The Principles for Responsible Banking are one year old. Launched in September 2019 at the UN General Assembly in New York, the Principles are a unique framework for ensuring that signatory banks’ strategy and practice align with the vision society has set out for its future in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreement. What makes the …
Working to Purpose: Embracing Accountability
As business’s momentum to embrace social purpose continues to build, many leaders are keen to measure, confirm, and showcase the impact they’re making. This often starts with a deceptively simple question: Can you prove your claims? Do you have data that confirms your impact? Telling a clear and compelling story about the impact and value of your work, backed …
Designing a Flourishing Future
This summer marked the 15th anniversary of the first Global Compact Leaders Summit at the UN Headquarters in New York—convened by Secretary-General Kofi Annan on June 24, 2004. That summit was the beginning of a dialogue about the global struggle for corporate responsibility that has expanded to involve tens of thousands of business leaders, and contributed directly to the creation …
Seven Ideas for the G7
This week the heads of state of the economies that comprise the Group of 7 (the ‘G7’) gather in France to discuss the critical issues of our time – with the stated focus of fighting inequality. The group first came together in the 1970s to find a collective solution to the oil crisis that was destabilizing economies worldwide. Since their …
I Fell in Love with a Problem….
I went to the Social Impact Showcase at St. Paul’s University College where I saw Cassie Myers of SheLeads offer great advice to young leaders: “Fall in love with a problem,” she said, “not with a solution.” I loved this advice and reflected on it. I had my first crush on a problem when my media-studies-teacher mom brought home some …
Banking on all our futures
Capitalism is suffering from a crisis of legitimacy and nowhere is that truer than in the banking sector. Following the 2007/8 crash, banks have focused on compliance and getting their house in order, but they have broadly failed to win back the trust they lost. Working together in a process convened by the UN Environment Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), a …