2025 marks both the 25th anniversary of the UN Global Compact and the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. In this year’s International Women’s Month, the United Nations Global Compact Liaison Office in China host the China-Japan-Korea Business Roundtable: Business role in building family-friendly workplace and inclusive culture for male allyship and launched the report, Parents at Work: Companies Building Family-friendly Workplaces and Inclusive Culture with Male Allyship in Beijing.  China, Japan, and Korea, as the three largest economies in East Asia, share new demographic trends and the challenge of gender equality, which have far-reaching implications for economic development, talent management and sustainable development across the region. Regional dialogue and collective action are essential in responding to such new situations. In response, the UN Global Compact Liaison Office in China is coordinating across businesses East Asia, collaborating with Country Network Japan, and Korea to jointly publish this guide to promote family-friendly workplaces, sharing good practices and innovative solutions for business sustainability transformation while encouraging more enterprises to take pragmatic collective action toward achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. Following the 2024 publication of Women at Work: Chinese Companies Taking Actions on Gender Equality, this report serves as another thought-leading knowledge product in the same series to promote gender equality, focusing on “parents at work”. The report includes: An analysis of progress made by companies in China, Japan, Korea, and the broader Asia and Oceania region in fostering family-friendly workplaces and supporting male allyship, based on quantitative analysis tools and the latest data insights.  Case studies and specific initiatives from businesses of different industries and scales in China, Japan, and Korea that support working parents, implement family-friendly policies, and promote an inclusive corporate culture, providing replicable and scalable solutions to global business.  A seven-step action guide based on the Women's Empowerment Principles (WEPs) for businesses to build family-friendly workplaces and inclusive culture, helping businesses to take systematic actions from the three directions of leadership and accountability, management systems to support working parents, as well as collaboration in supply chain, market and community engagement. The action guide also provides tailored advice for companies at different stages of development. 

Companies of all sizes may be exposed to multiple climate change-related risks through their supply chains. By placing just transition at the centre of their risk management strategies, your company can better manage converging risks that may impact your business. This brief outlines the policies and practices companies can implement to manage the environmental and social impacts of their supply chain, discusses multilateral frameworks, and offers recommendations for businesses to improve their sustainability and resilience, including real-world examples.

This Annual Report is intended to provide our stakeholders and the public with an overview of the progress of the UN Global Compact across key strategic and operational focus areas as well as to highlight key activities undertaken and resources created to promote business action on UN issues and priorities. The inclusion of company examples in this report is intended strictly for learning purposes and does not constitute an endorsement of the individual companies.

Examines how companies can navigate complex multi-tiered supply chains and their associated challenges as part of their efforts to advance decent work in their global supply chains. While multi-tier supply chains have the advantage of driving efficiency, reducing planning cycle lead times and reducing possible business disruptions, they also increase the risk of causing or contributing to human rights impacts and decent work deficits, particularly in the lower tiers of the chain. This is exacerbated in a crisis situation such as a pandemic, where workers’ rights and conditions may be compromised and income threatened as a result of order cancellations, factory shut-downs, or layoffs. This report seeks to guide multinational enterprises in reducing global supply chain vulnerabilities and provides proactive measures companies can take and best practice examples to draw inspiration from.

Highlights the central role businesses play in determining whether or not global temperature increases can be limited to 1.5°C by 2050, and identifies key issues that businesses should consider when assessing climate change and human rights - such as climate refugees, human trafficking, litigation hotspots, investor demands, and cost of inaction. 

Provides the first ever estimates of child labour and human trafficking in global supply chains. A significant share of child labour and human trafficking in global supply chains occurs at lower tiers, in activities such as raw material extraction and agriculture, making due diligence, visibility and traceability challenging. The report outlines several key areas in which governments and businesses can do more. It underscores the critical role of States in addressing gaps in statutory legislation, enforcement, and access to justice and in establishing a framework for responsible business conduct. For business, the report underscores the need for a comprehensive, whole-of-supply-chain approach to due diligence.

Building on the original Guide for General Counsel on Corporate Sustainability published in 2015, Version 2.0 provides further guidance to General Counsel to ensure they are better placed and better equipped to drive change and deliver value to their organizations through an increased focus on corporate sustainability. Topics include: Corporate Sustainability and Business Integrity Corporate Sustainability and Business Integrity Human Rights and Supply Chain Due Diligence Corporate Sustainability and Grievance Mechanisms Challenges to Corporate Sustainability - Managing a Crisis Please fill out the form below to download the full guide.

Investigates six sectors and analyzes how selected companies have turned climate risks into climate opportunities. Considered one of the most urgent risks, climate change is already determining how markets are evolving. Factors like new consumer preferences, new regulations, changing investor focus and market prices will increasingly favour the climate, and create a new kind of pressure on companies.

This guidance identifies the main improvements required for gender-sensitive social auditing and provides recommendations, practical advice, and relevant examples on how to effectively integrate gender considerations into audits.

This report draws on corporate emissions and target data submitted to the SBTi and CDP — as well as extensive interviews with businesses and other stakeholders — to explore the progress the SBTi has made in driving the adoption of SBTs by businesses and the impact this has on decarbonising the economy.

Provides a summary and highlights of the inaugural SDG Investment Forum in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

This guide aims to help companies set effective site water targets that are informed by catchment context, which can create value and lessen risks for the company and support collective action. This guide is intended for site staff or technical water specialists responsible for water management, and relevant corporate staff. This guide lays out three key elements for setting effective site water targets: Water targets should respond to priority water challenges within the catchment; The ambition of water targets should be informed by the site’s contribution to water challenges and desired conditions; and Water targets should reduce water risk, capitalize on opportunities, and contribute to public sector priorities.