In Memoriam / Kofi Annan
Former UN Secretary General

In Memory Of Kofi Annan: Father Of The Modern Corporate Sustainability Movement

Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

In Memory Of Kofi Annan: Father Of The Modern Corporate Sustainability Movement


Photo by Joel Saget/AFP/Getty Images

A great son of Africa and a true global leader has passed away. Kofi Annan, United Nations Secretary General from 1997 to 2006 and co-recipient, with the UN, of the Peace Nobel Prize in 2001, is being mourned and remembered with great affection all over the world. He was the conscience of humanity, endowed with the ability to inspire millions of people across cultures, religions and nations to support the good causes of the United Nations – peace, human rights and sustainable development. Kofi Annan’s unique leadership capabilities, his humility and decency, his compassion and his humor will always be remembered by those who had the privilege of working with him. As last great reformer of the United Nations, he managed to modernize its bureaucracy in critical areas such as women empowerment and global health.

Kofi Annan is mostly remembered for the role he played on the political stage and for the events that shaped the first decade of our century, especially the invasion of Iraq. He did not hesitate to speak truth to power and he silently - abandoned by many around him - endured the consequence: a very ugly personal smear campaign that wrongly accused him of corruption. But even during these dark months he would not abandon his faith in the ideas of the United Nations.

Kofi Annan was one of the greatest diplomats in history. Yet his legacy will endure in another area as well. As a pragmatist and modernizer, Kofi Annan was tirelessly striving to overcome old ideologies. Early on, he embraced the idea of opening up the United Nations to the people, to civil society and to the private sector which was, up until his appointment as Secretary General in 1997, largely hostile to the organization.

In the sunny afternoon of January 29th, 1999, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Kofi Annan spoke to hundreds of business executives: “I propose that you, the business leaders…and we the United Nations initiate a Global Compact of shared values and principles, which will give a human face to the global market.” Every word of this speech sank into the minds of those present. And with this “speech act”, Kofi Annan planted the seeds for the modern corporate sustainability movement. The call was heard all over the world. Over the subsequent years, business leaders and civil society from Argentina to Canada, from South Africa to Iceland and from Lebanon to China would form “local networks”, informed by universal principles, to change business practices. Numerous business leaders, such as Sir Mark Moody Stuart, stepped forward and dedicated years to translate Kofi Annan’s call into the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative, the United Nations Global Compact.

Kofi Annan’s call to action is as relevant today as it was two decades ago: “The spread of markets outpaces the ability of societies and their political systems to adjust to them, let alone to guide the course they take. History teaches us that such an imbalance between the economic, social and political realm can never be sustained for very long. The global economy will be fragile and vulnerable to the backlash from all the “isms” of our time: protectionism, populism, nationalism, ethnic chauvinism, fanaticism and terrorism”. Thousands of companies around the world who have embraced the ten universal principles of the UN Global Compact in the areas of human rights, labor, the environment and anti-corruption, have the opportunity to carry Kofi Annan’s legacy forward now.