How the UN Global Goals can inspire your business
Sophie Lawrence of KKS Advisors shares research insights into how forward-thinking businesses are making the most of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
What are the Global Goals?
Unilever CEO Paul Polman has described the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs, or Global Goals) as “the greatest growth opportunity in a generation”. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon insists that “realising the SDGs will improve the environment for doing business”.
So what are the SDGs and how can businesses use them as a tool for “doing well by doing good”? The SDGs are 17 social, environmental and economic goals that frame the global agenda for sustainable development between now and 2030. Whereas previous UN development goals focused more on how governments can bring about change, it is now recognised that business must play a pivotal role in the achievement of the ambitious SDGs.
The opportunity for business
Businesses can benefit from embracing the SDGs and embedding them in their growth strategies.
I conducted in-depth research into businesses’ adoption of the SDGs as part of an MSc research project with Imperial College and B Lab UK, which certifies “B Corporations”: that is, companies that have undergone a rigorous impact assessment to be recognised as achieving the highest standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability.
My research showed that companies with SDG-specific plans and targets say that embracing the goals has given employees more direction towards defining the purpose of the company. Employees also report that it is hugely liberating and motivating to be working towards solving a problem. Engaging with SDGs can also be a means of unlocking investment. A recent study by ShareAction found that 95% of institutional investors plan to engage with investee companies about SDG issues, and many of the impact investors interviewed as part of my research are starting to incorporate the SDGs into their methodologies for selecting suitable investments.
Finally, it’s important not to forget the basic moral motivation behind adopting the SDGs as part of your business strategy: 93% of respondents in my research felt strongly that business has a responsibility to contribute to the SDGs given its dominant position in global society.
SDGs: the state of play
Is the business community ready to take on this responsibility — and do they know how best to contribute? Recent surveys by PwC, Ethical Corporation and B Lab have all found that there is a significant gap between business sentiments towards the goals, how they plan to contribute to them in the future and what they are currently doing.
For example, the results below are taken from a survey of B Corporations. They show that even companies at the vanguard of the “business for good” movement are still some way off grasping the full potential of integrating the SDGs into their growth strategies.
How to put the goals into practice
In-depth interviews with companies who have already developed plans or targets on how to contribute to the SDGs revealed three main ways to engage:
#1
Using the SDGs as a lens through which to view your business’s current environmental or social impact priorities and checking that these are consistent with the global priority areas of focus laid out in the SDG framework.
Example: GOODBRAND, a social innovation company, mapped their existing and past projects to the SDG targets, having recognised how SDGs make it easier to communicate the impact that has been realised to investors, partners and customers.
#2
Mapping their value chain to identify areas with high likelihood of either negative or positive impacts on the issues that the SDGs represent.
Example: Philips, the multinational electronics, lighting and healthcare company, decided the three goals they can have the biggest impact on are Goal 3, ‘to ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing at all ages’; Goal 7, ‘to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all’ and Goal 12, ‘to ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns’. They have set targets publicly and will report progress in their annual report.
#3
Using the SDGs as a means for collaborating with partners to solve common problems on a shared value basis.
Example: Forster Communications, a social change PR agency, used a specific SDG target related to modern slavery to bring clients together at a roundtable event. The event positioned them as a thought leader and enabled the co-creation of scalable and cross-sector solutions.
Want to know more?
Sophie works with KKS Advisors, a leading advisory firm helping clients build sustainable strategies. Get in touch at sophie.lawrence@kksadvisors.com.
This article originally appeared in the Spring 2017 print issue of Purpose. For more on creative leadership, problem solving and purposeful business, please visit thehouse.co.uk or get in touch at hello@thehouse.co.uk.
