Allies Assembly 2023 in Mexico City
Did you know? Of the 2000 most influential companies in the world with the power to create a sustainable world by taking action on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), 19 are headquartered in Mexico. With this massive influence, Mexican stakeholders are playing a pioneering and critical role in implementing the SDGs on the ground by collectively inspiring businesses and other groups to do their part. See the list of the 2000 most influential companies.
About the Allies Assembly in 2023
The World Benchmarking Alliance’s (WBA) annual gathering will take place in person in Mexico City this year. We want to mobilise collective action on the ground across multiple SDG areas and bring in local multi-stakeholders in Mexico to connect, collaborate and contribute towards this change. On the third day, the Assembly will explore the potential of global and diverse partnerships to drive action on sustainable development. We are thrilled to partner with our Ally ICC Mexico for this day of the program.
With WBA Allies from over 35 countries and 7 diverse stakeholder groups in attendance, this is an excellent opportunity for stakeholders at both global and local levels to connect, share learnings and experiences, and create collective impact.
What to expect
The event is free to attend and open to all. The program for this day will be as follows:
- Theme: Driving sustainable development through corporate accountability
- Date: 8 June 2023 (Thursday)
- Time: 9:30 am onwards (full-day program)
- Location: Mexico City
- Audience: Multi-stakeholder and global
- Attendance: Free and open to all (limited spots available, register quickly!)
- Translation: translation available for the morning plenary, Spanish and English
Agenda
09:30 to 10:15 – Registration and welcome (with coffee/tea)
10:15 to 12:30 – Morning plenary
A multi-stakeholder and global panel discussion on corporate accountability with high-level speakers from government, civil society, business and industry.
Speakers
- Gisele Fernández Ludlow, Director for Sustainable Development, General Direction for Global Affairs: 10:30 to 10:40
- Alexandra Haas, Executive Director, Oxfam Mexico: 10:40 to 10:50
- Claudia de la Vega, Director of Corporate Affairs, ESG-Sustainability & Communications for Walmart México and Central America: 10:50 to 11:00
- Fernanda Hopenhaym, Member, UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights: 11:00 to 11:10
- Gerbrand Haverkamp, Executive Director, World Benchmarking Alliance
12:30 to 13:45 – Lunch
13:45 to 17:30 – Workshops on four of the system transformations we identified (in parallel, held in four different banquet rooms at the venue)
Please choose one of the following roundtables:
- Social transformation: A roundtable to discuss how to bridge the global-to-local gap on business respect for human rights. We will discuss the current policy momentum around human rights due diligence, highlight the work that different stakeholders are doing to bridge this gap, and explore how 5+ years of WBA’s human rights data and insights can be leveraged by the Alliance to accelerate the implementation of the UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights. This session is co-organised by WBA and the RBC-LAC project, implemented by the OECD, ILO and OHCHR in Latin America.
- Financial System Transformation: This session will explore the insights from the WBA 2022 Financial System Benchmark on social impacts, human rights, and how financing can be socially and globally inclusive. Participants will share regional expertise, learnings and best practice examples from different actors across the financial system to make each stakeholder’s role clearer to achieve transformational change.
- Nature Transformation: Nature is under threat. Fortunately, there is growing momentum around the need to halt and reverse nature loss, and everyone has a part to play. This means it’s essential to align with each other and design effective collective actions. This session will bring together leaders in the nature space – and those who want to get started or scale up their actions. Together, we will analyse current work on nature, hear examples of best practices, and map a route forward for meaningful multi-stakeholder collaboration and action.
- Urban Transformation: Using the methodology of the upcoming Urban Benchmark as the base, this session will explore a multi-stakeholder dialogue on what it means to set the New Urban Agenda within the context of the SDGs. It will look at paving a collective roadmap for stakeholders to act and outline the clear commitments and actions that companies must make to help transform the urban system.
17:30 to 18:30 – Closing plenary
18:30 onwards – Networking reception (followed by an informal dinner)
