Signatories to the Global Compact are required to report annually on progress made in the implementation of the initiative’s ten principles, which cover human rights, workplace standards, the environment, and anti-corruption. Failure to submit a COP to the public Global Compact database within a year of joining will result in a change of a company’s status. Consecutive failures to submit a COP leads to removal (delisting) of the company.

According to reports, this notwithstanding, the Global Compact still continues to grow at a rate of about 100 new signatories a month, with the current total of active business and non-business participants standing at over 7,000 organizations in more than 135 countries.

The COP policy was introduced in 2005 to ensure transparency and public accountability of the business commitment, drive continuous performance improvement, safeguard the integrity of the Global Compact as a whole and contribute to the development of a repository of corporate practices.

The now more than 1,000 delisted companies include both small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) and larger companies, and are also proportionally represented among industry sectors and countries in the Global Compact – indicating that the COP framework is equally relevant across business size, sector and geographic region.

“Over the years, the Global Compact’s framework has become increasingly robust, through the establishment of integrity measures, introduction of guidance materials, and the support of the many local networks that provide COP mentoring,” said Georg Kell, Executive Director of the UN Global Compact. “By all indications, we expect corporate disclosure of policies and practices to become more common, as companies joining the Global Compact increasingly enter with a better understanding of the critical value of reporting on environmental, social and governance performance.”

While delisted companies are removed entirely from the Global Compact’s public database, the initiative allows companies to return to active status. To officially rejoin the Global Compact companies must provide a new commitment from the chief executive officer addressed to the UN Secretary-General and submit a COP to the public database.