Dear Participants of the United Nations Global Compact,
it is a pleasure for me to address you with this first letter of the end of the year. I take up with enthusiasm - and with a sense of responsibility - the legacy left by Marco Frey at the end of his long mandate, trusting that I can continue with you the path of growth, dialogue and commitment that characterized his contribution. We are approaching the end of 2025 feeling a strong duty to share some reflections at the end of a year which, for sustainability at a global level, was among the most complex of the last decade.
Yet, precisely in this challenging context, our Network has continued to grow; we close the year with 780 members actively involved in the UN initiative, each in a way consistent with their size, their objectives and their ambition. Over 130 of these companies represent new memberships of 2025. The Foundation is strengthened thanks to organizations and people who share sensitivity and experiences on the value of sustainability, giving life to a fertile dialogue from which new ideas and inspirations arise.
The active participation of Italian companies and the growth in the number of members are concrete evidence of an unequivocal signal: the awareness of companies regarding their responsibilities, and the decisive role they are called to play on the path towards sustainable development. Awareness that leads companies to perceive sustainability not as mere regulatory compliance, but as an ethical commitment and at the same time a strategic lever, an element of competitiveness for companies of every sector and size.
2025 was also a special year for a reason that goes beyond any quantitative evidence: we celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of the creation of the United Nations Global Compact. Twenty-five years have in fact passed since the then Secretary General, Kofi Annan, launched the appeal to join forces to give the global economy a new, more ethical and more human aspect.
Since then, our project has been based on constant dialogue with businesses that have chosen to place the Ten Principles at the center of their way of doing business and which, subsequently, since 2015, have embraced the commitment to the 2030 Agenda and its 17 Global Goals. Twenty-five years in which our community has been able to renew itself, expand and face the profound transformations of the world of business and the economy. This anniversary reminds us of where we started from and, above all, where we want to arrive.
Companies must become aware of the difficulties of the current context and prove themselves capable of navigating complexity, to redefine their course. And being inspired by internationally shared fundamental values and principles - such as the Ten Principles of the Global Compact - helps create a stable foundation on which to build the strategies of the future.
Today our gaze is turned to the 2026-2030 Strategy, a path that will accompany us towards the last year of the Agenda: the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. We still have a lot to do, but we have a clear direction: our commitment is to mobilize businesses so that sustainability ambition is translated into scalable, concrete and measurable action. Through the comparison between companies, the sharing of data-based solutions and the valorization of replicable strategies, we continue to demonstrate how sustainability and competitiveness are an essential combination, guiding investments, growth models and long-term strategic choices.
Our ambition is not only to preserve what we have built, but to grow further. We want to broaden our impact, strengthen businesses' ability to generate shared value and contribute to a fairer, more resilient and more prosperous world. We are convinced that innovation, collaboration and responsibility can represent the engine of a transformation capable of involving not only the markets, but also the communities and ecosystems that surround us.
The Italian Network will continue to walk alongside companies on this path towards sustainable development and to support them with the most inclusive and synergistic approach of which we are capable: through the work of our Teams we will strive to operate in an increasingly participatory manner, creating as many opportunities as possible for open discussion and also for institutional accreditation. The 2026 calendar will be full of moments of dialogue and in-depth analysis, designed to encourage involvement in concrete issues and a path of growth. Because we believe that only together can we face global challenges and chart a path towards a more equitable, just and sustainable future, without leaving anyone behind.
Finally, we thank all of you who support the United Nations Global Compact for your trust; the path towards 2030 requires determination, vision and collaboration, and we are certain we can travel it together.
Thank you,
The President of UN Global Compact Network Italy
Filippo Bettini
