn more about how subsidiaries can join the UN Global Compact see here.

The UN Global Compact provides a universal language for corporate responsibility and provides a framework to guide all businesses regardless of size, complexity or location.

We are your guide every step of the way. We’ll help you commit to, assess, define, implement, measure and communicate your sustainability strategy.

Discover how you will benefit from the UN Global Compact here.

Please consult the UN Global Compact Network Switzerland & Liechtenstein’s dedicated Fee Sheet here.

We are glad that you are interested in taking the next steps towards joining the UN Global Compact and to actively engage with the UN Global Compact Network Switzerland & Liechtenstein.

Please consult the joining process here.

As a voluntary initiative, the UN Global Compact seeks wide participation from a diverse group of businesses. As a participant of the UN Global Compact, a company:

• Sets in motion changes to business operations so that the UN Global Compact and its Ten Principles become part of strategy, culture and dayto-day operations;

• Is expected to publicly advocate the UN Global Compact and its principles via communications vehicles such as press releases, speeches, etc; and

• Is required to communicate with their stakeholders on an annual basis on progress (Communication on Progress) in:

  1. Implementing the Ten Principles and

  2. Efforts to support societal priorities.

There are a number of ways that companies can take action to embed corporate sustainability into their DNA. Find out what you can do here.

The Communication on Progress (CoP) is a required public and annual disclosure by business participants of the UN Global Compact with the following main objectives:

• Foster accountability on corporate sustainability performance to help safeguard the integrity of the UN Global Compact initiative;

• Promote continued learning and help drive corporate sustainability performance; and

• Enhance stakeholder access to information regarding participants’ implementation of the Ten Principles and contribution towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Click here for more detailed information on the CoP and its requirements.

No. From 2024 CoP submissions are mandatory and need to be submitted via the digital platform by 31 July 2024 (at 5PM (ET)). A business participant will be designated as “non-communicating” on the UN Global Compact website if it fails to submit all elements of the CoP by the end of the submission period on 31 July. If a “non-communicating” business participant fails to submit a CoP by 31 December, it will be delisted from the UN Global Compact for “failure to communicate on progress” on 1 January of the new year. For more information, please refer to the 2024 CoP Policy.

Participants and Signatories that wish to use a UN Global Compact logo are asked to seek permission in advance by using the online logo request system. An exception is the Communication on Progress (CoP) logo which is available for participants to include in their CoP without prior permission.

For more information about how to use and request UN Global Compact logos, please click here. If you have any further questions, please contact us.

To update contact information, Participants may login to the UN Global Compact website. In the “Contacts” tab of the dashboard, a new contact can be created, or an existing contact can be edited by clicking on the pencil picture under the appropriate contact name to modify its details.