The enhanced Communication on Progress

In June, we paused submissions of the 2023 Communication on Progress (CoP) due to technical challenges associated with our original digital platform. We are diligently working to relaunch the digital process for submitting the 2023 CoP through an interim platform, which will be made available by mid-October. To provide sufficient time to complete the reporting requirements, we are extending the reporting deadline to 31 December 2023.

We invite you to review these Frequently Asked Questions and reach out to cop-support@unglobalcompact.org or your Local Network for additional support.

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:

  • CEO Statement of Continued Support to publicly express your company’s ongoing commitment to the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact at the highest level. The statement is a standardized template that is signed electronically.
  • CoP Questionnaire, which focuses on five disclosure areas (governance, human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption) and is designed to help participating companies monitor performance across the Ten Principles (access the questionnaire template here).

For the 2023 reporting year, a sustainability report uploaded through the interim digital platform can be submitted in lieu of the CoP questionnaire.

SDGs
SDGs

Step 2: Know your deadlines


2023 CoP submissions will be accepted within a 10-week window between mid-October (exact date TBA) and 31 December.

Companies that fail to complete and submit their CoP during this time period will be listed as ‘Non-communicating’ on their public participant profile as of 1 January 2024.

Companies can restore their ‘Active’ status by submitting a 2023 CoP before the start of the 2024 reporting period, or by submitting their 2024 CoP during the 2024 reporting period. Companies remaining in “Non-communicating” status will be delisted as of 1 January 2025.

Please note that no company will be delisted for failure to submit the 2023 CoP, but the UN Global Compact highly encourages all participants to demonstrate their commitment and progress toward the Ten Principles and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through the 2023 interim digital platform.

Step 3: Prepare your report


  • ✓    Confirm your CEO’s continued support of the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact.
  • ✓    Review the CoP Questionnaire to understand the questions asked and the data that will need to be collected.
  • ✓    Use the CoP Guidebook here to get information on how to answer the questions, find calculations and explore a glossary of key terms to help you complete the CoP questionnaire.
  • ✓    Begin your data collection process on time! You can use the spreadsheet here to support your data collection process with relevant team members and the CoP Data Compilation Checklist here (see p. 74).
  • ✓    Check that you have access to the UN Global Compact dashboard here. Refer to the user's guide to learn how to request credentials.

SDGs
SDGs

Step 4: Complete and submit your CoP


Once you have…

  • ✓    Answered all questions in the CoP questionnaire
  • ✓    Signed the CEO Statement of Continued support
  • ✓    Uploaded relevant supplemental documentation (e.g. policies, sustainability report, etc) that you would like to VOLUNTARILY add to complement your submission
  • ✓    Made a last review of the information provided

… 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.

SDGs

Please 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 present trends or included in reports about the status of corporate sustainability. The UN Global Compact does not have any responsibility on the accuracy of the data submitted by its participating companies nor on how this public data will be used by other stakeholders.



Resources

Find Your Local Network 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