Category: Foundation
Dr. Alessandro Demaio in conversation with Jamie Oliver
Wednesday, 11 April 2018 18:09
Join us!
Last month we announced that chef and business leader Jamie Oliver would be giving the annual Business for Peace lecture this May. Now, we’re pleased to share that Alessandro Demaio, the new CEO of EAT Foundation, will be joining him on stage.
It’s sure to be an engaging conversation about nutrition, trust, and how businesses can take the lead.
Business for Peace Lecture with Jamie Oliver & Dr. Alessandro Demaio
May 15, 14:00
Aula at the University of Oslo
Oslo Climate Leadership Declaration
Thursday, 05 April 2018 09:25
The Declaration aimed to accelerate climate action by the private sector, in support of the Paris Agreement. It called on businesses to set greenhouse gas reduction targets in line with climate science.
“Setting science-based targets is a great way for businesses to future-proof growth and boost their competitive advantage in the transition to a low-carbon economy. It also sends a powerful signal to global governments that business is aligning strategy with the Paris Agreement, opening the way for us all to move further, faster on the ambition of the Agreement,” says Paul Simpson, CEO of CDP, one of the partners of the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).
Signatories committed to engaging with the SBTi, and to promote the adaptation of this process in their value chain and sector. The Declaration raised awareness of the considerable effort already undertaken by many businesses, while also recruiting new SBTi participants.
The launch of the Declaration was the opening event of 2018’s Business for Peace Summit in Oslo. From 15-16 May, participants examined the theme Building Trust – Accelerating Climate Leadership. Globally recognised thought and business leaders shared their experiences and ideas for advancing climate action.
Christiana Figueres, considered one of the key architects of the Paris Agreement, delivered the Keynote address at the launch. In her role as Convener for Mission 2020, Figueres worked to rally the world to meeting the ‘peak emissions by 2020’ goal. “There is no doubt that the private sector is going to play a huge role … It is the private sector that has the technology, the capital, the know-how, the ingenuity to actually get us there,” Figueres says.
The Foundation partnered with We Mean Business in developing the Declaration. The text is the result of consultations with stakeholders, including the foundation’s nominating partners.
Text of the Oslo Climate Leadership Declaration
I agree that business and investors must take action now to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement.
To prevent the worst effects of climate change, I understand we need to move to peak global emissions by 2020 and towards net zero emissions by 2050.
I am committed to setting and implementing science-based targets in my business, in alignment with the Paris Agreement, and to ensuring a just transition for communities and workers affected by the move to a low carbon world. I call on my peers within our sector and our value chain to do the same. I commit to working actively with other businesses, as well as city governments, investors and policy makers, to bring about the businessworthy changes needed, and to use my leadership voice to advocate the public policy required to make this a reality.
As a Signatory to this Declaration, I recognise that we can, we must, and we will tackle climate change in a sustainable manner.
Nobel Prize winners gather to select the 2018 Business for Peace Award Honourees
Tuesday, 20 February 2018 16:25
Nobel laureates in Peace and Economics gathered in London last week to select the 2018 Oslo Business for Peace Award Honourees. Ms. Ouided Bouchamaoui, Dr. Shirin Ebadi, Professor Finn Kydland, Ms. Leymah Gbowee, and Professor Eric Maskin – the independent Award Committee – are all outstanding role models within their respective fields, with a passion for improving society driving their endeavours. The Committee met at the Norwegian Embassy to select Honourees who share the same commitment to tackling global challenges through positive business leadership.
Professor Maskin is the newest member of the Committee. He takes over for Michael Spence and brings his highly relevant expertise to the group. The Harvard professor specialises in mechanism design theory, a type of game theory used to build societal institutions that align individual incentives with overall societal goals.
The Foundation is proud to have an independent Committee of Nobel laureates evaluate the candidates and select the winners of the Award each year. Their involvement adds momentum to the businessworthy movement, aiming to redefine the concepts of success and value-creation in business.
The idea is to have the foremost individual representatives of the global society recognising the foremost representatives within business.
– Per L. Saxegaard, Founder
The Founder of the Business for Peace Foundation, Per L. Saxegaard, explains the vision behind the Committee in the following way: “The idea is to have the foremost individual representatives of the global society recognising the foremost representatives within business.”
When discussing the 2018 Award Nominees, Professor Maskin highlighted the potential that lies in promoting business leaders who choose to act businessworthy: “I’d like to see the Oslo Business for Peace Award continue to highlight businesses and business people who are doing more than making a lot of money, showing how a successful business can operate in a way that is ethical and that also contributes something really significant to society.”
