UN Global Compact Leaders’ Summit 2010: 10 years of business commitment to sustainable development

7/9/2010
News brief

AREVA CEO Anne Lauvergeon joined other heads of companies that have signed up to the UN Global Compact at the Leaders’ Summit in New York last June 24 and 25. Anne Lauvergeon and some twenty other leaders from the worlds of business, labor and civil society sit on the Board of Directors of the Global Compact.

Launched by then-Secretary General of the United Nations Kofi Annan, the summit seeks to promote businesses’ civic responsibility in resolving the issues created by globalization. Businesses joined on a voluntary basis and reached a consensus in July 2000 on universal principles and concrete commitments tied to a set of fundamental values. Every year, they put out their "communication on progress", a report on their commitments detailing the progress they have achieved in integrating the Global Compact principles of human rights, working standards, the environment and anti-corruption efforts in their strategies and in their operations.

For AREVA, the Global Compact has greatly inspired the sustainable development policy it has pursued for the past ten years through the ten commitments that are the foundation of the AREVA Way initiative.

During the plenary session celebrating the Global Compact’s 10-year anniversary, Anne Lauvergeon presented the group’s achievements in diversity and parity, especially in newly industrialized countries. She also reiterated her support for new volunteering initiatives in this regard and was asked to take part in preparing a Gender Leaders Coalition.

On this subject, the CEO stated "I'm proud to be able to say that for AREVA, which draws inspiration from the Global Compact’s commitments, greater diversity is a driver for business performance and innovation and it is a priority of our human resources management.