Deputy Secretary-General Calls for Leadership that Delivers Results towards Green Development, Net-Zero Carbon Emissions, Closing Annual Global Compact Summit

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s closing remarks to the United Nations Global Compact Leaders Summit, today:

I am pleased to join you to wrap up this year’s United Nations Global Compact Leaders Summit.  I commend the Global Compact, its 69 local networks and all participants for your dedication to tackling some of our toughest global challenges.

As the Secretary-General said at the opening yesterday, these challenges demand an unprecedented level of business ambition and collective action.  We need nothing less than transformational change to recover better from the COVID-19 crisis, meet the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 and set a course for net-zero carbon emissions by the middle of this century.

Each of us must “walk the walk”, by taking individual and collective action for lasting change.

Walking the walk is about businesses collaborating across sectors and with multiple partners in Government, civil society and the United Nations.  It’s about companies of all sizes truly integrating the Ten Principles of the United Nations Global Contract throughout their operations and value chains.

It’s about leadership that delivers results, transparent reporting and data-driven accountability — all in pursuit of aligning business strategies with the Sustainable Development Goals and a net-zero future.

There is much hard work ahead.  We are at a decisive moment in the drive to create a sustainable future for people living on a healthy planet.

In closing, I want to thank Sanda Ojiambo for the enormous contributions she has made in her first year at the helm of the United Nations Global Compact.  At a time of extraordinary pressure and opportunity for business, Sanda has led the Global Compact with tremendous grace and a steady hand.

I look forward to continued collaboration with the One Global Compact family, and all of you, to achieve the transformational change we need to meet the Sustainable Development Goals.  Let’s walk the walk together, uniting business for a better world.