Telling the stories of leaders who combine profit and purpose proves that it is possible to align these joint aims, and that we must do so if we are to reach the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
The names of the 2018 Honourees will be announced on 20 March in Oslo. The announcement will be live-streamed for international audiences as well.
I’d like to see the Oslo Business for Peace Award continue to highlight businesses and business people who are doing more than making a lot of money, showing how a successful business can operate in a way that is ethical and that also contributes something really significant to society.
– Professor Eric Maskin
Christiana Figueres to 2018 Summit
Tuesday, 06 February 2018 18:34
Forging a new brand of collaborative diplomacy, Christiana Figueres spent six years working for the UN as the Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and was one of the key architects of the Paris Agreement.
Christiana is now leading Mission 2020, a global initiative to bring “new urgency” to the “global climate conversation”. If the world is to avoid surpassing 2C by 2100, the emissions must peak before 2020 and then begin to rapidly decline – this means that the window of being able to change the course is very narrow. Private sector plays a significant role in reducing emissions and Figueres underlines the business opportunity that lies in taking climate leadership.
There is no doubt that the private sector is going to play a huge role (…) It is the private sector that has the technology, the capital, the know-how, the ingenuity to actually get us there.
2018 Summit: Building Trust- Accelerating Climate Leadership
Tuesday, 12 December 2017 11:24
Are the world’s institutions running up a trust deficit? Geopolitical tensions are rising and supranational alliances disintegrating. Popular unrest against elites is surging, the pace of change, globalisation and automation challenge employees across countries and industries, while climate change is testing the boundaries between politics and business.
Society’s trust in key institutions – with business sharing the fate of governments, NGOs and media – has declined markedly over the last years. CEOs have a low credibility among the broader population, and are short of a key currency. At the same time, technology is offering new capabilities to build but also distort trust, which may demand new ways for business leaders to relate to their stakeholders.
Trust is firmly embedded in the mission of the Business for Peace Foundation. With trust as the overarching theme for the 2018 Summit, we will look at how business leaders can address the trust deficit. To build trust in business, we believe that leaders need to step outside of their traditional roles and place sustainability and the opportunity to create value for society at the core of their strategy. We need businessworthy leaders.
Climate change is probably the most tangible global challenge requiring business to work diligently with society in search of solutions. We need to define and accelerate Climate Leadership in business. Can a renewed sense of trust enable us to speed up on climate leadership?
PROGRAM
MAY 15 – DAY 1
Honouree Network Meeting (Honourees only)
11:30-13:30
Nobel Peace Centre
Former and new Business for Peace Honourees gather for a network meeting with lunch
Business for Peace Lecture (Open to the public)
14:00-15:00
University Aula, University of Oslo
Jamie Oliver, founder of Jamie’s Food Revolution, chef and business leader, will give the annual Business for Peace lecture at the University of Oslo
Welcome Reception (Invitation only)
17:30-19:00
Nobel Peace Centre
The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs invites select guests to an intimate and informal gathering. Opening remarks by representative from the Ministry and a brief keynote dialogue with a few speakers
MAY 16 – DAY 2
Breakfast Seminar by BI (Open to the public)
08:00-10:00
BI Norwegian Business School
As part of the 2018 Summit, Business for Peace and the Norwegian Business School (BI) invites Summit guests and students for an interactive seminar with Professor David Sloan Wilson on The Competitive Advantage of Collaboration – Rebalancing the Darwinian Perspective
The Business for Peace Roundtable (Invitation only)
Building Trust: Accelerating Climate Leadership
11:00-15:00
Sentralen
CEOs and board chairs from leading companies, investors, civil society and politics are invited to listen, engage and discuss how society’s trust in key institutions – with business sharing the fate of governments, NGOs and media – has declined markedly over the last years. Can a renewed sense of trust enable us to speed up on climate leadership? Moderator: Mishal Husain, journalist and broadcaster
Oslo Business for Peace Award Ceremony (Open to the public)
17:00-18:30
Oslo City Hall
The breath-taking highlight of the Business for Peace Summit – the Award Ceremony held in the Oslo City Hall, the venue of the Nobel Peace Prize. This is the formal delivery and celebration of the Business for Peace Award to the 2018 Business for Peace Honourees: Lori Blaker, Edgar Montenegro, and Martin Naughton. Keynote on The State of the Union between Business and Society. Artistic performances
Award Dinner Reception (Invitation only)
18:30-20:30
Oslo City Hall
Held in the same venue as the Award Ceremony, a standing dinner reception to celebrate the 2018 Honourees.
More speakers and special guests will be announced soon. Stay tuned for details on how to register for the public Summit events.
