Business In Society Archives

Business and Human Rights Forum a Step Backward

Published on December 6, 2013

USCIB and two of the global business groups with which we are affiliated – the International Organization of Employers(IOE) and the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) – represented business at the second annual United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights, December 2-4 in Geneva. A number of USCIB member companies also attended, including BP, Chevron, GE, Google, Hess, Microsoft, Nestlé and Procter & Gamble.

The annual UN forum is designed to bring business, government, civil society and other stakeholders together to discuss the status, opportunities and challenges of implementing the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

According to Adam Greene, USCIB’s vice president for labor affairs and corporate responsibility, this year’s discussion was much more negative and critical towards business. The consensus developed by John Ruggie, the former UN special representative for business and human rights, during his mandate is fraying and may collapse if left unaddressed.

In addition, the obligation of governments, under the UN Guiding Principles, to protect human rights continues to be minimized, with nearly all of the attention focused on companies’ concomitant responsibility to respect human rights.

The forum concluded with a number of statements that the UN Guiding Principles have not worked and that the UN should develop a legally binding treaty on multinational enterprises. The government of Ecuador plans to organize a meeting to push this proposal forward at the next meeting of the UN Human Rights Council.

Read more in the IOE news release on the forum.

Staff contact: Adam Greene

More on USCIB’s Corporate Responsibility Committee

At OECD Forum USCIB Spotlights Prerequisites for Green Investments

Published on December 6, 2013
USCIB’s Norine Kennedy addresses the OECD green growth forum.
USCIB’s Norine Kennedy addresses the OECD green growth forum.

Norine Kennedy, USCIB’s vice president for energy, environment and strategic international engagement, took part in the OECD Green Growth and Sustainable Development Forum on December 5-6 in Paris. Representing the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD (BIAC), she spoke on a panel on “Unlocking Private Sector Investment in Green Growth.”

Kennedy highlighted the importance of providing enabling frameworks and policies that work in synergy with trade and investment rules. “Policies to green economic activity have to emphasize multilateral approaches, and function in globalized markets to enable business to deliver the full potential of innovation and economic prosperity,” she said.

The BIAC delegation also updated the forum on the International Business Green Economies Dialogue
(GED) initiative, indicating its ongoing work to provide business views and foster thoughtful discussion of how to design greener economic policy approaches into the UN Post 2015 Development Agenda and SDGs. GED Chair Brian Flannery led a discussion on supporting investment in clean energy infrastructure, in which both government and private sector speakers considered the synergies between public-private sector partnerships, overseas development assistance and regulatory and market signals. (Click here to see slides from Flannery’s presentation.)

The overarching theme of this year’s GGSD Forum is encouraging and leveraging private investment for green infrastructure and technologies, including innovation policies. BIAC has worked with the OECD Green Growth project since it’s inception, engaging on the broad range of themes that this horizontal program encompasses, such as green taxes, green jobs, green procurement and green technologies.”

Staff contact: Norine Kennedy

More on USCIB’s Environment Committee

OECD Holds Conflict Minerals Forum in Central Africa

Published on November 19, 2013
Panelists at the forum in Kigalai, Rwanda. “The biggest challenge continues to be the de facto embargo caused by Dodd-Frank," said USCIB's Adam Greene (far left).
Panelists at the forum in Kigalai, Rwanda. “The biggest challenge continues to be the de facto embargo caused by Dodd-Frank,” said USCIB’s Adam Greene (far left).

For the first time ever, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) brought its leading multi-stakeholder initiative on conflict minerals to the affected region in Central Africa.

The 6th OECD Forum on Responsible Mineral Supply Chains, held jointly with the UN Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the International Conference of the Great Lakes Region, met November 13-15 in Kigali, Rwanda to review how responsible sourcing is working in practice in the region. Adam Greene, USCIB’s vice president for labor and corporate responsibility, played an active role at the forum.

The OECD initiative has become the key international process on conflict minerals – bringing together all the relevant players, including the OECD member governments, all the governments of Central Africa, local and international civil society groups and business representatives from the entire mineral supply chain from mining straight through to end producer or retailer. Additionally, the OECD initiative has produced the only internationally recognized due diligence guidance on conflict minerals, as well as two more detailed guides: one on tin, tantalum and tungsten (3T), and another on gold.

Unintended consequences of Dodd-Frank law

Reflecting the influence of the OECD process on this issue, the European Commission has indicated that proposed EU legislation on conflict minerals will be based entirely on the OECD Due Diligence Guidance, in an effort to avoid the unintended consequences of Section 1502 of the U.S. Dodd-Frank Act.

“The OECD forum meeting in Kigali was an important opportunity to assess how the due diligence guidance was working in practice in the region, strengthen regional programs and review ongoing challenges,” Greene said. “The biggest challenge continues to be the de facto embargo caused by Dodd-Frank, which created enormous disincentives for any sourcing from the region.”

