Top-level business, civil society, and government leaders met on 5 and 6 July in Geneva at the 2007 United Nations Global Compact Leaders Summit, one of the world’s largest gatherings of leaders on corporate citizenship. Participants at the Summit were the first to receive a new joint publication of the GRI and the UNGC. The publication draws links between the Global Compact’s “Communication on Progress” public communications requirements and the GRI’s in-depth reporting framework and aims to improve both the quality and credibility of worldwide reporting practices.

The aim of the annual event is to develop a world market leadership strategy for responsible corporate citizenship by putting the UN Global Compact’s 10 Principles on human rights, labor, environment, and anti-corruption into practice. While already 4000 companies have pledged to enact these Principles, critics have being saying that a pledge is not good enough and that companies must prove that their commitment is moving them from good intentions to positive change.

Since last year GRI and the Global Compact been engaged in formalizing a strategic relationship. The launch of the joint Global Compact – GRI publication “Making the Connection” set the stage for the promotion of a commitment to transparency at the largest high-level multi-stakeholder Summit to date by urging companies to use the GRI reporting framework as a way to show progress with implementing a commitment to the UNGC Principles on the same issues.

GRI and UNGC have set lofty targets in their quest to mainstream corporate citizenship. It is hoped that 20 percent of the world’s global companies and 80 percent of the world’s 100 largest companies will become signatories of the UN Global Compact with a commitment to report their performance based on the GRI Reporting Framework.