
The enhanced Communication on Progress
We are excited to announce the launch of a new Communication on Progress (CoP) platform, effective in 2023. With the introduction of the enhanced CoP, we are transitioning from a narrative format to a standardized questionnaire supported by a digital platform.
Benefits of the enhanced Communication on Progress
The enhanced CoP enables participating companies of the UN Global Compact to:
- Measure and demonstrate progress to stakeholders and the public on the Ten Principles and the Sustainable Development Goals in a consistent and harmonized way.
- Build credibility and brand value by showing their commitment to the Ten Principles and the Sustainable Development Goals.
- Receive insight, learn and continuously improve performance by identifying gaps, accessing guidance and setting sustainability goals.
- Compare performance against peers with access to one of the largest sources of free, public and comparable corporate sustainability data.
Prepare for the Communication on Progress
Learn more about the requirements, deadlines and how to best prepare for the new CoP by reading the five steps below.
Step 1: Understand your requirements The enhanced Communication on Progress (CoP) consists of two elements:
To fulfill the CoP requirement, your company must have electronically signed the CEO Statement of Continued Support and answered all the questions in the CoP Questionnaire via the new CoP digital platform by the end of the universal submission period. |
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Step 2: Know your deadlines Companies should complete and submit their CoP during the universal submission period, which takes place from March through June annually (for 2023: 27 March - 15 July), in order to maintain ‘active’ status in the UN Global Compact. If a company fails to complete and submit their CoP during the universal submission period, they will fall into ‘non-communicating’ status, and their name and status will be publicly displayed. This status can be reverted to ‘active’ by submitting the CoP any time between 16 July and 31 December, annually. If a ‘non-communicating’ company fails to submit their CoP by 31 December, they will be delisted from the UN Global Compact for ‘failure to communicate’ in January of the following calendar year. Delisted companies will be publicly displayed. Companies are not required to submit a CoP in the year they join the UN Global Compact. For more details on the CoP requirements, delisting and rejoining policy, access the CoP policy. |
Step 3: Prepare your report
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Step 4: Complete and submit your CoP
Once you have…
… you are ready to submit your CoP through the digital platform. |
Step 5: Visualize your submitted CoP report Upon submission of the CoP, all companies will be able to view their completed CoP report on their participant profile on the UN Global Compact website, where it will be accessible by any stakeholder and the public as an html web page and downloadable as a PDF. Companies will also be able to visualize their CoP answers, track and understand performance and benchmark against peers through their data visualization dashboard on the CoP digital platform. The UN Global Compact will not score or rank of participating companies associated with the CoP questionnaire. |
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Please note that the UN Global Compact is committed to protecting the privacy of our Participants and website users and that our privacy policy and cookies policy apply to all our websites including our COP digital platform. Please also note that all data, including supplemental documentation that was submitted by a participating company through the CoP digital platform, will be made publicly available on the UN Global Compact website. This data may be used by the UN Global Compact in aggregate form to analyze trends and/or included in public reports on the status of corporate sustainability. The UN Global Compact is not responsible, or liable to any third party, for the content or accuracy of the data submitted by its participating companies through the COP platform nor for the use of public COP data by third parties. The UN Global Compact is also not responsible, or liable to any third party, for any privacy violations that result from the Personal Information of a third party submitted to the UN Global Compact by participating companies through the CoP platform.
Resources
CoP Policy | CoP Questionnaire | CoP Guidebook |
FAQs |
Access the CoP Academy page for on-demand sessions and templates |
CEO Statement of Continued Support |
Need Support?
Reach us at cop-support@unglobalcompact.org