In this issue:
B4IG’s pathway for change
Annual Board Meeting agenda
Applications for the Incubator’s 2022 cohort have started!
and more!
On the eve of the B4IG annual Board meeting, where several major deliverables will be discussed, let’s take a minute to reflect on the coalition’s positioning that we have collectively built since the launch two years ago.
We are united in the belief that business has a central role to play in ensuring that any future economic growth is distributed fairly across society and creates opportunities for all.
What is our approach to deliver on this ambition?
We pledge: CEOs’ personal and collective engagement provides a powerful platform to accelerate change in member companies’ business, through their value chains, and beyond.
We equip: We learn from each other; experts within member companies together with the OECD and other B4IG partners develop frameworks, tools, and metrics to help businesses implement new solutions and track progress.
We incubate: We want to be a laboratory for change. We take innovative social initiatives proposed by member companies, test them within our operations, and assess them for scalability across sectors and geographies.
We engage: We want to be a catalyst for action across the wider business community. So, we are exploring ways of making what we are learning easily accessible and working hand-in-hand with all actors.
We advocate: New policies will be required to shape the path for inclusive growth. We want to help advance the agenda through proactive dialogue with governments and inform public policies through the G7 and G20 cycles.
Step by step, B4IG is developing an ambitious pathway for change!
The Actions
Annual Board Meeting
The B4IG Annual Board meeting will be held on December 2. Three deliverables will be discussed and submitted for adoption:
Responsible Transformation Guidelines: Developed by the WG on Responsible Transformation led by Michelin and Unilever, these guidelines aim to support B4IG members and non-members to adopt inclusive and responsible steps during restructuring initiatives. The guidance encompasses the design, implementation, and monitoring processes of restructuring activities. The WG has also started to explore with the EU Commission potential collaboration on support for companies’ transformations.
Inclusive Sourcing Methodology: With the contribution of seven member companies of the WG on Supply Chains and Ecosystems led by L’Oréal, and the support of the B4IG Incubator, B4IG developed a practical methodology to design an Inclusive Sourcing strategy and deployment plan. Some practical cooperations have been already identified for 2022.
Ethnic Diversity Operational Recommendations: B4IG’s Diversity and Inclusion WG, led by Accenture and Salesforce, gathered 15 companies to identify common strategies and interventions that they can adopt to build greater ethnic diversity and inclusion in workplaces. These operational recommendations are a result of the discussions, experiences, research, and close collaboration that was shared among member companies.
B4IG Board members will also discuss, among other topics:
The tools developed by the WG on Digital Divide, led by Capgemini, Salesforce, and Microsoft, to support the development of basic, intermediate, and technical digital skills. B4IG is coordinating with existing digital inclusion practitioners to build a digital literacy tool in the USA and France, and a platform on Technical Digital Skills, working closely with employment centers.
The B4IG roadmap to help young people access the labor market. The coalition should focus on a program of mentorship for vulnerable young people (guidelines and impact indicators) and replication of the B4IG South Africa network’s collective action on mentorship and business skills development.
The new workstream led by Hitachi focusing on the social impact of the green and digital transitions, also known as the twin transition. The WG will aim to help companies and governments address the sectors of the economy where workers are most likely to be threatened and find practical initiatives that can be implemented.
The Funding Blueprints designed by the Inclusive Growth Financing Forum (IGFF) to foster partnerships and direct funds toward strategic and transformative inclusive growth initiatives. These Blueprints are innovative financing mechanisms that involve partnerships between corporates, investors, as well as public and private partners, to facilitate capital deployment towards inclusive initiatives by de-risking the investment process, especially thanks to the corporates’ active role in the funding.
Incubator
Applications for the 2022 cohort have started! Projects from member companies and their partners can apply until 19 February 2022.
The objective of the new Incubation Program for 2022 is to design innovative social projects for impact at scale. The program will mostly target projects at an early stage (concept or pilot) but will also be open to more advanced projects. It will offer a set of collectively applied training modules, dedicated tutoring, and networking events. The Program will support project teams to enrich their project value proposition, strengthen their capabilities and connect with peers.
Please contact jclaugee@incluseo.com to get more information on the program and how to apply.
From the OECD
On 9 November, the OECD WISE Centre organized a Workshop on Living Wage that brought together over 100 participants from B4IG companies, National Statistical Offices, and civil society. The purpose of the Workshop was to review international Living Wage methodologies, explore how external data and statistical practices could be used to improve these methodologies, and discuss how governments, NGOs, and civil society can contribute to the living wage movement through multi-stakeholder alliances.
Around the Globe
In the context of the COP26, the concept of Just Transition has gained traction and is now part of the global conversation. In addition to the B4IG statement “Putting people at the heart of climate action”, which proposes 8 key indicators to analyze and measure the social challenges of the ecological transition, several frameworks on Just Transition, including metrics, have been issued in the last few months, notably the Climate Action 100+ Net Zero Company Benchmark v1.11 Disclosure Framework (engineered by CERES, Climate Action 100+ is a coalition of top investors and asset owners with an AUM value of more than $50tn; the framework proposes four beta disclosure Indicators on Just Transition), and the Methodology for the 2021 Just Transition Assessment, issued by the World Benchmarking Alliance last July.
Save the Date(s)
Upcoming events and Working Group meetings (all times CET):
Incubator Graduation event: December 9, 3:30-5:30 pm
WG1, Human Rights (Fair Recruitment Tools): December 8, 2:00-3:00 pm
WG4, Impact Measurement (OECD proposal for common social indicators and B4IG internal mapping of member companies' social output & outcome indicators): December 15, 4:00-5:00 pm
Thanks for reading, and be sure to follow B4IG on Twitter and LinkedIn!
The B4IG Team