B4IG Newsletter #8
In this issue:
Board meeting statement on living wage
Hitachi joins the coalition
G7 and G20 ESG frameworks
and more!
The COVID-19 crisis has exacerbated existing inequalities and vulnerabilities within our societies, no matter where in the world one may live. It is also a crisis that has reinforced the essential role that businesses play in providing a decent standard of living and eradicating poverty.
In such a context, the rising momentum around the topic of living wage is not a surprise. Already on the agenda of many of the members of the B4IG coalition, it played a large part in the B4IG Board meeting on June 21, with the adoption of a statement calling to action on living wage (for more on the Board meeting, see below). A few days before, the UN Global Compact had encouraged companies to “promote and provide a living wage as an essential aspect of decent work to ensure all workers, families and communities can live in dignity.” Other initiatives comparable to those of the UN Global Compact and B4IG should soon follow.
What comes next? Implementing a living wage policy is a complex task. This is where business coalitions are so helpful, facilitating best practice sharing and collective actions. B4IG adds another dimension, thanks to our program of work with the OECD that will assess existing methodologies for measuring living wages and provide recommendations that can inform corporate practices and build strong public-private partnerships on the topic. This is the beginning of the journey!
The Actions
Board Meeting
Co-chaired by Mathias Cormann, Secretary General of the OECD, and Emmanuel Faber, B4IG held its most recent Board Meeting on June 21. The Board Meeting saw strong engagement from 12 Global CEOs & Chairpersons, 3 Regional CEOs, 6 Executive Representatives and 10 Partners. The members of the Board held several working sessions on key topics linked to promoting inclusive growth and the fight against inequalities, including Just Transition, Young People, Responsible Transformation, Ethnic Diversity and Human Rights.
The meeting culminated with a major decision confirming B4IG's leadership on the social dimension of sustainability, the adoption of a statement calling to action on living wage. Through the adoption of this statement, the coalition is calling on corporations and business organizations to support efforts such as the Call to Action on Living Wage launched by IDH as a step towards more equitable and sustainable ways of doing business.
Members are now focused on the next steps, which should lead to major achievements at the December 2021 annual Board Meeting.
IGFF
The Inclusive Growth Financing Forum (IGFF) held its first workshop last month, gathering 20+ B4IG member companies and partners to discuss “How can Corporates and Investors Partner to Fund Inclusive Growth? In which Priority Areas?” The meeting demonstrated a great deal of goodwill and motivation to collaborate and find solutions, and 7 priority inclusive growth themes were collectively identified: Elimination of Forced Labor/Child Labor; Responsible Transformation/Future of Work; Inclusive Sourcing; Living Wage; Access to Essential Goods & Services; Just Transition; Youth.
The next steps will lead to the creation of an actionable framework for each priority theme to identify programs to be funded in partnerships. To this end, the team is currently designing Requests for Proposals which will be shared with all our members. For further information, please contact stephanie.failloux@b4ig.org
Incubator
The B4IG Incubator is happy to announce that after 5 months and 10 sessions, the collective training program on Inclusive Business Project Management has been successfully completed. Cumulatively, the sessions gathered almost 500 participants from 37 B4IG companies and partners. These participants had the chance to learn about diverse topics like intrapreneurship, funding, business models and partnerships, equipping them for the deployment of their own projects. The team warmly thanks the participants and speakers for their inputs, and all B4IG members can find the session materials here.
From B4IG Members
B4IG is pleased to welcome Hitachi to the coalition! The Hitachi team will take an active part in our work, including ongoing and new work streams on Just Transition and Digital Transformation. Hitachi is also a Principal Partner of the upcoming COP26.
On Thursday, July 22, Salesforce is holding an annual Racial Equality Summit: Representation Matters, presented together with Deloitte Digital. The summit will feature programs that seek to elevate talent from the tech industry's most underrepresented communities — Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and LGBTQ+. To join the event, register here.
Danone, Mars and Schneider Electric joined the new Livelihoods Carbon Fund that supports carbon projects coupled with strong social and economic impact for local communities. The fund has a distinctive model, featuring the long-term commitment of Livelihoods investors and the use of blended finance to accelerate solutions.
Several members of the coalition have joined the French platform “1jeune1solution” (“1youth1solution”), gathering corporate commitments and initiatives to help young people access the labor market, including recruitment, mentorship, training programs, support for NEETs, etc. Launched in November, the platform already promotes offers for over 350,000 vacancies (in French).
From the G7 & G20
The latest G7 Summit, held at Cornwall on June 11-13, incorporated a specific agenda on the global need to build back better as well as major advances on ESG reporting. This agenda included support for “mandatory climate-related financial disclosures [...] that are based on the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) framework, in line with domestic regulatory frameworks”.
The subsequent G20 Finance Ministers Meeting on July 9-10 confirmed the objective, but in different words (“disclosure requirements or guidance, building on [...] Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) framework”) and the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Foundation’s role “to develop a baseline standard including robust governance and public oversight”. The goal is to have a final proposal leading to a new International Sustainability Standards Board prior to COP26, which will take place this November.
Of note, however, is the fact that the G20 Finance Ministers’ statement did not mention the Task Force on Nature-related financial disclosures (TNFD), tackling topics such as biodiversity, which had also been referenced positively in the G7 agenda on building back better.
From the OECD
As key players in both local and global economies, governments can lead by example when it comes to incorporating responsible business standards (RBC) in their purchasing policies and practices. Launched in 2019, the OECD’s “Public Procurement and Responsible Business Conduct” project aims to help public buyers incorporate responsible business practices and risk-based due diligence in their global supply chains. They have published a full report on how to incorporate RBC objectives, based on survey information collected in 2020, available here.
The OECD also recently hosted the launch of the Stand by Youth initiative, intended to encourage a wide range of organizations, from businesses to foundations to higher ed, in their efforts to include young people in the effort to build back better. The launch was recorded, and the full video as well as additional materials can be found here.
Around the Globe
On July 12, the social taxonomy subgroup of the EU Platform for Sustainable Finance published its Draft Report on Social Taxonomy, with the consultation period open until August 27. As they note, "The time is right to identify economic activities that contribute to advancing social objectives. Just as the EU environmental taxonomy defines activities that substantially contribute to environmental objectives, a social taxonomy would do the same for social objectives."
As efforts abound to build back better, there’s a renewed push by companies to encourage training in fast-growing positions requiring digital skills. Global players, including Microsoft, Salesforce, Google, and Amazon Web Services, partnered in the techUK’s report that highlights how tech firms and governments can come together to open new pathways to digital skills and employability for millions.
ESG Working Group, supported by the Thomson Reuters Foundation, has published a new white paper addressing the most common myths that are holding back investors’ ability to put the ‘S’ in ESG investing.
Save the Date(s)
Upcoming Working Group meetings (all times CET):
Innovation Studio on Inclusive Sourcing to present updated methodology: July 21, 3:00-4:00 pm
WG1, Human Rights meeting on fair recruitment of migrant workers: July 27, 4:00 pm
WG2, meeting to review WG2 Ethnic Diversity Recommendations: September 16, 4:00-5:30 pm
WG3, Inclusive Sourcing to touch base with the Innovation Studio: September 29, 4:00-5:00 pm
WG4, Impact measurement: 2 upcoming meetings (dates TBD), the first on how to measure the impact of training programs and the second on the impact of human rights and living wage policies
With all our wishes for a wonderful summer!
And be sure to follow B4IG on Twitter and LinkedIn - we’re looking forward to moving down the path to inclusive growth with you!
The B4IG Team