Climate and development standard and certification body Gold Standard and WWF Switzerland have published a new report that seeks to help the private sector define and deliver ambitious strategies to achieve the goals outlined in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“By following simple standards for best practice target setting and then monitoring and reporting on impact delivered, business can drive the paradigm shift to a sustainable world and reap the rewards for their actions,” said Marion Verles, CEO of Gold Standard and co-author of the report.
While business is taking notice of the SDGs, engagement strategies are still in their infancy and can be inconsistent from one company to another. In their latest review of members’ sustainability reporting, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development found that 79 percent of the companies analyzed acknowledge the SDGs in some way. However, they note that only 6 percent of those companies have aligned their strategies and targets to specific target-level SDG criteria and measured their contributions to key SDGs.
Business and the Sustainable Development Goals: Best Practices to Seize Opportunity and Maximize Credibility highlights the advantages for business in catalyzing the SDG agenda, details the common challenges and pitfalls that companies face today, and offers a clear, actionable set of good practices for business leaders to inform their strategies moving forward.
“We’ve seen businesses starting to align their strategies to the SDGs, which is essential, as we can only achieve the SDGs by working together,” said Thomas Vellacott, CEO of WWF Switzerland and co-author of the report. “Setting corporate targets with reference to the SDGs, having them externally verified and reporting on them transparently will increasingly become standard practice.”
The report comes in support of the launch of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) Switzerland, with a goal of connecting a global need with business opportunity. The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals Report from 2017 cites that “the rate of progress in many areas is far slower than needed to meet the targets by 2030,” flagging the urgency to accelerate action. The Business and Sustainable Development Commission flagship report highlights that “achieving the SDGs could create 380 million jobs and help unlock at least $12 trillion in opportunities for business by 2030.”
Business and the Sustainable Development Goals will be updated over time as new practices emerge to help business avoid risks of “SDG washing.” It will also be supplemented with case studies to bring the implementation of the guidelines to life.
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Published Feb 16, 2018 5am EST / 2am PST / 10am GMT / 11am CET