Rwanda, for example, has implemented a country-wide chain of custody program that fully conforms with the OECD due diligence guidance, yet producers in the country still cannot find buyers in European or North American markets, because Dodd-Frank imposes the same burden on all sourcing from the region, regardless of whether it is responsible sourcing or not.

USCIB is working actively with the Business and Industry Advisory Committee (BIAC) to the OECD and business groups from Central Africa to promote responsible sourcing of minerals and to create incentives for sourcing that could potentially off-set the disincentives created by Dodd-Frank.

A range of companies – including Boeing, Ford, GE, HP, Intel, Lockheed, Motorola Solutions, Northrop, Siemens, Texas Instruments and UTC – and numerous industry associations are participating in the OECD initiative. USCIB has played a key role in helping to coordinate business participation in the process, and Greene has been elected vice-chair of the initiative’s Multi-Stakeholder Steering Group.

Materials from the meeting in Kigali will be posted on the OECD due diligence guidance homepage (click here). The next OECD forum will be held in May 2014 at OECD headquarters in Paris.

Staff contacts: Adam Greene

More on USCIB’s Corporate Responsibility Committee

Employers Urge ILO to Support Migration Policies in Light of Labor Market Needs

Published on November 15, 2013

Immigration

Employer delegates attending an International Labor Organization meeting in Geneva last week on labor migration called on the ILO to support a broad-based approach to migration that takes into account labor market needs.

The meeting was attended by experts from each of the ILO’s tripartite constituencies – governments, employers’ organizations and trade unions – who were joined by observers from UN agencies and international bodies including the International Organization for Migration. Employer representation in the ILO is organized via the International Organization of Employers.

Among the issues on the agenda was follow-up to last month’s UN High-Level Dialogue on Migration and Development and ongoing work on a Post-2015 Development Agenda, in particular challenges and opportunities for the ILO. The meeting also addressed the effective protection of migrant workers, sound labor market needs assessment and skills recognition, and cooperation and social dialogue for well-governed labor migration and mobility.

“Demographic realities and business needs increase the need for greater labor mobility,” said Ellen Yost, a migration attorney with Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, told the meeting. “However, government policies around the world increasingly have the effect of restricting mobility. The employers’ group urges governments to recognize the importance of international labor mobility for economic growth, competitiveness and development and to adopt clearer, simpler and more consistent rules and procedures for easier cross-border movement of skills.”

Read more on the IOE website.

More on USCIB’s Labor and Employment Policy Committee

ICC Sets Out Business Priorities for Long-Term Climate Regime

Published on October 30, 2013

Hand-Gear

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has issued a new paper for the next round international climate negotiations, to be held in Warsaw from November 11 to 22. The statement, “A business perspective on climate change negotiations: Competitiveness – Opportunity – Partnership,” reflects ICC’s long experience in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and its coordinating role for businesses of all sectors and nationalities that are engaging in the climate debate.

ICC emphasizes that the new international agreement must work in synergy with established trade and investment rules. The document outlines business priorities for a balanced and globally effective post-2020 climate agreement:

  • Strengthening competitiveness by eliminating tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade
  • Creating opportunities for economic growth and energy access
  • Building partnerships for investment and innovation.

According to Norine Kennedy, USCIB’s vice president for energy, environment and strategic international engagement, in Warsaw USCIB will be working with ICC, as well as the Major Economies Business Forum (BizMEF), to make the case for meaningful and substantive business engagement in the framing of the new agreement, which is expected to be completed in 2015 in Paris.

Separately, BizMEF, which encompasses business groups from the largest economies, has issued a number of new papers for Warsaw, which address a range of issues including climate investment and finance, and new options for mitigating global warming.

According to Kennedy, the UN deliberations will take place in the context of recent findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) indicating stronger certainty about human impacts on the planet’s climate.

“As rapidly developing countries such as China, India and Brazil produce increasing greenhouse gas emissions, the challenge ahead is to involve all countries in commitments under an internationally binding agreement that mobilizes national resources and private sector investment and innovation,” she said.

As part of its outreach for Warsaw, ICC is also showcasing 22 private-sector initiatives for climate solutions. Click here to read more on ICC’s website.

Staff contact: Norine Kennedy

More on USCIB’s Environment Committee

USCIB Briefs Senior Executives on Global Product Policy

Published on October 23, 2013

Helen Medina, USCIB’s senior director for product policy and innovation, was the keynote speaker at a recent meeting of senior product stewardship executives organized by the Conference Board, at the headquarters of PPG Industries in Pittsburgh.

Medina addressed emerging global discussions that will impact product stewardship, highlighting our work on the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the UN Environment Program’s work on chemicals in products, and OECD discussions of green economy topics.

