Business In Society Archives

USCIB-SHRM-IOE Town Hall During UNGA Discusses Critical Priorities of UN’s Our Common Agenda

Published on September 21, 2022

New York, NY, September 21, 2022—As the second week of the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly got underway, the United States Council for International Business (USCIB) joined with partners, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and the International Organization of Employers (IOE), to hold a Global Business Town Hall on September 21. The Town Hall tackled some of pressing priorities outlined in the UN Secretary General’s report Our Common Agenda, which seeks to foster a human-centric recovery for the global workforce in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Panels centered around four critical areas from Our Common Agenda, including resetting the multilateral system, rethinking education to close the skills gap, reforming global response to future health crises, and reinforcing human rights through the role of governance and the rule of law.

“Business is a full partner and, together, we have the capacity to respond to these pressing global challenges,” asserted USCIB President and CEO Peter M. Robinson during his closing remarks.

Other high-level speakers and panelists included International Labor Organization (ILO) Director-General Elect Gilbert Houngbo, UN DESA Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development Navid Hanif, IOE Secretary-General Roberto Suarez Santos, President UN Human Rights Council Federico Villegas, and SHRM Chief of Staff, Head of Government Affairs and Corporate Secretary Emily M. Dickens, who served as keynote.

Emily Dickens (SHRM)

“The report mentions that we truly are at an inflection point in history,” Dickens told the audience of over 300 attendees, which consisted of representatives from business and UN officials. “I submit to you today that this inflection point touches no other place like it does the workplace—the location where people spend the majority of their time, the mechanism that allows people to take care of themselves and their families, the incubator for innovation that impacts how well we live.”

This town hall was a second in a series, following one organized by USCIB, SHRM and IOE during the UN High-Level Political Forum in July.

About USCIB: USCIB promotes open markets, competitiveness and innovation, sustainable development, and corporate responsibility, supported by international engagement and regulatory coherence. Its members include U.S.-based global companies and professional services firms from every sector of our economy, with operations in every region of the world. USCIB is the U.S. affiliate of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the International Organization of Employers (IOE) and Business at OECD. More at www.uscib.org.

USCIB Launches Advocacy Campaign on OECD Accession Process

Published on September 21, 2022

USCIB launched its advocacy campaign on the OECD accession process last week, co-hosting with the U.S. Chamber “The OECD Accession Process: Why it Matters for U.S. Business,” a high level dialogue featuring OECD legal counsel, Business at OECD (BIAC) and leaders of U.S. industry. The event featured Gita Kothari, OECD deputy director for legal affairs, Ali Karami Ruis, BIAC senior director, and Rick Johnston, chair of BIAC and the USCIB Trade & Investment Committee, who provided guidance on the accession processes and on how American companies can play a role in leveraging business interests. Norine Kennedy, USCIB senior vice president for policy and global strategy, and Gary Litman, U.S. Chamber of Commerce senior vice president for global initiatives, provided welcoming remarks.

Starting this fall, dozens of OECD committees will undertake detailed technical reviews of candidate country practices relating to a wide array of issues such as tax, environment, good governance and trade. The committees will consider the willingness and ability of the candidates to adopt OECD standards and recommend changes to laws and practices, a process that can take up to eight years, advancing at different paces depending on the candidate. Reforms must be adopted before a country is invited to accede.

“OECD accessions provide a unique opportunity for USCIB member companies to change policy and reform laws never thought possible before in candidate countries,” asserted Alice Slayton Clark, USCIB director for investment, trade and China. BIAC is distinctively placed to advance industry interests because it is authorized to participate in the work of the OECD and its committees. It also can activate its global business association members to coordinate advocacy strategies and provide high level access and engagement with the thirty-eight OECD ambassadors in Paris.

USCIB, through its unique affiliation to BIAC, offers its members a special avenue to influence this process. USCIB policy managers have already started engaging members at the committee level on priority issues to advocate through BIAC and with relevant Biden Administration officials.

“The OECD is a business friendly environment, bringing cooperation over the accession process to a new level and yielding tangible benefits for countries and companies,” stressed Clark.  “Now is the time for business to get involved and maximize results.”

USCIB has also released an OECD fact sheet on the advocacy campaign, which can be accessed here.

