18.01.2019
Ten years ago Saga Furs signed up to the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative – the UN Global Compact. The compact has provided a framework for Saga’s sustainability strategy.
Saga Furs has been measuring and reporting its progress in sustainability voluntarily for more than a decade. These are done through Saga Furs’ own corporate reporting as well as via the Global Compact’s ten reporting principles, which span human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption. In the words of Saga Furs CEO Pertti Fallenius, “Our success is measured not only on our results but on how we achieve them.” Compliance with the Global Compact also includes an annual signed letter from the CEO reaffirming the company’s continued commitment.
The aim of the Global Compact is to mobilise a global movement of sustainable companies and stakeholders to create the world we want. To make this happen, the UN Global Compact encourages companies to do business responsibly and take strategic actions to advance broader societal goals, such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals, with an emphasis on collaboration and innovation.
Looking back over the last ten years, Charles Ross, Saga Furs Business Manager Sustainability and Supply-Chain Management says:
“By becoming the first company in our industry to voluntarily sign up to the Compact in 2008, we were able to position Saga Furs as a sustainability thought leader, helping raise the bar among our suppliers and competitors on responsible and transparent business practices.” Ross adds: “At the time, we saw it as a bold step, but nowadays our partners in the fashion business would expect nothing less. Membership helped raise the bar in our industry.”
Prioritising strategy and transforming our business
Saga Furs Fashion Business Director, Tia Matthews describes the Global Compact as framework: “The partnership has helped us inform and prioritise our sustainability strategy while building a path for action. As an international company with business in 34 countries, the compact is and has been transforming our business and the fashion industry as a whole, towards more responsible and sustainable practices.”
In a recent article directed at the global business community (June 2018, Global Compact website), UN Global Compact CEO and Executive Director, Lise Kingo, reaffirmed the significant role the private sector has to play in realising the UN 2030 vision for a more prosperous, peaceful and just world.
Matthews says: “Saga Furs remains committed to playing our part in this.”
Read more about the ten principles of the UN Global Compact:
https://www.unglobalcompact.org/what-is-gc/mission/principles