Since 22 February, the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry of the Environment has joined the United Nations Global Compact.

The Biodiversity Foundation wants to be characterised by an external projection based on the defence of sustainability in three aspects: economic prosperity, environmental quality and social justice. This external projection is combined with the establishment of a framework of internal relations based on mutual respect and the fulfilment of objectives that find their origin in the personal responsibility of each of its members before society and before themselves.

These aspirations are reflected in the United Nations Global Compact, an ethical commitment initiative for entities in all countries to assume as an integral part of their actions ten principles of conduct and action in the areas of human rights, labor, the environment and the fight against corruption.

The Global Compact is a voluntary commitment on the part of each of the companies, labor and civil organizations, adhered to and associated, to permanently advance in the achievement, development and dissemination in their daily activities, following ten principles.

The Global Compact aims to promote the creation of a global corporate society that reconciles the interests and processes of business activity with the values and demands of civil society, as well as with the projects of the UN, sectoral international organizations, trade unions and non-governmental organizations.

The idea of creating a United Nations Global Compact on corporate social responsibility was announced by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan at the World Economic Forum in Davos on January 31, 1999. Subsequently, on 26 July 2000, Annan called on company leaders and managers to join a grand bargain that would implement the commitment to align business and needs with the principles and objectives of United Nations policy and institutional action. of labor organizations and of society itself.

The Pact functions as an integrated network in which participating companies, the UN, its sectoral organizations, global NGOs, and international trade unions, promote the objectives and principles of the Pact around four main instruments: the development of joint initiatives for the promotion of good business practices; the creation of forums for dialogue and networks of collaboration between the market and society in the areas covered by the Pact; the promotion of an active forum for education and learning; and the creation of local and national networks and platforms. In Spain, the movement to join the Global Compact has led to the creation of an original working instrument, the Square Table, from which activities of learning, dialogue and extension of the network to other regions and countries are developed.