The UN Global Compact Network has named Uzma Hamid-Dizier, Director of Responsible Business and Inclusion at Slaughter and May, as a 2023 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Pioneer.

Uzma was named a 2023 Sustainable Development Goals Pioneer by The UN Global Compact Network UK in June, and has now achieved recognition for her efforts on a global scale.

Each year the UN Global Compact, the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative, recognises SDG Pioneers who are corporate leaders using business as a force for good to advance the 17 SDGs.

Uzma has been recognised for the progress she has made against one or more of the SDGs while also contributing to business success inside the firm and by mobilising other businesses to do the same.

This work includes leading the firm’s responsible business strategy, central to which are ambitious commitments to contribute to the SDGs. After conducting a materiality assessment, six priority SDGs were identified where the firm could make the greatest impact, with implementation across the business to upskill employees to embed the SDGs in the firm’s day-to-day operations. An SDG working group was put in place to work across the firm to turn the commitments into action, to make an increasingly positive impact on the economy, environment, and society. This work includes developing an impact measurement framework, with interconnected KPIs across everything we are doing to support the SDGs, as well as ensuring everyone can play a role in achieving the firm’s commitments.

To drive change across the sector and society in general, Uzma spearheaded a collaboration with seven other founding firms to launch Legal CORE and co-chairs this, cross-firm leadership collective aims to tackle the underrepresentation of ethnic minority groups across the UK’s legal sector. She is also a member of the Social Mobility Commission’s Employer Advisory Group, which is sponsored by the Cabinet Office to drive social mobility in the workplace.

Uzma Hamid-Dizier comments: “To be named as an SDG Pioneer, not just by the UN Global Compact UK but on a global level is an honour. Slaughter and May’s commitment to responsible business, and to the SDG’s is central to everything that we do, and I am delighted that this has been recognised. Every element of this is a firmwide effort, and I’d like to thank my team and colleagues for all their hard work.”

For more information on responsible business at Slaughter and May click here or for the full list of SDG Pioneers click here.