Via WBCSD
Foreward by Peter Bakker, President & CEO, WBCSD
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide the private sector with a lens through which to translate global needs and ambitions into business solutions across the value chain.
Companies can better manage their risks, unlock opportunities in growth markets and establish an enduring license to operate through careful consideration of how they can impact the SDGs.
There is now mounting appreciation across the global business community that the goals have the potential to unleash innovation, economic growth and development at an unprecedented scale. The Business & Sustainable Development Commission’s flagship Better Business, Better World report points to US$12 trillion of additional market value that could be unlocked by 2030 if the SDGs are successfully implemented, creating 380 million jobs in the process.
However, achieving the SDGs and harnessing the potential they represent is beyond the reach of any single company. We will only reach the transformative ambitions of the SDGs through pioneering collaboration, with sector peers coming together to plot a new course focused on a common SDG vision for their industries. The Better Business, Better World report underlines this and makes a clear recommendation for companies to collaborate on the development of detailed “roadmaps” to guide their industry’s shift to sustainable development in line with the SDGs.
This of course is easier said than done and it can be hard to conceive of how to get such an initiative underway. These guidelines provide practical and detailed support to sectors as they embark upon efforts to establish a roadmap and a collective vision for how their industry can drive forward the SDG agenda on the road to 2030.
While each industry will undoubtedly face its own unique challenges and opportunities, this foundational guidance is broadly applicable across a wide range of sectors and also at national, regional and global levels.
The SDGs embrace the vision of a sustainable and inclusive future anchored in peace and prosperity. The challenge before all of us now is to understand our role in achieving this agenda and to establish tangible actions that we can take at a company-level and collectively move towards a world where a more sustainable business is more successful.
View the Full PDF Report: How to leverage the power of sectoral collaboration to maximize business impact on the Sustainable Development Goals.