USCIB at the 77th Session of the UN General Assembly

Published on September 15, 2022
Photo credit: United Nations

New York, NY, September 15, 2022—On occasion of the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly, taking place September 13-27 in New York, the United States Council for International Business (USCIB) has released the following statement by Ester Baiget, chief executive officer of Novozymes and USCIB Board of Trustees Sustainability Champion.

“The United States Council for International Business (USCIB) welcomes the return of the UN General Assembly to New York in-person.  This is a moment we have waited for since the pandemic suspended meetings and travel, impacting this essential governing body and its work.  Business depends on a strong, resilient and effective United Nations and multilateral system, and now more than ever, the private sector is an essential partner to the international community.

Ester Baiget

As a USCIB Trustee and Sustainability Champion, it is my firm conviction that the business community in all its diversity is key to tackling the numerous challenges to sustainable development that we face together: the triple environmental crisis, food and energy insecurity, threats to peace and weakening human rights.  USCIB has been a committed champion for business in the multilateral system and in particular here in New York at UN HQ, both in its own right with NGO Consultative Status to UN ECOSOC and together with those global business organizations for which it serves as U.S. affiliate: International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), International Organization of Employers (IOE) and Business at OECD (BIAC).

We endorse the stated areas of priority announced by the President of the UN General Assembly, H.E. Amb. Csaba Korosi, and announce that USCIB and its membership of leading companies from every sector of the American economy will focus on advancing and partnering for Solutions for Sustainability, Science and Solidarity.  As innovators, employers, and members of society, business understands the need to mobilize governments, business and other stakeholders across the policy arena to get back on track for shared prosperity and sustainable development.

We are inspired by the UN Secretary General’s Report, Our Common Agenda, and embrace its objective to supercharge implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its innovative ideas for action.  We share the concern of lost progress towards the objectives of the SDGs, and see the urgency of pursuing systemwide change to tackle climate change, plastics pollution and threats to biodiversity.

In coming days, USCIB will announce the launch of the USCIB Moving the Needle project, designed to advance and share practical business tools, approaches and recommendations to strengthen partnerships, mobilize resources and improve interfaces for business into the UN, all with the aim of accelerating implementation and advancing inclusive, practical and networked multilateralism, as envisioned in Our Common Agenda.

As it has done since its founding, USCIB and its members will join the international community across the multilateral system to deliver for people and planet.  We look forward to lending our support to COP27, COP15 and INC1, and to engaging here in New York, to build next year’s Summit for SDGs and the 2024 Summit for the Future to result in impactful outcomes that catalyze governments, business and society for the future we want.”

About USCIB: USCIB promotes open markets, competitiveness and innovation, sustainable development, and corporate responsibility, supported by international engagement and regulatory coherence. Its members include U.S.-based global companies and professional services firms from every sector of our economy, with operations in every region of the world. USCIB is the U.S. affiliate of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the International Organization of Employers (IOE) and Business at OECD. More at www.uscib.org.

USCIB Files Comments on US Government Trade Strategy to Combat Forced Labor

Published on August 10, 2022

USCIB filed public comments with the United States Trade Representative (USTR) August 5 in response to a request for input on a U.S. trade strategy to combat forced labor. According to the submission, a successful U.S. forced labor trade policy must assume a whole-of government approach that is multi-faceted, multilateral and risk-based in nature, focused on addressing the root causes of forced labor, including promoting rule of law in nations struggling to adopt and enforce internationally recognized labor standards.

With respect to trade policy tools, USCIB argued that USTR should leverage positive and accelerated, market incentives and market access for countries striving to tackle forced labor; provide capacity building and technical assistance to help governments struggling with compliance; and increase interagency collaboration and engagement with industry, allies, and multilateral institutions on promoting solutions to common supply chain problems. USCIB’s comments, which were built on past positions, statements, and work related to the critical topic of forced labor in supply chains, focused on both policy and technical issues, and supported the need for increased engagement with the trade community writ large.

“USCIB members condemn all forms of forced labor, and are deeply committed to preventing the use of forced labor in their supply chains,” said USCIB Director for Investment, Trade and China Alice Slayton Clark. “In fact, when they trade and invest in the global marketplace, they deploy and export responsible business practices and promote social responsibility around the world.”

For the U.S. Government’s forced labor trade strategy to be effective it must be developed considering industry perspectives and inputs.

The government must engage the trade community in partnership to support trade, investment, supply chain due diligence and compliance. They must also provide clear guidance to companies, addressing any new rules implementing forced labor eradication strategies.