USCIB is a leader in monitoring and influencing international discussions of chemicals and product policy issues, complementing business advocacy efforts in specific countries.

Staff contact: Helen Medina

More on USCIB’s Product Policy Working Group

USCIB Applauds Better Work Plan on Bangladesh

Published on October 22, 2013

4621_image002New York, N.Y., October 22, 2013 – The United States Council for International Business (USCIB), which represents American employers in the International Labor Organization (ILO), welcomed the extension of the Better Work program, a joint initiative of the ILO and the International Finance Corporation, to Bangladesh in an effort to improve workplace conditions in the country’s garment industry. (Click here for the ILO announcement.)

“This is a very welcome development,” said USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson. “It signals a strong commitment by governments, in concert with global employers and trade unions, as well as their counterparts in Bangladesh, to improve working conditions in the country.”

Operational since 2009, the Better Work program brings together governments, employers’ and workers’ organizations, global brands and supplier factories to improve both productivity and working conditions those factories.  The program assesses compliance with labor laws, posts reports online and provides targeted capacity building training to improve compliance with labor standards as well as the competitiveness of the factory.

Robinson said USCIB has worked to line up U.S. corporate support for the Better Work program, including financial support. Through its participation in the Better Work program’s advisory committee, USCIB actively supported a recommendation to launch the Bangladesh country program, he noted.

“Better Work is a stellar example of public-private collaboration with measurable benefits,” Robinson stated. “By bringing all stakeholders together in a collaborative framework, it helps bring about sustainable improvements in workplace conditions.”

USCIB represents American business interests internationally, including in the ILO where it is the U.S. employer constituent, serves on the ILO Governing Body, and leads the U.S. employer delegation to the ILO’s annual International Labor Conference.

USCIB promotes open markets, competitiveness and innovation, sustainable development and corporate responsibility, supported by international engagement and regulatory coherence. Its members include top U.S.-based global companies and professional services firms from every sector of our economy, with operations in every region of the world. With a unique global network encompassing leading international business organizations, USCIB provides business views to policy makers and regulatory authorities worldwide, and works to facilitate international trade and investment. More information is available at www.uscib.org.

Contacts:

Adam Greene, VP labor & corporate responsibility, USCIB
+1 212.703.5056, agreene@uscib.org

Jonathan Huneke, VP communications, USCIB
+1 212.703.5043, jhuneke@uscib.org

UN Climate Negotiators Set Course for New Agreement

Published on October 15, 2013

4616_image001USCIB is gearing up to represent American business at the next United Nations climate conference in Warsaw next month. The clock is ticking, with governments having committed to forging a new comprehensive climate agreement, to take effect in 2020, by the end of 2015.

Expectations are modest for the 19th conference of parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, to be held November 11-22. Yet according to Norine Kennedy, USCIB’s vice president for strategic international engagement, the recent release of the first installment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 5th assessment report, along with political and economic pressures on climate negotiators to make progress, will be  major considerations  in the Warsaw discussions.

USCIB has secured recognition as an accredited business organization to the UN Framework Convention, and for the first time will send a USCIB delegation to the talks, led by Ann Condon (GE) chair of USCIB’s Environment Committee, and USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson.

Top USCIB priorities for the negotiations include energy security, access to energy and protection of intellectual property rights, Kennedy said. “We will work closely with the International Chamber of Commerce and the Major Economies Business Forum [known as BizMEF] to make the case for a comprehensive agreement, one that strengthens enabling frameworks for business investment and innovation across all sectors.”

Kennedy said BizMEF will organize a business dialogue in Warsaw to lay out a roadmap for substantive and recognized business input, following the successful event on this topic in Doha last year.

First-ever ministerial meeting with business

USCIB also played a leading role in two important preparatory meetings, advocating for meaningful opportunities for business views and involvement in the new international climate regime.

Earlier this month, private-sector representatives took part in ministerial talks in Warsaw organized by Poland’s environment ministry. It was the first time since the original Rio Earth Summit in 1992 that business groups were invited to play such an active role in shaping a global climate agreement. The Polish business organization, Lewiatan, USCIB and other member business organizations of BizMEF (including BusinessEurope, Business New Zealand, Keidanren and the Brazilian Confederation of Business) were on hand. USCIB member companies also took part, including GE, Boeing and Intel.

Speaking at the ministerial-business consultation, Kennedy stated that the UN Framework Convention should continue this process, since “an effective and recognized dialogue between business and government at both national and international arenas will be critical to the successful design and roll-out of the new international agreement.” The Polish government expressed its intention to encourage the continuation of such business-government consultations over this next phase of negotiations.

Speeding technology deployment

Separately, on September 19 in Washington, D.C., USCIB partnered with the Business Council for Sustainable Energy to convene a U.S. business consultation on the new UN Climate Technology Center and Network (CTCN).

