Ryerson CSR Institute Zoom Session: Russia, Corporate Responsibility and ESG: Connecting the Dots - In Conversation with Georg Kell, founding Director of the UN Global Compact and Chair of The Arabesque Group

The Institute for the Study of Corporate Social Responsibility at Ryerson University* is pleased to present an online interactive zoom session, Russia, Corporate Responsibility and ESG: Connecting the Dots: In Conversation with Georg Kell, founding Director of the UN Global Compact and Chair of The Arabesque Group (details below), on Friday, March 18, 2022 from 11:00 am to 12 noon (Toronto time).

The invasion by Russia of Ukraine and the subsequent unfolding human tragedy has triggered widespread responses from governments and inter-governmental organizations, as well as from the private sector and civil society. In many ways, underlying the reported responses are more fundamental "re-thinkings" and "re-visitings" of understandings of the nature of the global order, and the values of its constituent parts -- for all three of the public, private and civil society sectors.

Of particular interest to the Ryerson CSR Institute is the evolving response of the private sector. While the full implications flowing from the Russian invasion of Ukraine will take time to articulate, it is clear even at this stage that the sweeping sanctions against Russia have catalyzed unheard of divestments and/or suspensions of commercial activities by foreign companies operating in Russia, and seem to be creating a more starkly polarized division between (largely Western) companies outwardly supportive of liberal democracies, human rights and related values, and those not outwardly supportive.

Are these (largely Western) companies exercising social responsibility, fulfilling their ESG commitments, and meeting long-held core values embedded in codes of conduct? Is this a reprise of the business response that helped to end apartheid in South Africa? Or is this simply a short-term, "dollars and cents" business decision -- a shallow pivot (external link)  similar to immediate business responses to the Covid-19 pandemic -- with "business as usual" around the corner?

An individual ideally positioned to explore questions of this nature is Georg Kell, given his more than 25 years with the United Nations (retiring in 2015), and his role as Chairman of the Board of Arabesque, a technology company that uses AI and big data to assess sustainability performance relevant for investment analysis and decision making. He is also the Co-Chairman of the DWS ESG Advisory Board and Speaker of the Volkswagen Sustainability Council.

Regarding his work with the UN Global Compact (UNGC), Georg has stated that it is "the world's largest corporate sustainability initiative. During my career of almost three decades at the United Nations, working directly with former Secretary Generals Kofi Annan and Ban Ki-moon, I built the UN Global Compact and oversaw the launch of its sister initiatives, including the Principles for Responsible Investing (PRI), the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME), and the Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE)."

He has also recently written a thoughtful piece on War in Europe and Corporate Responsibility for Forbes magazine, accessible here (external link) .

Moderating the session will be Dr. Kernaghan Webb, Director of the Ryerson CSR Institute and a Law and Business professor in Ryerson University's Ted Rogers School of Management who is also cross appointed to the Law Faculty.

The talk is co-sponsored by the Ryerson Corporate Social Responsibility Student Association, the Ryerson Commerce and Government Association, and the Ryerson Law and Business Student Association.  Although everyone is welcome to attend the zoom session and there is no cost for patching in, to attend you must first register by clicking HERE (external link)  and then pressing the green "register" button

On Friday, March 18 at 11 am (Toronto time) click HERE (external link)  to patch in for the zoom session. Note the 11 am start time and the one hour duration of this session.