“USCIB and our member companies are ready, willing and able to provide general policy as well as technical customs and trade facilitation guidance to support the effort to develop a focused trade strategy to combat forced labor,” added Clark.

Through its membership affiliation with the International Organization of Employers (IOE), USCIB holds the formal role as the U.S. employer representative at the International Labor Organization (ILO), and has long served as a leading industry voice in promoting core labor standards, bolstering human rights, and eradicating child labor and forced labor in global supply chains.

USCIB Releases Statement Supporting World Day Against Trafficking in Persons

Published on July 28, 2022

July 30, 2022, New York, NY — The United States Council for International Business (USCIB) joins the global community in recognizing World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, held annually on July 30. We are proud of the work our corporate members do to engage in the fight against trafficking, including initiatives to train employees to spot signs of human trafficking and conducting thorough human rights due diligence to mitigate instances of forced labor in supply chains.

We welcome this year’s theme, “Use and abuse of technology.” This theme focuses on the role of technology as a tool that can both enable and impede human trafficking. With the global expansion in the use of technology – intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic and the shift of our everyday life to online platforms — the crime of human trafficking has conquered cyber space. The internet and other digital platforms offer traffickers numerous tools to recruit, exploit and control victims; organize their transport and accommodation; advertise victims and reach out to potential clients; communicate among perpetrators; and hide criminal proceeds – and all that with greater speed, cost-effectiveness and anonymity.

The U.S. Department of State released the 2022 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, which highlights the efforts, successes and deficiencies of 188 countries to combat and prevent human trafficking. The scale of the problem continues to be vast, as nearly twenty-five million people are currently victims of trafficking.  With an estimated thirty million victims worldwide at any given time, human traffickers prey on adults and children of all ages, backgrounds and nationalities, exploiting them for their own profit. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken gave remarks at the Report Launch Ceremony and highlighted the work of the twenty-one countries that were upgraded for their accomplishments. The Secretary also regretted the inaction, or even sponsorship, of eighteen nations that were downgraded. The report concludes that government corruption continues to be a top tool for traffickers.

USCIB commends the twenty U.S. agencies of the National Action Plan to Combat Human Traffickingin their efforts tackle this crisis.

USCIB and our members continue to take decisive action in the fight against human trafficking.  The private sector continues to design and implement innovative programs to root out this type of abuse in supply chains.  USCIB is a member of the International Labor Organization (ILO) Global Business Network on Forced Labour (GBNFL). Operating across all sectors and geographies, ILO GBNFL members and partners work to engage smaller enterprises, develop resources and tools and devise local solutions that help shape national frameworks to create lasting change.

USCIB and our members stand ready to work with civil society, academics, governments and others in the fight against human trafficking.  We are committed to ensuring victims and survivors are treated with dignity and respect, and given opportunities in their post-rescue journeys.

USCIB Hosts Reception to Endorse Doreen Bogdan-Martin as New ITU Secretary General

Published on July 19, 2022
At the July 13 in reception in NY during UN HLPF. Left to right: Barbara Wanner, Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Peter Robinson

Ahead of the upcoming election this fall of the new Secretary General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Bucharest, Romania, USCIB has joined the U.S. government and many others in endorsing the nomination of Doreen Bogdan-Martin to become the new ITU Secretary General. As part of this endorsement, USCIB hosted a reception on July 13 in New York during the United Nations High-Level Political Forum (UN HLPF), which was sponsored by Amazon, AT&T, BT, Lumen, Microsoft and Verizon.

“The outcome of this election will have important ramifications for telecommunications/ICT policies and regulations, which ultimately could affect countries’ ability to tap innovations that will boost economic and social prosperity, drive capacity building, and help to realize the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),” said USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson.

Bogdan-Martin, who currently serves as Director of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau, has shared her vision for the long-term success of the ITU, which includes: aiming high to achieve universal digital connectivity that is safe, inclusive and affordable; collaborating for impact to transform delivery; and excelling as an institution with integrity and accountability.

“By virtue of her leadership of the ITU Development Bureau, we believe that Ms. Bogdan-Martin possesses both substantive knowledge and leadership skills that would make her a superb ITU Secretary General and place the Union at the forefront of global efforts to meet connectivity needs and expand digital opportunities for the people of your country and around the world,” added USCIB Vice President for ICT Policy Barbara Wanner. “Importantly, she understands what business needs: effective policies and standards that attract investment and support innovation. And perhaps most important, Ms. Bogdan-Martin will ensure that the ITU continues to embrace multi-stakeholder input into the development of the ITU’s regulatory practices and technical standards, and that those practices and standards directly relate to the ITU’s core mission.”

