Economic crimes are significant obstacles to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and professional accountants can play a pivotal role to clear a path. This guest blog by Kevin Dancey, CEO of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), marks the launch of IFAC’s new Action Plan for Fighting Corruption and Economic Crime.
As world leaders gather this week at COP26 to negotiate their climate change commitments, we ask – will they include a credible commitment to fight corruption?
Because if there is one thing that will scupper efforts to address the climate crisis, it is corruption. Yet corruption is strangely missing from the conversation. Here are some things that deserve to be talked about louder.
Emerging economies have long struggled with the question of how to combine economic development with sustainable use of natural resources. How does corruption factor into this combination?
This Working Paper details the findings of a survey of Indonesians’ perceptions of corruption, the economy and the environment in July 2021.
The survey was a joint initiative of the Green Corruption team at the Basel Institute on Governance and leading Indonesian pollster Lembaga Survei Indonesia (LSI). It consisted of a national public opinion survey covering 2,580 respondents and in-depth interviews with 30 private-sector representatives working in various natural resource sectors.
How do illegal wildlife products, live animals, exotic marine species and illegally logged timber end up in stores, zoos, aquariums and homes on the other side of the world?
Too easily, is the answer. Weaknesses in global supply chains make them vulnerable to exploitation by organised crime groups and bad actors working in legitimate businesses. Corruption opens the door to that exploitation. And the easy possibilities for laundering money from environmental crimes makes this illicit activity attractive to criminals around the world.
Companies dealing with metals and minerals cannot avoid corruption risks, which plague practically every extractive sector at every phase of development, every country and every stage of the supply chain. Both industrial and artisanal mining are vulnerable, though in different ways.
Collective Action is at the heart of the new Strategy 2021–23 of the United Nations Global Compact, an ambitious corporate sustainability initiative that supports companies around the world in achieving sustainable and responsible business operations throughout their supply chains.
Business, conservation, anti-corruption, global trade, compliance and risk management. International law, organised crime enforcement, standard-setting, political economy analysis and social norms. The inaugural Corrupting the Environment dialogue used all these lenses to examine the “vicious triangle” that undermines sustainable development: corruption, illicit trade and environmental degradation.
The Confederación Patronal de la República Mexicana (COPARMEX) and Global Compact Network Mexico signed an agreement stating that they will comply with the Sustainable Development Goals in Mexico, specifically the 16th goal. The agreement refers to the action and involvement of more than 36,000 partner companies, 17 national work commissions, as well as 65 business centers throughout the country.
The Basel Institute's 29th Working Paper, published today, aims to contribute to the international policy dialogue on the link between asset recovery and countries’ pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals.