ABB supports the United Nations Global Compact, intended to promote nine principles in the areas of human rights, labor and the environment. ABB was one of the inaugural companies at the launch of this initiative in 2000. The company sees the Global Compact as a key to influencing globalization and helping society understand the role industry has in sustainable development. ABB has started to identify and focus on projects that meet the Global Compact criteria and has included stakeholders to help decide which principles of the Global Compact can be applied most effectively. For example, ABB posted a case story on the UN’s Global Compact Web site describing its ongoing work to move young people away from criminal behavior through the ‘Conquest for Life’ project in Johannesburg, South Africa. ABB is also starting an HIV/AIDS project this year under the South African government’s “HIV/AIDS Partnership” program to provide education, care and support for the communities in which ABB operates. And, ABB parti
cipated in the UN Policy Dialogue on the role of the private sector in zones of conflict.
ABB managers in Germany, Italy, Poland, South Africa, Sweden and Switzerland are helping drive several other initiatives at the national and regional level. The goal is to bring together core groups of business leaders to promote the Global Compact in the business community and society and to exchange ideas and share experiences on how the principles can be best applied.
www.unglobalcompact.org