Help Shape the UK’s Approach to Business and Human Rights: Take Part in the National Baseline Assessment
Take Part in the Survey The UK Government has launched a National Baseline Assessment (NBA) to evaluate how well the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) are being implemented across the UK. This marks a pivotal moment to help shape future policy and practice on human rights. Commissioned by the Foreign, Commonwealth […]
Views from the Global Goals Summit on Business Fights Poverty’s New Report: Making the Five Bridges to 2045 a Reality
The Business Fights Poverty community felt broadly positive about the future despite the challenging headwinds (from geopolitical uncertainty to pushback on ESG funds and everything in between). It is probably fair to say that most felt in agreement with the recent Accenture survey ,which found that 88% of CEOs see the business case for sustainability […]
CSR 2.0: Commercial Social Revolution?
As the global economy moved from stakeholder to shareholder capitalism, the social responsibility of companies was necessarily eroded. The controlling mechanism of the market became a share price rather than a link between a firm, their employees, suppliers, consumers, and the communities impacted by their work. Globalisation has also meant that the geographical distance between […]
What Happens When Women Entrepreneurs Are Left Out of Business Growth Strategies?
What we risk if low-income women are left out of acceleration With aid budgets shrinking and governments under pressure to raise more tax revenue, the private sector plays an important role in delivering jobs, growth and opportunity. One approach gaining ground is business acceleration: intensive programmes that help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) access finance, […]
Inclusive Advertising: The Case for Marcomms for a Better World
Most – perhaps all – of the world’s challenges are founded in large part on problematic attitudes and beliefs. Among these challenges, discrimination based on race, gender, disability, age, sexual orientation and more is arguably the most pernicious. It exacts huge economic costs and, more fundamentally, ruins and even ends lives. It robs us all […]
Open Source, Open Learning: Unlocking Innovation for Social Impact
Innovation is often associated with the resources of large corporations—dedicated research teams, big budgets, and formal labs. But real progress has never been confined to institutions. Across history, innovation has come from people sharing what they know, testing ideas together, and building on each other’s insights. Today, digital technology makes knowledge more accessible than ever […]
Fueling the Future of Social Entrepreneurship: Reflections from IKEA Social Entrepreneurship
Hej! I’m Åsa Skogström Feldt, and I’m sharing some summer reflections based on my experience leading IKEA Social Entrepreneurship. It’s been over a decade since we first launched our journey in this space, a journey that began by partnering with social businesses to create jobs in areas where it’s most needed. Thirteen years later, that […]
Impact Credits Can Revolutionize Poverty Alleviation
From Good Intentions to Proven Impact As the world contends with rising poverty, climate change, and declining trust in institutions, businesses are searching for new ways to deliver measurable social impact. Yet, most corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts still rely on vague metrics or one-time donations. A promising alternative is emerging: impact credits—a model that transforms […]
Enabling a Fairer Transition and Climate Response
AXA XL is committed to supporting its clients and playing its own part in the transition to a low carbon economy and resiliency in response to the changing climate. We recognise that there will be multiple transitions taking place around the world, at differing speeds and in different ways. To be successful, those transitions will […]
Beyond Buzzwords: A Portfolio Approach to Value, Purpose, and Performance
In this moment of global volatility—marked by fragile economies, eroding public trust, and escalating supply chain shocks—companies face a critical choice: retreat from sustainability or reimagine how they lead. The most forward-looking ones are doing neither. Instead, they are building resilience by designing an integrated portfolio approach to impact—aligning their financial tools, philanthropic capital, marketing, […]
In the Face of Headwinds, Look to Partnerships
Exploring Different Types of Partnerships There are many ways to partner, but I will outline three strategies that I’ve seen used most commonly: Strategic Resource and Information Sharing For organizations looking to build up partnerships through a relatively low-effort approach, resource and information sharing is a great place to start. This could include participating in […]
Unlocking the “Missing Middle”: A New Agenda to De-risk Youth Entrepreneurship and Drive Economic Growth
Youth Entrepreneurship: A Missed Opportunity for Sustainable Economic Growth Across the world, young entrepreneurs are building businesses with the potential to transform economies — creating jobs, driving innovation, and strengthening resilience. Yet far too many are stuck in the “missing middle”: too big for microfinance, too small or risky for mainstream investors. The result? Their […]
Turning Potential into Prosperity – How Business Can Help Refugees Thrive
Europe is home to 25.6 million forcibly displaced people, including 13.6 million refugees (1). With the intensification of climate change and the persistence of conflict and instability in the world, the number of refugees and forcibly displaced people is only going to grow. The business case for integrating migrants more broadly into the global economy […]
Online Gender-Based Violence Limits Global Economic Growth, Research Reveals.
Read the full report “Empowered or Undermined: Women Entrepreneurs & the Digital Economy” The business world is now online, but so is men’s violence. In a time where customers, suppliers, and financiers are increasingly connecting through digital platforms, businesses simply can’t afford to stay offline. However, women business owners often encounter gendered barriers that hold […]
EU Anti-Greenwashing Law is Developing Fast: Credible Sustainability Systems Can Maximise its Potential
Environmental claims are crucial because they drive consumer choices. Over time, the hope is that sustainable products gain a larger market share, and consumer choices can drive positive impacts. But as the green transition hastened, corporate greenwashing confused consumers, fracturing this positive market process. Now, through the GCD, governments and companies are stepping up to […]
How Garment, Footwear and Textile Businesses Can Improve Women Workers’ Career Advancement
The global garment, footwear, and textiles industry is facing a growing wave of disruption—from climate change and automation to shifting trade patterns and increasing demands for equity and transparency. As these pressures reshape the future of work, they present not only significant challenges but also an opportunity to reimagine advancement and leadership in the sector […]
Reducing Child Labour in Palm Oil: A Model for Business-NGO Collaboration
How a unique collaboration between a palm oil Business and two NGOs, one in the UK, the other in Sierra Leone, has seen child labour plummet. Over the past three years, APT Action on Poverty (APT), a UK‐based NGO with extensive experience in addressing rural poverty, has worked in partnership with Planting Naturals, a Dutch […]
Why We Must Bring “Development” Back into Sustainability Conversation More Than Ever
Right now, we’re seeing companies pull back from ESG. Some of this reflects today’s evolving political landscape, but there’s a deeper issue at play: for many, sustainability efforts still feel distant from their everyday realities. Above all, people care about their everyday lives getting better. Prioritising “sustainability” over “development” fuels inequality and risks overall progress […]
Bridging Divides: Rethinking Collaboration amid Global Crises
The world is undergoing significant transition, from rapidly evolving geopolitical tensions and the rise of artificial intelligence to the long-term impacts of climate change and societal polarisation. The global economy too is in a state of flux in light of sweeping tariffs. Faced with these complex and interconnected challenges, a collective effort is needed – […]
Closing the Healthcare Gap: Scaling Hybrid Solutions for Low-income Communities
Primary healthcare is the foundation of any resilient health system. Yet, in many low- and middle-income countries, that foundation remains dangerously thin. Clinics are too few as there are just 0.7 hospital beds per 1,000 people in lower-income countries, compared to 5.6 in high-income ones. Additionally, for many people, cost and distance put even basic […]