Participants of the UN Global Compact are required to communicate their progress on a regular basis. This Communication on Progress (COP) is to be submitted one year from the date of your joining on an annual basis for companies. For non-business participants, a Communication on Engagement (COE) is required on a biannual basis.

Submitting a COP is at the heart of your company’s commitment to the UN Global Compact and provides valuable information to your stakeholders. The overall format of a COP is flexible and COPs can be prepared in any language as long as they meet the minimum requirements below. Because our participants are all at different stages in their sustainability journeys, COPs are categorized into three differentiation levels based on the depth of their disclosure. We also collaborate with other frameworks — for example, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) — to ensure that the standards are aligned and that meeting the requirements of one framework helps to comply with the others.

COP Guidance

• Global Compact Communication on Progress Policy: The Communication on Progress (COP) is frequently the most visible expression of a participant's commitment to the Global Compact and its principles. According to the policy, failure to issue a COP will change a participant’s status to non-communicating and can eventually lead to the expulsion of the participant.
• ‍GC Active COP Submission Guide: As a minimum (GC Active Level), the Global Compact requires companies to include in their COP a statement by the Chief Executive demonstrating their continued commitment, a description of practical actions on each of the four issue areas encompassed in the ten principles, and a measurement of outcomes using qualitative and quantitative indicators.
• GC Advanced COP Submission Guide: At the GC Advanced level, companies are required to expand upon the minimum content requirements and to disclose actions and results in the following dimensions: implementing the Ten Principles into Strategies & Operations in the areas of human rights, labor, environment, and anti-corruption; taking action in support of broader UN goals and issues; corporate sustainability governance and leadership.
• Express COP for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs): The Express Communication on Progress (COP) for small and medium enterprises option is designed for companies with less than 250 employees who have minimal reporting capacity. It enables these companies to exhibit transparency within their means, and to focus on continuously improving their reporting.

COE Guidance

• Global Compact Communication on Engagement Policy: The COE is a disclosure of specific activities that a non-business participant takes in support of the UN Global Compact and its results. Non-business participants in the UN Global Compact are required to submit a COE every second year.
• GC COE Submission Guide: A step by step guide and webinar created to assist you in developing your COE.

Submission and Adjustment of COP/COE Deadline Guidance

• Cycle Adjustment Submission Guide: A guide on how to request a deadline modification via a Grace Letter before your reporting deadline expires, including a COP Adjustment Request Guide for business participants and the COE Adjustment Request Guide for non-business participants.
• Grace Letter Submission Guide: A guide on how to request a deadline modification via a Grace Letter before your reporting deadline expires, including the COP Grace Letter Guide for business participants and the COE Grace Letter Guide for non-business participants.

Other Guidance

• Using GRI's Guidelines to Create a COP: This guidance describes how to use the GRI Sustainability Reporting Guidelines to prepare a Communication on Progress (COP). It addresses how to fulfill the elements of the GC Active and GC Advanced levels of the UN Global Compact differentiation program, how to meet the requirements to be 'in accordance' with G4, and includes detailed cross-referencing between GRI indicators and GC Advanced criteria.
• COP Questions on the Sustainable Development Goals: The UN Global Compact has started to collect data on business participants’ contribution on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by adding two questions to the GC Active and GC Advanced COP questionnaires. Find out everything you need to know here.

‍