USCIB Welcomes New Leadership to 2022-2024 Board of Trustees and Board of Directors  

Published on July 12, 2022

Following recent membership elections, USCIB is pleased to welcome new members to the Board of Trustees and Board of Directors for the 2022-2024 term and to congratulate reelected members: 

New Trustees include Michael Froman, Mastercard Vice Chairman & President, Strategic Growth; and Timothy Ryan, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP Senior Partner & Chair. PepsiCo, Inc Chairman & CEO Ramon Laguarta was reelected.  

New Directors include Dorothy Attwood, The Walt Disney Company Senior Vice President, Global Public Policy;  Sahra English, Mastercard Vice President, Global Public Policy; Tam Robert Nguyen, Bechtel Corporation Global Head of Sustainability; and Chris Sharrock, Microsoft Corporation Vice President, UN Affairs and International Organizations. Salesforce Executive Vice President, Government Affairs Eric Loeb and PMI Global Services, Inc Vice President, External Affairs J.B. Simko were reelected. 

USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson also expressed his appreciation to the Nominating Committee: USCIB Trustee Ester Baiget (Chair), president and CEO, Novozymes; Trustee Paul Knopp, U.S. chair and CEO, KPMG LLP; and USCIB Vice Chair and Trustee Michele Parmelee, deputy CEO and global chief people & purpose officer, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. 

Vinblad Speaks on Panel Co-Organized by ILO, UNEP and UNICEF at UN Stockholm+50

Published on June 22, 2022
Center: USCIB’s Agnes Vinblad

USCIB participated in the high-level international meeting, UN Stockholm+50 from June 2-3 in Stockholm, Sweden, joining over 4,000 other participants. The meeting was planned as a key milestone en route to the United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP27) in Egypt later this year. Furthermore, Stockholm+50 served as a means to reinvigorate and renew international environmental multilateralism after the worst impacts of the pandemic. The meeting commemorated the first UN Conference on the Human Environment held fifty years ago, also in Stockholm, in 1972. Topics such as the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution took center stage with plenty of references to the UNEA 5.2 resolution on plastics pollution, and, to principle 1 of the 1972 Stockholm Declaration – the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. 

Representing USCIB, and as one of the few U.S. business representatives on hand, was Policy Associate for Sustainability Agnes Vinblad. Vinblad was joined by Co-Chair of the USCIB Environment Committee Justin Perrettson (Novozymes), as well as Melissa Kopolow and Melissa Estok – USCIB members from Albright Stonebridge Group.  

The U.S. Government delegation was led by Special Presidential Envoy for Climate (SPEC) John Kerry and Assistant Secretary Monica Medina. USCIB was in regular contact with the U.S. Delegation in the lead-up to Stockholm+50 and Vinblad met with members of the delegation during the conference emphasizing the need to consider U.S. business views in these critical conversations.   

Nominated by IOE, Vinblad joined a panel co-organized by the International Labor Organization (ILO), the UN Environment Program (UNEP), and UNICEF on the role of private sector engagement in green jobs creation for youth. This panel was part of an official side event at Stockholm+50 titled Green Jobs for Youth and some of the key messages emphasized during the panel included: 

  • the green and circular economy may create 100 million jobs by 2030 – the private sector will stand at the core of this transition; 
  • the transition will have to be just to ensure that there will be a transition at all; 
  • green jobs in renewables and environmental protection are rapidly growing – a development clearly driven by the private sector.   

Vinblad was joined on the panel by Naoko Ishii, former chief executive of the Global Environment Facility and chairperson of the Global Advisory Board of the University of Tokyo; Vladislav Kaim, Children and Youth constituency to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (YOUNGO) Green Jobs focal point and UN Secretary General Youth Advisor on Climate Change; and Nate Williams, senior director, Economic Graph partnerships, LinkedIn. 

“Overall, Stockholm+50 furthered the trend toward convergence of current legally binding environmental deliberations, for example the development of a new Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework via the UN Convention on Biological Diversity and the recently adopted UNEA resolution on plastic pollution,” said Vinblad in summarizing the outcomes of the high-level UN meeting. “By allowing space to discuss all these critical topics and agreements in one joint forum, it yet again emphasized the need to act on the triple planetary crises of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution in a cohesive manner, guided by the true interconnectedness of these issues.” 