Press release: Principles for Responsible Investment new Nomination Partner
Wednesday, 22 November 2017 14:28
The Foundation is proud to welcome PRI, Principles for Responsible Investment, as our new nomination partner. PRI completes our group of nomination partners, representing investors and the financial sector. PRI is the world’s leading proponent of responsible investment.
PRI believes that an economically efficient, sustainable global financial system is a necessity for long-term value creation. The principles whom signatories commit to, contributes to creating a system that rewards long-term, responsible investment and benefits the environment and society as a whole.
The initiative was launched in 2006, by a group of the world’s largest institutional investors. The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Swedish Folksam and the Norwegian Government Pension Fund are among its founding members. Today, the principles have more than 1.800 signatories from over 50 countries, representing approximately US$70 trillion in assets. It is currently expanding its reach into regions like Asia, South America and Africa. Read more about PRI on their websites.
Celebrate International Day of Peace: Nominate a candidate for the Oslo Business for Peace Award
Thursday, 21 September 2017 11:35
Oslo – Together with our partners in the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and UN Global Compact (UNGC), we are now seeking candidates for the 2018 Oslo Business for Peace Award.
The Award is the highest distinction given to a businessperson for outstanding businessworthy accomplishments – ethically and responsibly creating value both for company and society.
To sustain successfully in business, leaders are increasingly promoting a businessworthy culture. The stories of our Honourees – business leaders who choose to lead their businesses in a businessworthy manner – deserve to be shared and celebrated. – Per L. Saxegaard, Founder and Chair, Business for Peace Foundation
Honourees are selected by an independent committee consisting of Nobel Laureates in peace and economics, after a global bottom-up nomination process through the Foundation’s global partners; the ICC, UNDP and UNGC. The international partners’ local affiliates can nominate candidates who 1) act as role models for society and their peers; 2) stand out as advocates for responsible and ethical business conduct, and; 3) have earned trust by their stakeholders.
Previous winners include Elon Musk (Tesla and SolarCity), Paul Polman (Unilever), Marilyn Carlson Nelson (Carlson Companies) Richard Branson (Virgin Group) and Sarah Beydoun (Sarah’s Bag), and the Award has been dubbed “The Nobel Prize in business” by international media.
As the first Canadian to be an Honouree for the Oslo Business for Peace Award, it is particularly meaningful to be recognized. Awards like the “Oslo Business for Peace Award” truly show that business can be about more than dollars – that it can impact and change society and people’s lives in a positive way. – Murad Al-Katib, 2017 Honouree
How to nominate?
Those affiliated with local, regional and national organisations and networks of International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) are welcome to nominate their candidate for the 2018 Oslo Business for Peace Award. The deadline to receive nominations online is November 21st and the winners of the Oslo Business for Peace Award will be presented in Oslo City Hall on May 16th 2018.
Suggest your candidate via our nomination partners’ websites:
Eric Maskin joins Award Committee
Wednesday, 20 September 2017 11:40
It is our pleasure to announce that Eric S. Maskin has joined the Business for Peace Award Committee. Mr. Maskin is the Adams University Professor at Harvard. He has made contributions to game theory, contract theory, social choice theory, political economy, and other areas of economics. In 2007, he was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics (with L. Hurwicz and R. Myerson) for laying the foundations of mechanism design theory, which is the study of how to achieve social or economic goals when information about citizens’ preferences is incomplete.
The Oslo Business for Peace Award Committee works independently of the Foundation when assessing nominated candidates, and the decision of the committee members is final. Its members are Nobel prize winners in Peace or Economics, which ensures that the selection of Honourees is ethically credible, made by individuals outside the business community and of the highest possible moral and professional authority.
The task of inviting new members to the Award committee is made by an Election Committee consisting of former Swedish prime minister Göran Persson, former Norwegian prime minister Kjell Magne Bondevik, and the director of the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), Kristian Berg Harpviken. Maskin’s work and engagement places global development together with economics and capitalism in new ways. This is important to the idea of being businessworthy. We would like to thank Mr. Maskin for agreeing to strengthen our Award Committee, and it is our honour to formally announce his election to this role.
The 2017 Summit Report is here!
Wednesday, 09 August 2017 13:08
Today the Foundation published the 2017 Summit report, presenting a summary of the discussions that took place at the 2017 Business for Peace Summit.
The Summit theme was “Brundtland +30: Breakthrough Ideas for Future-Proofing the Global Economy”, highlighting leadership, technology and finance as three essential tools. If you want to know more about what participants such as Gro Harlem Brundtland, Yngve Slyngstad and Marilyn Carlson Nelson consider as breakthrough ideas, read the full report here.