UN negotiators have established a “Technology Mechanism” to facilitate the faster uptake of climate-related technologies by developing countries. The CTCN is the Technology Mechanism’s technical arm, created to answer specific technology requests from developing countries.

The dialogue, hosted by the UN Foundation, brought together American business executives with U.S. and Canadian government officials and representatives of the UN Environment Program. Participants addressed:

  • specific barriers to technology cooperation that the CTCN can help address
  • priority areas on which the CTCN should focus
  • specific services  to foster private sector investments in adaptation and mitigation technologies in developing countries
  • links with finance institutions and investors
  • ways to engage with and attract the private sector.

USCIB will work with the Business Council for Sustainable Energy and the International Chamber of Commerce to identify areas where the business community can inform the work of the CTCN as it gets up and running.

Staff contact: Norine Kennedy

More on USCIB’s Environment Committee

BIAC Survey on Business and Gender Diversity

Published on October 10, 2013

USCIB would appreciate your input for the BIAC Survey on Business and Gender Diversity, which should take just a few minutes to complete.

BIAC (the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD) and Deloitte are partnering on this survey to gauge the extent of change in advancing women into more senior positions that may have occurred within companies and within markets. They also wish to assess the development and impact of government and regulatory support to these efforts over the last few years.

The survey comes in follow-up to a 2012 BIAC report, produced in conjunction with the American Chamber of Commerce in France, entitled Putting All Our Minds to Work: Harnessing the Gender Dividend, which presented a business case for promoting female talent, with examples of how businesses in OECD member countries are advancing women’s empowerment.

The BIAC survey will remain open until October 31.

Staff contact: Justine Badimon

As General Assembly Opens, USCIB Flags Business Priorities in UN “DoorKnock” Consultations

Published on October 4, 2013
Daniella Ballou-Aares (State Department) and Clifford Henry (Procter & Gamble) at the UN door-knock consultations
Daniella Ballou-Aares (State Department) and Clifford Henry (Procter & Gamble) at the UN door-knock consultations

On September 26, on the margins of the UN General Assembly, USCIB members met with UN and member state representatives to discuss U.S. business priorities in the UN’s new development agenda and UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Hosted by Pfizer, the day of “UN door-knock” policy consultations included a Green Economies Dialogue luncheon roundtable on green growth aspects of the SDGs. (Click here to view videos from the event.)

“USCIB members are arguing for a strong focus on peace, security, good governance and economic growth in the SDGs,” said Clifford Henry (Procter & Gamble), Chair of USCIB’s Corporate Responsibility Committee, who led the business delegation. “These and other fundamental priorities underpin enabling conditions for job creation, environmental stewardship and economic development.”

USCIB members underscored the need for open trade and investment regimes, as well as strong intellectual property protection, as prerequisites for the deployment of business, financial, and technical expertise to advance development and address international challenges of energy access, food security and poverty eradication.  Other companies taking part included American Chemistry Council, Diageo, ExxonMobil, General Electric and Pfizer.

In the morning, USCIB members met with Ambassador Takehiro Kagawa, of the Japanese Ministry for Foreign Affairs, and Daniella Ballou-Aares, Special Advisor on development to the U.S. Secretary of State. In the afternoon, Karina Gerlach, a member of the UN Secretary General’s High-Level Expert Group for the Post-2015 Development Agenda, and Shamshad Akhtar, the UN’s Assistant Secretary General for economic development, briefed the group on work-streams that make up the UN-wide effort – including the Experts Group on Finance for Sustainable Development – and suggested ways to involve business in these deliberations.

”Events like this one are an opportunity to advance a common agenda of prosperity and betterment of the human condition,” stated USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson in opening theGreen Economies Dialogue roundtable: Speakers from MIT, the U.S. State Department, the UN Development Program, the University of California at San Diego and the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs provided their perspectives on ways to prioritize and track economic aspects of progress under the SDGs, and the opportunity to engage the business community in developed and developing countries in partnerships as part of the UN post-2015 development deliberations.

The Green Economies Dialogue is a platform – created by USCIB and the United States Council Foundation in the lead-up to last year’s Rio+20 earth summit – for business to engage with national governments, thought leaders, representatives of international institutions and academics on green growth and green economy issues.

The second phase of the Green Economies Dialogue will concentrate on interaction with governments and the UN around the Post-2015 Development Agenda, especially concerning greener economic development and the formulation and pursuit of the SDGs. These goals are expected to drive UN activities, direct national budgets and influence stakeholder expectations in coming years, across a wide range of strategic issues, such as corporate responsibility, environmental regulation, and energy.

To aid in the development of business views and advocacy, USCIB has formed an SDG Working Group co-chaired by Brian Lowry (Monsanto) and Tam Nguyen (Bechtel).

 

More on USCIB’s Environment Committee

More on USCIB’s Corporate Responsibility Committee