Partnerships
We develop partnerships with individual experts and consultants in developing natural capital asset portfolios such as renewable energy or clean technologies, and sustainable agriculture.
We also partner with companies with a particular focus on Women Empowerment in the following ways:-
- Gender-diverse management and executive committees
- Gender-balanced boards
We also promote the importance of environmental responsibility (Environmental Principles 7-9).
Working in partnerships with companies for biodiversity corporate reporting and awareness about potential biodiversity environmental impacts of their products and services.
We are committed to all the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact as follows: -
Human Rights (Principles 1-2)
Principle 1: Businesses should support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights.
The responsibility for human rights does not rest with governments or nation-states alone. Human rights issues are important for both individuals and the organizations that they create. As part of their commitment to the Global Compact, businesses have a responsibility to uphold human rights both in the workplace and more broadly within their sphere of influence.
A growing moral imperative to behave responsibly is linked to the recognition that a good human rights record can support improved business performance.
Principle 2: Businesses should ensure that they are not complicit in human rights abuses. There are several types of complicity. Direct complicity occurs when a company actively assists in human rights violations committed by others. Beneficial complicity suggests that a company benefits directly from human rights abuses committed by others. Silent complicity describes a situation where a company may not be assisting or encouraging human rights violations, nor benefiting from the actions of those that commit abuses, but is viewed as staying silent in the face of human rights abuses.
Labour (Principles 3-6)
Principle 3: Businesses should uphold the freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining.
Freedom of association implies a respect for the right of employers and workers to freely and voluntarily establish and join organizations of their own choice. It further implies that these organizations have the right to carry out their activities in full freedom and without interference. Collective bargaining refers to the process or activity leading up to the conclusion of a collective agreement. Collective bargaining is a voluntary process used to determine terms and conditions of work and the regulation of relations between employers, workers and their organizations.
Principle 4: Businesses should uphold the elimination of forced or compulsory labour.
Forced labour is a fundamental violation of human rights. Most victims receive little or no earnings and work for long hours in extremely poor conditions of health and safety. Forced or compulsory labour is any work or service (whether or not wages or compensation are offered) that is extracted from any person under the menace of any penalty, and for which that person
has not offered himself or herself voluntarily. By right, labour should be freely given and employees should be free to leave. While companies operating legally do not normally employ such practices, forced labour can become associated with enterprises through their use of contractors and suppliers.
Principle 5: Businesses should uphold the effective abolition of child labour.
Child labour is work that is damaging to a child’s physical, social, mental, psychological and spiritual development because it is work performed at too early an age. Child labour deprives children of their childhood and their dignity. They are deprived of an education and maybe separated from their families. Children who do not complete their basic education are likely to remain illiterate and never acquire the skills needed to get a job and contribute to the development of a modern economy. Consequently, child labour results in under-skilled, unqualified workers and jeopardizes future improvements of skills in the workforce.
Principle 6: Businesses should uphold the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.
Discrimination in employment means treating people differently or less favourably because of characteristics that are not related to their merit or the inherent requirements of the job (e.g., race, age, disability, gender). Discrimination can arise in a variety of work-related activities, including access to employment, to particular occupations, and to training and vocational guidance.
Environment (Principles 7-9)
Principle 7: Businesses should support a precautionary approach to environmental challenges.
The precautionary approach is defined as follows: “Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation.” Precaution involves the systematic application of risk assessment (hazard identification, hazard characterization, appraisal of exposure and risk characterization), risk management and risk communication. When there is reasonable suspicion of harm and decision-makers need to apply precaution, they have to consider the degree of uncertainty that appears from scientific evaluation.
Principle 8: Businesses should undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility.
Companies have the responsibility to ensure their activities do not cause harm to the environment of their neighbours.
Society also expects business to be good neighbours. Business gains its legitimacy through meeting the needs of society, and increasingly society is expressing a clear need for more environmentally sustainable practices.
Principle 9: Businesses should encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies.
Environmentally sound technologies are those that protect the environment, are less polluting, use resources in a more sustainable manner, recycle more of their wastes and products, and handle residual wastes in a more acceptable manner than the technologies for which they were substitutes. Environmentally friendly technologies include a variety of cleaner production processes and pollution prevention technologies, as well as end-of-pipe and monitoring technologies. They also refer to total systems, including know-how, procedures, goods and services, and equipment, as well as organizational and managerial procedures.
Anti-Corruption (Principle 10)
Principle 10: Businesses should work against all forms of corruption, including extortion and bribery.
Corruption, defined as the abuse of entrusted power for private gain, can take many forms that vary in degree from the minor use of influence to institutionalized bribery. Corruption poses risk to a company’s reputation and increases exposure to legal, financial and other risks.*
OECD defines extortion as: “the solicitation of bribes is the act of asking or enticing another to commit bribery. It becomes extortion when this demand is accompanied by threats that endanger the personal integrity or the life of the private actors involved.” Bribery is defined as “an offer or receipt of any gift, loan, fee, reward or other advantages to or from any person as an inducement to do something which is dishonest, illegal or a breach of trust, in the conduct of the enterprise’s business.”*