CEUSTERS joins UN Global Compact: international CEO network for corporate social responsibility
CEUSTERS, Belgium's largest family-owned broker and manager of commercial real estate, is joining the United Nations (UN) Global Compact. This is a network of around 13,000 companies - spread over more than 160 countries - that pledge to apply ten universal principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption. With this membership, the real estate company challenges itself to go the extra mile in various ways.
An official letter to António Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, that was the first step that CEUSTERS took a few months ago, in order to join the Global Compact. This is the world's largest strategic sustainability initiative for corporations. It urges them to take global responsibility and to adapt their strategies and activities to the ten principles. These principles are also supported by CEUSTERS.
“I am very proud that we have signed the Global Compact, which now makes us official participants. In a way, you can link all of the ten principles to one central value: integrity. Because that’s what makes the difference between 'saying' and 'doing'. Managing companies responsibly is crucial for sustainable growth, development and long-term profitability. To achieve this, both transparency and cooperation with all of our partners are crucial."
Ingrid Ceusters, CEO of CEUSTERS
Once a year, the real estate company will publish a 'Communication on Progress'. This annual report will describe how CEUSTERS carries out its activities to comply with the ten universal principles and in which way the company takes responsibility. These reports will be published on the UN Global Compact website, where they will be accessible to everyone.
Sustainable Development Goals
CEUSTERS is going to pay extra attention to the 17 SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals). These SDGs were launched in 2015 and will run until 2030. They are a global compass for challenges such as poverty, education and the climate crisis.
Certain societal themes, such as gender equality, security, education and climate, have already been on the real estate company’s agenda for a long time. But in the past few weeks, during workshops with its employees, the company has been looking for specific topics where the CEUSTERS philosophy really connects to the SDGs, and how this can inspire the further development of their strategic policies. Over the next few months, CEUSTERS will also organize stakeholder workshops, to further outline these policies.
“Achieving real sustainability requires daily dedication and effort. We have already accomplished a lot, and yet there’s still a long way to go. We are confident that, with the help of the entire CEUSTERS community, our employees, customers, partners and suppliers, we can help make the world more sustainable for generations to come.”
Axel Ceusters, COO of CEUSTERS
Reference: www.unglobalcompact.org
