WBCSD at the United Nations Summit on the Millennium Development Goals
September 20-22, 2010

The 2010 United Nations Summit on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in New York City brought together world leaders to review progress made and accelerate action on the MDGs, a set of internationally agreed targets to eradicate poverty and other social ills by 2015.

As the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon reported ahead of the Summit, a number of countries have achieved major successes, but progress has been uneven and it is likely that without a determined collaborative effort of all stakeholders, MDGs will be missed in many countries.

During the MDG Summit, the WBCSD actively participated in two key events related to the business role in Development. Find below some highlights and relevant links.

Dialogue on Accelerating Progress towards the Millennium Development Goals through Inclusive Business
September 21, 2010

The WBCSD, along with a number of the world's leading business networks and initiatives, convened a dialogue in New York City focused on inclusive business, i.e., sustainable business solutions that expand access to goods, services, and livelihood opportunities for low-income communities.

The event, which took place on September 21, 2010, gathered some 200 specially selected leaders from companies, governments, international organizations, aid agencies and NGOs from around the world to highlight concrete examples of how business is "walking the talk" in developing sustainable, market-based solutions to poverty challenges.

Delivering Results: Moving Towards Scale, a brief summary report capturing the key ideas, suggestions, and comments that were articulated during the dialogue, was released in late October 2010.

The report identifies eight main focus areas that will prove essential in advancing the future development of Inclusive Business, including the need for experimentation and room to innovate; the imperative for understanding  low-income consumers; the necessity for collaboration; the importance of the right government policies and regulations to incentivize companies to further invest; the need for practical tools and resources to support inclusive business development; the importance of leadership; the necessity for striking a balance between short and long-term business goals, and overcoming infrastructure challenges through innovative partnerships.

The following WBCSD member representatives spoke at the dialogue:

• Cynthia Carroll, CEO, Anglo American;
   
• Robin Bidwell, Group President, Environmental Resources Management;
   
• Roberto Salas, President, GrupoNueva and CEO, Masisa;
   
• Denis Simonneau, Senior VP for International Relations, GDF SUEZ;
   
• Paulus Verschuren, Senior Director of Global Health Partnerships, Unilever;
   
• Gib Bulloch, co-Founder and Executive Director, Accenture Development Partnerships;
   
• Peter Todbjerg Hansen, Managing Director, Grundfos LIFELINK;
   
• Euan Wilmshurst, International Government Relations Manager, The Coca-Cola Company;
   
• Monica Opoku, Global Grants Program, KMPG;
   
• Andrew Smith, Sustainability & Climate Change, PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

On September 21, the organizers also issued a joint statement highlighting the role of inclusive business ventures in delivering the 'win-win' of business value and development impact. The statement also underlined the importance of government support and a sound enabling framework in view of scaling up these business-led solutions, recommending action in the following areas:

• Promoting a fair and competitive global market that is non-discriminatory;
   
• Establishing regulatory frameworks that uphold property rights, accelerate entry to the formal economy and root out corruption;
   
• Providing capacity-building and general education;
   
• Facilitating access to finance and investment risk mitigation instruments, in particular for SMEs;
   
• Securing the necessary investments into core infrastructure, such as roads, energy systems, telecommunications and ports.

The dialogue was co-organized by WBCSD along with the following organizations: Business Action for Africa, Business Call to Action, Global Compact, Harvard University Kennedy School of Government's CSR Initiative, International Business Leaders Forum, International Chamber of Commerce, United Nations Development Programme, and the United Nations Office of Partnerships. 

United Nations Private Sector Forum
September 22, 2010

The WBCSD and several of its member companies participated in the UN Private Sector Forum, which brought together top executives with government, UN and civil society leaders to address the business role in achieving the MDGs.

Organized as a roundtable discussion, the forum addressed a wide range of MDG-related themes deemed most relevant for private-sector engagement and action, such as poverty and hunger, maternal and child health and HIV/AIDS, access to education through innovative information and communication technology (ICT), innovations for financial inclusion, women's empowerment, achieving gender equality, and the green economy. The discussions aimed to help identify proven solutions that can help close critical MDG gaps around the world.

The WBCSD was represented by Marcel Engel, Managing Director for WBCSD's Development Focus Area, who joined a discussion on the transition towards a green economy, jointly with WBCSD Vice-Chairman and Chairman of Reliance Industries, Mukesh Ambani, the Director General of the UN Environment Program (UNEP), Achim Steiner, former Irish President and UN Human Rights Commissioner, Mary Robinson, and others.

WBCSD members also provided substantive input to other panel discussions, including Robin Bidwell, Development Focus Area co-chair and Group President of ERM; Peter Bakker, CEO of TNT;  Dan Brutto, UPS President; as well as high-level executives from Coca-Cola, DSM, DuPont, GDF SUEZ, Johnson & Johnson, Sony, and Unilever. Moreover, Lord Michael Hastings of KPMG acted as Master of Ceremonies of the Forum.

This was the third consecutive year the UN organized such a Forum, underlying the growing recognition of the private sector's critical role as an engine of economic growth, employment, innovation and social progress.

Calling an investment in the MDGs "an investment in growth, prosperity and the markets of the future," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued a strong call to global business to support the MDGs, acknowledging:

"Business is a primary driver of innovation, investment and job creation. There is no longer any doubt that business plays an integral role in delivering economic and social progress."

He also urged governments:

"To create an environment in which business can flourish. That means supporting and rewarding responsible business practices. It means putting in place appropriate regulation. It means breaking down barriers to trade and reducing bureaucratic hurdles. And it means good governance."

The UN Secretary-General's statement was backed by the two co-hosts of this year's Forum, Senegal's President Wade and Denmark' Prime Minister Rasmussen. Wade explained that his country has transitioned from government-led growth to a more sustainable path of private sector development. Rasmussen pointed to a joint statement of 11 key bilateral donor countries in support of the private sector's role in development. The need to link business and developing aid was also underlined by World Bank President Robert Zoellick, who added: "The problem of the poor is not the dominance of markets, but its absence."

You can view highlights of the UN Private Sector Forum in the video below. A summary report captures the key messages and outcomes of this meeting. 

More information

• MDG Summit outcome document, adopted by the General Assembly by consensus on September, 22 2010. Regarding the private sector’s role in Development, it states: “The private sector plays a vital role in development in many countries, including through public-private partnerships and by generating employment and investment, developing new technologies and enabling sustained, inclusive and equitable economic growth. We call upon the private sector to further contribute to poverty eradication, including by adapting its business models to the needs and possibilities of the poor. Foreign direct investment and trade, as well as public-private partnerships, are important for the scaling-up of initiatives.”
   
• Closing press release, issued by the United Nations, with highlights of the commitments made at the Summit.

All materials related to the Inclusive Business Dialogue, e.g. agenda, summary report, joint statement, video of the CEO panel discussion, presentations, tools and resources, etc. can be accessed on: www.inclusive.businessfightspoverty.org