Ever since the global community adopted the United Nations’ Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs)
in 2015, we’ve been waiting for the business community to show meaningful
leadership. In Canada, I think we see it now!
This
study,
commissioned by the Canadian government last November, asked over 30 Canadian
businesses if they had heard of the UN’s global goals which are the blueprints
to address worldwide challenges, including poverty, inequality, climate change,
and environmental degradation, by 2030 and to put society on a secure path.
The study interviewed companies known to have established corporate social
responsibility practices. Respondents spanned the country and represented a
broad cross-section of Canadian industry, from small business to large
multi-national companies. Interviewees were from public, private and
co-operative firms, held mostly senior leadership positions and managed
sustainability or corporate social responsibility portfolios.
Remarkably, all 32 businesses had heard of the SDGs and more remarkable still,
many of them were using the goals to inform not only their corporate strategy,
but also their business models and core value propositions!
As the chart below shows, there is a continuum of engagement with the SDGs by
companies who use them as a benchmark tool to assess alignment.
At the one end are the companies that usually report on their alignment with the
SDGs, but in reality, very little is different. Nothing about their business is
changed, but they can communicate their ongoing efforts to impact society in a
positive way.
Image credit: Coro Strandberg
Further along the impact scale are companies that use the SDGs to inform their
corporate social responsibility
strategies.
They assess which of the SDGs are most material to their business, and that they
can affect through their business. Then, armed with this information, they
identify their CSR priorities. Better.
And then, further out, we can spot companies that are using the SDGs to set
their corporate strategies. These companies research the compelling SDGs that
will create risks or opportunities for the firm and identify those to address
through their business strategies. Interested in a tool to help with this
exercise? Check it out here: SDGs as Risk and
Opportunity.
And who do we find at the high-impact end of the continuum? Why the social
purpose
company,
of course! As revealed in the study, this kind of company is using the SDGs to
identify the enterprise’s reason for being, its north star, its core ambition.
The companies that use the SDGs to inform their essential business models will
put themselves, their customers and society on a path for a more secure future.
By using the SDGs to inform their societal
quest,
and the issues on which they will take a stand, they can bring all their assets
and relationships to advance social change — and to build a customer movement
around their brand.
These companies will not only make a social difference — they will become an
engine for good, attracting the partners, resources and revenues to put their
businesses on a profitable
path
and scaling their potential for impact. A classic win-win, and a high-water mark
for purpose.
Get the latest insights, trends, and innovations to help position yourself at the forefront of sustainable business leadership—delivered straight to your inbox.
Coro Strandberg is President of Strandberg Consulting, which provides strategy advice to companies and industry associations that seek to integrate social and environmental considerations into their purpose, governance, operations and supply chains to create business value and societal benefit.
Published May 8, 2019 8am EDT / 5am PDT / 1pm BST / 2pm CEST