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SDG – What can businesses learn from Sustainable Development Goals

These 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) define an urgent call for action by all member nations deeply interconnected and aimed to be achieved in a global partnership.

By Vidyadhar Prabhudesai

SDG – What can businesses learn from Sustainable Development Goals. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, provides a shared blueprint for people, planet, peace, prosperity, and future. These 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) define an urgent call for action by all member nations deeply interconnected and aimed to be achieved in a global partnership. They are aimed to attain the overall vision of the United Nations – maintain international peace and security, developing friendly relations among nations, promoting social progress, and improving living standards and human rights.

The SDGs define macro-level challenges like economic inclusion, diminishing natural resources, geopolitical issues, environmental degradation, etc. These were developed based on inputs received from a micro-level like businesses, academia, nonprofit organizations, etc. At the macro level, the United Nations members have agreed to achieve them by 2030, and accordingly, governments were directed to monitor progress. If these countries were meet the 2030 target, businesses are most likely to play a significant role. There is a clear business case. For example, today’s investing in quality education is directly linked to the availability of trained manpower for the future. Business growth itself is tied to the achievement of SDGs at the macro level.

These SDGs provide an inspiring and inclusive future for businesses. They have re-imagined a new model of companies. They have completely transformed and reshaped industries as an agent of development and sustainable economic growth for all. Under this model, businesses pay decent wages, respect the environment, manage resources sustainably, and contribute substantially to meet development priorities.

We are still learning to live with COVID uncertainties, and many aspects of our lives will never be the same again. Some of the businesses which were shut completely during the lockdown may never recover from this crisis. Hence it is essential that we this challenging situation as an opportunity to work together; to build a healthier and more resilient economy with the SDG at its heart. SDG can help revive the economy in three ways.

1. By uniting all sectors to build a healthier and more resilient economy.
2. By prioritizing the most vulnerable aspects of our society and eliminate inequalities.
3. By building policies for a healthy planet and to aid the transition to net-zero.

One of the critical challenges businesses face is that most of the SDGs get prioritized at the CEO level and then managed by the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) team or Corporate.

Communication team. Hence there are challenges in integrating these into business functions like Plant operations and maintenance. Moreover, businesses focus on few SDGs, such as climate action, responsible consumption or decent work, and economic growth. These are directly related to the business bottom line and thereby given more importance. A goal like life below water is least prioritized. In the future, corporates should integrate SDGs into their corporate strategy and ensure that they engage well with internal teams.

Another challenge to tackle is how businesses spend their CSR funds on healthcare, digital literacy, education, poverty alleviation, etc. Since these are implemented traditionally – there no accurate measurement and tracking of the real impact. This creates a large information gap, and we end up duplicate most of our efforts. To reduce this duplication, we should look at the collaboration between businesses, HNIs, foundations, government, and corporates to ensure our development goals are addressed. This was conveyed to Prittle Prattle News by Vidyadhar Prabhudesai himself.

An author is a Fellow at the United Nations and a Member of the World Economic Forum. He can be reached on Twitter @vaprabhudesai.

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