Scheduled to take place in Antalya, Turkey, from November 9 to 20, 2026, COP31 represents a pivotal moment in the implementation of the Paris Agreement. At the heart of the negotiations will be the strengthening of national emissions reduction targets (NDCs), the acceleration of the decarbonization of energy systems, and the gradual phasing out of reliance on fossil fuels.
Among the priorities set out by the Turkish COP presidency—led by Minister of the Environment Murat Kurum—are the promotion of electrification and the development of climate-responsible artificial intelligence. The goal is to accelerate the transformation of production and energy systems, leveraging the contribution of technological innovation to the transition.
Once again, the Italian Network of the UN Global Compact participated in Ecomondo—the leading international event for the circular economy and ecological transition, held in Rimini—by hosting two sessions dedicated to the role of businesses in addressing key environmental sustainability challenges.
The Italian Network’s presence follows its recent appointment as a member of the event’s Technical-Scientific Committee and aligns with a broader international dialogue on the strategies and tools required to accelerate the transition toward more sustainable economic and production models.
Last week, the 11th edition of the Italian Business & SDGs Annual Forum took place in Bologna. This annual event, promoted by the UN Global Compact Network Italia, brings together businesses, institutions, academia, and civil society to foster dialogue and discussion on key sustainable development challenges and to facilitate shared pathways toward change.
Italy’s "demographic winter" began in 1975. Today, Italy is the oldest country in the European Union, with a life expectancy of 83.5 years. For businesses, this translates into an ever-shrinking recruitment pool, an aging workforce, and increasing difficulty in finding the necessary skills.
According to a study by the UN Global Compact Network Italia, in collaboration with The European House – Ambrosetti—titled "Match Point: Bridging the Gap Between Skills, Demographics, and AI—Priorities for Italian CEOs"—44.8% of planned hires in 2026 will be difficult to fill, with wait times reaching up to 4.7 months. The challenge is particularly acute for technical and operational roles: the difficulty in finding skilled manual workers reaches 61.8%. The issue, therefore, is not merely how many workers will be available in the future, but rather which skills will be required to meet the demands of businesses.
As part of the World Food Forum organized by the FAO, Daniela Bernacchi, Executive Director of UNGCN Italy, participated in a panel at the Hand-in-Hand Initiative Investment Forum—an initiative launched by the FAO in 2019 to accelerate the transformation of agrifood systems.
The World Food Forum (WFF) is the premier international event dedicated to the challenges surrounding sustainable agrifood systems. It brings together Heads of State and Government, representatives from European institutions, international organizations, the research community, and young leaders from across the globe.
Foreign workers and those with a migrant background represent a structural component of the Italian labor market and its supply chains. According to the “2025 Report on the Economics of Immigration – From Foreigners to New Italians: How Immigration Is Evolving,” published by the Leone Moressa Foundation, there are 5.3 million foreign citizens in Italy—accounting for 8.9% of the population—with approximately 2.51 million employed, representing 10.5% of the total workforce.
The growing pressure on water systems is transforming water into a crucial economic variable for the development, resilience, and sustainability of production systems in the Euro-Mediterranean region. This is the starting point for the research study “Building a Water Smart Economy in the Euro-Mediterranean Area: The Role of Business,” promoted by the UN Global Compact Network Italy in collaboration with The European House – Ambrosetti (TEHA) and the UN Global Compact Country Networks of Egypt, France, Greece, Portugal, and Turkey, with the support of Edison S.p.A. The study aims to analyze the role of businesses in the sustainable management of water and in building more resilient economies. The research was presented during the Euro-Mediterranean Water Forum, under the patronage of the Italian Ministry of Environment and Energy Security (MASE).
On the occasion of the United Nations General Assembly, UN Global Compact Networks Bulgaria, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, United Kingdom and Türkiye are releasing the second edition of the European Private Sector SDGs Stocktake.
Drawing on 136 data points from 5,793 UN Global Compact participant companies across 21 European countries, the study makes it possible, for the first time, to estimate the private sector’s level of contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals. The overall average contribution score of 58.2 out of 100 suggests a positive level of contribution to sustainable development, with room for improvement on specific issues.
On September 10, 2026, the UN Global Compact Network Italy organized the webinar "New ESRS: Implications for Companies," focusing on the updates introduced by the European Commission’s revision of the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) last July. Held in collaboration with EFRAG (European Financial Reporting Advisory Group), the event provided Network member companies with an up-to-date overview of the changes introduced by the "Omnibus I" package and the reporting standards revision process.
This initiative is part of an ongoing dialogue between the UN Global Compact Network Italy, European institutions, and EFRAG. It follows a roundtable held in Brussels in June, which previewed the progress of the ESRS revision and highlighted the strengthened role of materiality as a filter for determining which information must be reported.
As of December 14, 2027, placing, making available, or exporting products made using forced labor will be prohibited on the EU market. For businesses, understanding the new Regulation and strengthening their due diligence processes in light of it is a priority.
According to ILO estimates, over 27.6 million people worldwide are in situations of forced labor. This risk is particularly prevalent in supply chains, where corporate oversight is more complex.
Forced labor constitutes a serious violation of fundamental principles and rights at work, as defined by the 1998 ILO Declaration. The new Regulation (EU) 2024/3015 places this issue at the heart of European trade policy, introducing a ban applicable to all products, regardless of their origin, sector, or type.
Recent news reports once again bring a question to the forefront that we can no longer put off: what does it really mean to cross the 1.5°C global warming threshold?
