INTRODUCTION
Communicating with stakeholders is critical for all companies committed to sustainability. The Communication on Progress (CoP) is the tool through which UN Global Compact member companies annually inform their stakeholders about their progress against the UN Global Compact's Ten Principles.
The publication of the Communication on Progress is a mandatory requirement for UN Global Compact member companies, and is the key accountability and transparency mechanism for demonstrating their commitment to the UN initiative and its Principles.
The Communication on Progress thus enables companies to:
- Measure and demonstrate to their stakeholders and the public their progress towards the Ten Principles and the Sustainable Development Goals in a consistent and harmonized manner;
- Strengthen the company's credibility and value;
- Compare their progress with that of other member organizations;
- Identify potential gaps and set targets in order to improve their sustainability performance year after year.
For more information, please see the resources available at the bottom of this page or the dedicated page on the UN Global Compact website.
REQUIREMENTS AND QUESTIONNAIRE
The Communication on Progress consists of two elements:
- The Statement of Continued Support by the CEO, which reiterates to senior levels the company's commitment to the Ten Principles. The Declaration is a standardized template to be digitally signed on the dedicated platform.
- Reporting on activities implemented in support of the Ten Principles. It is reported through a standardized questionnaire to be filled out on the dedicated digital platform. Alternatively, in 2025 it will be possible to upload one's own sustainability report.
Everything that is published as part of the Communication on Progress is publicly available on each company's participant profile on the UN Global Compact website.
All data collected from completing the questionnaire will be made available in aggregate at the overall level or aggregated by region, country, sector and company size. You can also (from your dashboard) conduct benchmarking analyses against your peers*.
You can already see the aggregated responses to the CoP 2023 and 2024 questionnaire on the dedicated page
*UN Global Compact has no responsibility for the accuracy of the data submitted by participating companies or how this public data will be used by other stakeholders.
DEADLINES
Companies report annually in a universal reporting period unique to all members. Failure to publish by the deadline will result in a change in Global Compact membership status, up to and including eventual expulsion from the initiative.
- April 1, 2025-July 31, 2025: reporting period. It will be necessary to publish the CoP by this date to maintain “Active” membership status.
August 1, 2025 - December 31, 2025: In the event that the company fails to meet the scheduled deadline of July 31, 2025, it will automatically acquire “non-communicating” status on its participant profile on the UN Global Compact website. The company will regain active participant status as soon as it posts its CoP.
January 1, 2026: If the company fails to publish its CoP by December 31, 2025, it will be expelled from the UN Global Compact initiative (“delisted” status) for failure to report (“failure to communicate on progress”) on January 1, 2026.
WHO IS REQUIRED TO REPORT
All companies participating in the UN Global Compact that joined before January 1, 2025 are required to submit their CoP. They are exempt from the reporting requirement:
- New members: if the company joined the UN Global Compact after January 1, 2025, the first Communication on Progress must be submitted in 2026.
- Subsidiary companies: if the company is a subsidiary of another company that is a member of the UN Global Compact, it will be covered by the Communication on Progress of the parent company, which must also include the activities of its subsidiaries in its reporting scope. Should a subsidiary company wish to do so, it may submit its Communication on Progress independently of the parent company, however this remains optional.
- Non-business organizations: non-business organizations report through the Communication on Engagement tool every two years.
PREPARING ONE'S COMMUNICATION ON PROGRESS
To prepare your own Communication on Progress we recommend the following steps:
- Consult the standardized questionnaire to understand what data should be collected [alternatively prepare your own Sustainability Report].
- Consult the Guidelines for more information and/or clarification on the questions in the questionnaire. The Guidelines include more information on calculation methodologies and a glossary of key terms.
- Check that you have access to the dashboard on the UN Global Compact website, the company's private login area. To create a new profile, please go to this page.
FILL OUT YOUR OWN COMMUNICATION ON PROGRESS
- Initially fill out the offline questionnaire in Excel or PDF version, so that it can be easily shared internally with colleagues in relevant departments.
- From the Dashboard, access the platform set up for uploading Communication on Progress, where you can complete the Statement of Continued Support, which is integrated directly within the platform.
- Also in the Dashboard, select the mode of reporting: uploading the Sustainability Report or the questionnaire. In case the second option is selected, it will be necessary to answer the questions by reporting the data collected directly on the platform. It will not be possible to upload the file in excel or pdf; therefore, the data should be reported in a timely manner
DOWNLOAD NEW COP QUESTIONNAIRE
» For more information, please contact: Bianca Boldrini, Engagement Assistant,
