Appendix 2. Sustainability-Related Codes of Organizational Behavior

• Author: William R. Blackburn
• Pages: 647-685

Appendix 2

Sustainability-Related Codes of Organizational Behavior

List of Codes Summarized in this Appendix 2

2.1 General Sustainability Codes

2.1.1 U.N. Global Compact

2.1.2 The Earth Charter

2.1.3 Global Sullivan Principles of

Corporate Social Responsibility

2.1.4 OECD Guidelines for

Multinational Enterprises

2.1.5 Social Venture Network’s

Standards for Corporate Responsibility

2.1.6 Caux Round Table’s Principles

for Business

2.1.7 Principles for Global Corporate

Responsibility: Benchmarks for

Measuring Business Performance

2.1.8 U.S. Department of Commerce

Manual of Business Ethics for

Emerging Markets

2.1.9 Nippon Keidanren’s Charter of

Corporate Behavior

2.2 Environmental Codes

2.2.1 The CERES Principles

2.2.2 ICC Charter for Sustainable

Development

2.2.3 Position Statement of Pew

Center’s Business Environmental

Leadership Council

2.2.4 Responsible Care® Global

Charter

2.3 Human Rights, Labor, and

Other Social Codes

2.3.1 U.N. Universal Declaration of

Human Rights

2.3.2 Amnesty International’s Human

Rights Principles for Companies

2.3 Human Rights, Labor, and

Other Social Codes—continued

2.3.3 U.N. Norms on the

Responsibilities of Transnational

Corporations and Other Business

Enterprises With Regard to Human

Rights (draft)

2.3.4 U.S.-U.K. Voluntary Principles

on Security and Human Rights

2.3.5 ILO Tripartite Declaration of

Principles Concerning Multinational

Enterprises and Social Policy

2.3.6 European Union Charter of

Fundamental Rights

2.3.7 Social Accountability 8000

2.3.8 Fair Labor Association’s

Workplace Code of Conduct

2.3.9 Worker Rights Consortium’s

Model Code of Conduct

2.3.10 WRAP Apparel Certification

Principles

2.3.11 Ethical Trading Initiative’s Base

Code

2.4 Marketing and Advertising

Codes

2.4.1 ICC International Codes of

Marketing and Advertising Practice

2.4.2 Better Business Bureau and

Other U.S. Marketing and Advertising

Codes

2.4.3 British Code of Advertising,

Sales Promotion, and Direct Marketing

2.4.4 Canadian Direct Marketing

Association Code of Ethics and

Standards of Practice

647

List of Codes Summarized in this Appendix 2—Continued

2.5 Anti-Corruption Codes

2.5.1 OECD Convention for

Combating Bribery of Foreign

Officials in International Business

Transactions

2.5.2 U.N. Convention Against

Corruption

2.5.3 ICC Rules of Conduct to Combat

Extortion and Bribery

2.5.4 Transparency International’s

Business Principles for Countering

Bribery

2.5.5 AS 8001-2003 Fraud and

Corruption Control Standard

2.6 Governance Codes

2.6.1 OECD Principles of Corporate

Governance

2.6.2 Council of Institutional

Investors’ Corporate Governance

Policies

2.6.3 The U.K. Combined Code

2.6.4 King II Code of Corporate

Practices and Conduct

2.6.5 AS 8000-2003 Australian Good

Governance Principles

2.6.6 Sarbanes-Oxley Act

2.6.7 Other Governance Codes

2.7 Industry-Specific Codes

2.1 General Sustainability Codes

2.1.1 U.N. Global Compact (www.unglobalcompact.org)

The Global Compact was announced in 1999 by U.N. Secretary General

Annan and formally launched the following year. It is administered by

the U.N.’s Global Compact Office with the support of six U.N. agencies.

The compact’s 10 principles for business encompass support for human

rights, labor rights, environmental responsibility, and anti-corruption

measures. More specifically, they call for companies to uphold freedom

of association and collective bargaining; to eliminate child labor, forced

labor, and employment discrimination; and to embrace the precautionary

approach and the development and sharing of environmentally friendly

technologies. The principles also ask that companies work against brib-

ery,extortion, and other forms of corruption. The principles were derived

from three important documents: (1) the Universal Declaration of Hu-

man Rights; (2) the International Labour Organization’s Declaration on

Fundamental Principles and Rights to Work;and (3) the Rio Declaration

on Environment and Development. Given their source and underpin-

nings, the compact is the most prestigious of all global sustainability

codes. It has been adopted by over 2,500 companies and several dozen

international NGOs and labor federations. Endorsing companies are en-

couraged to participate in U.N. partnerships, projects, and dialogues re-

lated to the principles. Some companies see this access to a broad global

stakeholder network as one of the advantages to participation. But not ev-

648 THE SUSTAINABILITY HANDBOOK

erybody has unreserved praise for the compact: groups like Amnesty

International, Oxfam, Friends of the Earth, and Human Rights Watch

have criticized it for not having a system to transparently assess and re-

port what the endorsing companies have done to implement the princi-

ples. In response, the organization adopted a policy and practical guide

calling for endorsers to issue annual progress reports. The effectiveness

of this approach is being assessed. Some companies have opposed the

code because of sensitivity about the precautionary principle and labor

union activities.

2.1.2 The Earth Charter (http://www.earthcharter.org/)

In 1987, the U.N. WorldCommission on Environment and Development

called for the creation of a charter setting forth the principles of sustain-

able development, an objective reaffirmed at the Rio Earth Summit five

years later. Withthe help of the Dutch government, the initiative to draft

the Earth Charter was finally launched in 1994 by Maurice Strong (the

secretary general of the Earth Summit and chairman of the Earth Coun-

cil) and Mikhail Gorbachev (president of Green Cross International and

former president of the Soviet Union). The international Earth Charter

Commission approved the document in 2000. The charter is arranged in

16 principles under the following 4 themes:

1. Respect and Care for the Community of Life: This includes not

only respecting the dignity of all human beings, but building

democratic societies and assuring that the needs of future gener-

ations are addressed.

2. Ecological Integrity: Among other things, this covers adopt-

ing sustainable development plans and regulations. It also en-

tails preventing the release of harmful genetically modified or-

ganisms. It requires that renewable resources be consumed no

faster than they can be regenerated, and that the use of

non-renewables be minimized. The precautionary approach

must be followed, which requires, among other things, avoiding

military activities that could damage the environment. In addi-

tion, ecological integrity means ensuring universal access to

health care services that foster reproductive health and responsi-

ble reproduction.

3. Social and Economic Justice: The principles encompassed

SUSTAINABILITY-RELATED CODES 649