The goal set by the Paris Agreement does not represent a "safety limit" beyond which climate change suddenly becomes irreversible. It is, however, a crucial threshold: exceeding it means a progressive increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme events, impacts on ecosystems, and risks to societies and economies. And today, according to UNEP, surpassing 1.5°C in the coming years is highly likely; even under the most favorable scenario, warming could reach approximately 1.8°C before beginning to decline
Desertification is a less visible crisis, yet it is deeply interconnected with other environmental challenges. COP17—the conference dedicated to combating desertification—concludes today in Mongolia; although the issue may seem remote, it actually affects us very directly.
Italy, too, is increasingly experiencing the combined effects of climate change, water stress, and land degradation. In recent years, the country has alternated between periods of exceptional drought and extreme weather events, impacting water availability, agriculture, and ecosystems.
According to ISPRA data, the maximum percentage of national territory experiencing "severe or moderate drought" in 2025 reached 31.6% on a three-month timescale and 12.2% on a twelve-month timescale. This indicates that a significant portion of the country is exposed to land degradation and the risk of desertification, with central and southern regions being particularly vulnerable. Northern Italy has also faced severe water stress in recent years, as evidenced by critical conditions affecting major river basins. These phenomena demonstrate that desertification is not a distant issue confined to the planet's most arid regions, but a challenge that also affects European and Mediterranean territories.
The climate crisis manifests itself not only through rising temperatures or the increasing frequency of extreme weather events. There is a less visible, yet equally significant, dimension involving progressive land degradation and the loss of ecosystems' ability to perform vital functions: retaining water, storing carbon, supporting biodiversity, and ensuring land productivity.
Desertification is often associated solely with the encroachment of deserts and the planet's most arid regions. In reality, the term refers to a broader process of land degradation in arid, semi-arid, and dry sub-humid areas, driven by the interplay between climatic factors and human activities. It thus represents a point of intersection among the major environmental crises of our time: climate change, biodiversity loss, water scarcity, and ecosystem transformation. Indeed, land degradation is not an isolated phenomenon but the result of mutually reinforcing environmental and socioeconomic dynamics that increase the vulnerability of landscapes and communities.
In recent years, biodiversity has increasingly moved onto the corporate agenda. While the initial focus was primarily on environmental impacts and reporting obligations, a deeper awareness is now emerging: protecting natural capital is not merely a matter of risk management, but concerns the very ability of businesses to operate in economic environments increasingly exposed to resource scarcity, the effects of climate change, and ecosystem degradation.
The IPBES "Business and Biodiversity" report, published in 2026, highlights the pivotal role the private sector can play in tackling the key pressures driving biodiversity loss. The issue goes beyond simply reducing impacts; it is about the capacity of businesses to contribute—alongside other economic and institutional actors—to building an economy that is more resilient and nature-positive.
Ten years after the Paris Agreement, the transition to a low-carbon economy is entering a decisive phase. In recent years, an increasing number of governments, businesses, and investors have made increasingly ambitious climate commitments; at the same time, however, key indicators show that the window of opportunity to limit global warming is steadily narrowing.
The gender pay gap, that is the average pay difference between men and women, remains one of the main inequalities in the workplace and, despite growing attention, it still hasn’t been closed. According to EIGE, the European Institute for Gender Equality, women in the EU earn on average only 77% of what men earn annually: this means that, to make the same income men earn in a year, women on average have to work 15 months and 18 days. This period, also known as the “ghost quarter,” represents time taken away from family, studying, training, or rest.
Even in Italy, according to the 2026 INPS gender report, last year men earned more than women across all economic sectors, with half of the sectors analyzed (9 out of 18) where women earn more than 20% less.
On July 13, during the United Nations High-Level Political Forum, Italy presented its Voluntary National Review (VNR)—a report through which UN Member States voluntarily account for the progress made in implementing the 2030 Agenda.
Italy’s VNR was drafted by the Ministry of Environment and Energy Security and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation as part of the process to update the National Sustainable Development Strategy. The document is the result of an extensive consultation process involving national, regional, and metropolitan authorities, as well as representatives from civil society, academia, the research community, and the private sector.
With the aim of accelerating progress toward gender equality and highlighting the private sector's pivotal role in addressing the gender gap, UNGCN Italy and UN Women Italy have strengthened their existing collaboration by launching a new strategic partnership to promote the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs). The first in-person meeting of the Target Gender Equality Accelerator—organized by the Italian Network and held in Milan on Tuesday, July 7—served as the ideal opportunity to relaunch the initiative. It aims to develop and foster the new WEPs Italy Community: a space for dialogue, training, and the sharing of best practices among organizations that have already signed the WEPs.
The European Commission has recently adopted the revised European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) and a voluntary reporting standard for smaller companies.
The ESRS govern the disclosure of environmental, social, and governance matters, including climate change, biodiversity, and human rights. They provide investors and other stakeholders with information to understand the sustainability-related risks to which companies are exposed, as well as their impact on people and the environment.
The adopted revised standards are designed to reduce administrative burdens on European companies while ensuring high-quality reporting. They are part of the "Omnibus I" package, which streamlines sustainability reporting in the EU and reduces the number of companies subject to the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).
For companies participating in the UN Global Compact, the Communication on Progress (CoP) is the essential tool for reporting—clearly and systematically—on their commitment to the UN Global Compact’s Ten Principles. These principles cover four thematic areas: governance, human rights and labor rights, the environment, and anti-corruption.
Using standardized indicators, the CoP enables companies to assess how sustainability is integrated into their decision-making processes and operational activities. Reporting also entails making commitments public, thereby fostering open and constructive dialogue with stakeholders such as investors, customers, partners, and communities.
All participating companies are required to submit their CoP annually, starting the year after they join. For 2026, the primary reporting window is open from April 1 to July 31. Additionally, there is an extended reporting period running from August 1 to December 31. Adherence to deadlines is crucial: failure to publish results in the loss of participant status.