To find more details on the outcomes of Stockholm+50 and the ten Key Recommendations presented by the co-chairs Sweden and Kenya, please review this document.  

USCIB Represents U.S. Business at United Nations Preparatory Meetings on COP27

Published on June 21, 2022

The United Nations concluded two weeks of preparatory meetings in advance of the next Climate Summit, known as COP27, which will be held November 8-18 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.  As the first official negotiations since Glasgow in 2021, this meeting brought all UN member states, UN bodies, business and other groups to discuss urgently accelerating implementation of the Paris Agreement.

According to USCIB Senior Vice President for Policy and Global Strategy Norine Kennedy, who was on the ground representing U.S. business, the intense session included special presentations of the most recent scientific findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and technical roundtables under the “global stock take,” which will assess the need for and degree of additional greenhouse gas emissions reductions required to keep global temperature rise well below 2 degrees C. The session also took up further development of “Article 6” measures to allow carbon trading and offsets under the Paris Agreement. Working on the ground with Kennedy was also USCIB Policy and Program Associate for Sustainability, Agnes Vinblad.

In addition, new attention is now being directed toward the private sector with respect to voluntary pledges and initiatives, such as those announced last year at the Glasgow Summit. The UN Secretary General and the UNFCCC High Level Champions have each recently announced new initiatives to review such voluntary announcements to ensure they are being put into practice.

At a meeting with members of the U.S. Government delegation at Bonn, Co-Chair of the USCIB Environment Committee Justin Perrettson (Novozymes) called out the “importance of private sector innovation to tackle the inter-linked challenges of climate change, food security and energy transitions,” and went on to highlight the need to include business in the implementation phase of the Convention.

The most contentious issues in Bonn concerned mobilizing financial resources for adaptation to impacts of climate change, and the establishment of a fund to provide compensation for loss and damage caused by climate change.

As the host of COP27, Egypt is expected to place particular emphasis on food and water security, just transition, and adaptation for resilience. The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), serving as the official focal point for business in the UNFCCC, has already begun dialogue with Egyptian government authorities on key topics relating to carbon markets, the role of SMEs and ways to further increase ambition across private and public sectors.

USCIB Promotes Foreign Direct Investment Qualities Initiative at OECD Ministerial

Published on June 15, 2022

The OECD Ministerial Conference Meeting (MCM) took place in Paris June 9-10, focused on “The Future We Want: Better Policies for the Next Generation and a Sustainable Transition,” with a ministerial conference statement promoting sustainable economic recovery in the post-pandemic world, transition to sustainable and inclusive development, adoption of resilient health systems, among other important initiatives. Importantly, ministers at MCM adopted roadmaps for accession to the OECD for Brazil, Bulgaria, Croatia, Peru and Romania, opening up a key opportunity for USCIB to work through Business at OECD to advance member priorities in these countries.

At a side event, “Strengthening Sustainable Investment Policies,” Chair of the USCIB Trade and Investment Committee and Chair of Business at OECD Rick Johnston promoted the OECD FDI Qualities Initiative and the newly unveiled FDI Policy Toolkit for supporting sustainability goals. According to Johnston, the FDI Qualities Initiative is not only important to OECD members states but also to the developing markets they serve. “Sustainability indicators must be part of FDI regimes or the host country will not only suffer bad investments but also collateral problems.” He underscored that the private sector takes seriously sustainable FDI and urged countries to work closely in partnership with business in adopting policies that “make sense.”

On 10 June, the OECD Council Recommendation on FDI Qualities for Sustainable Development was adopted by OECD ministers. USCIB through Business at OECD (BIAC) strongly contributed to the FDI Qualities effort. Launched in 2018, the OECD FDI Qualities Initiative aims to better link FDI with sustainable development, focused on four Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): productivity and innovation, job quality and skills, gender equality, and decarbonization. The Initiative includes:

  • The FDI Qualities Indicators provides data measuring the impacts of investments on SDGs in host countries; the FDI Qualities Indicators report for 2022, includes new sections on the green economy and resilience to the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • The FDI Qualities Policy Toolkit is a new product to help governments identify priorities to align investment policy and institutional reforms to sustainable development goals.
  • The FDI Qualities Policy Network is a platform for stakeholder consultation and exchange on sustainable investment policies.