The SDGs are a call to action for business and governments know it

A boy draws drinking water from a well in Peshawar, Pakistan. The SDGs provide a framework for economic growth that protects humanity and nature, and include targets around clean water. Photograph: Fayaz Aziz/Reuters

A boy draws drinking water from a well in Peshawar, Pakistan. The SDGs provide a framework for economic growth that protects humanity and nature, and include targets around clean water. Photograph: Fayaz Aziz/Reuters

Faye Leone, Content Editor, Sustainable Development Policy & Practice, International Institute for Sustainable Development

A joint report by Business Call to Action and the Global Reporting Initiative finds that governments around the world have a keen interest in private sector contributions to the sustainable development goals

Governments around the world are increasingly interested in private sector contributions to the sustainable development goals (SDGs). This trend is part of a marked shift from the role of business in the millennium development goals (MDGs), which concluded last December.

The shift is one of the findings in a joint report from Business Call to Action (BCtA) and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), which will be launched on 22 September.

Measuring Impact: How Business Accelerates the Sustainable Development Goals is based on consultations conducted while governments were taking their first steps toward implementing the SDGs, adopted by the world’s governments in September 2015.

The SDGs provide a framework for economic growth that protects humanity and nature. Achieving the goals will require all actors in society – not just governments – to take responsibility for changing the course of development. In this way, the SDGs represent a call to action for business.

All governments who participated in the “measuring impact” research said the private sector must be involved in achieving the SDGs in their countries. As one said, businesses can have an even greater impact than the government, in some SDG target areas.

The financing needed to achieve the SDGs by 2030 is estimated to be in the trillions of dollars and private financing will need to be a major portion of the move “from billions to trillions,” in the words of the World Bank. The report argues that, given the anticipated scale of this contribution, the part played by the private sector in carrying out the SDGs should be measured, reported and communicated at the national level, and at UN settings during the follow-up and review process between governments.

What can governments ask of business?

The SDGs are nationally owned, so each country defines its indicators, how it will monitor implementation, and how it will report progress. Governments have expressed a desire for standardised, comparable business information to help answer these questions. But at the same time, many are wary of burdening businesses with reporting requests. In countries where a “trust gap” is felt between government and business, this concern can be even more acute.

How can this dilemma be resolved? The report finds that businesses are open to reporting to government on their SDG contributions. Indeed, many businesses are already capturing their efforts and progress on environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance, and using tools such as impact measurement and sustainability reporting to do so. Investors, consumers, governments, and even many companies’ internal management are demanding a higher level of accountability and transparency. As more and more companies begin to report on their SDG impact, a new standard of competitiveness could arise.

For governments who want to deepen their engagement with the private sector on the SDGs, the report suggests early steps: conduct a “gap analysis” to determine data and information available from the private sector, versus what the government already collects; use policy instruments to collect data; form or strengthen multi-stakeholder partnerships; and share lessons learned from the process with peer governments.

Businesses can take an early lead

The report team consulted with businesses around the world, including multinationals like AkzoNobel, CEMEX PH, Enel, IKEA Group, L’OCCITANE en Provence, Mars, Pearson, Pirelli, Şekerbank and Unilever, along with large national companies (ie PRONACA, Mahindra Rural Housing Finance) and SMEs (ie Access Afya, Echale a Tu Casa). The findings provide a snapshot of how current practices in impact measurement and sustainability reporting can be leveraged to measure and monitor business contributions to the SDGs, and ultimately accelerate their achievement. At the same time, the report shows that business can take steps towards having its contributions represented in international processes by actively engaging with governments.

Although it is still at an early stage, businesses can lead the way by:

  • Understanding the SDGs and examining the business case for measuring impact;

  • Strengthening internal expertise and incentives;

  • Disclosing data on ESG performance linked to the SDGs;

  • Sharing sustainability practices, measurement and reporting with peers; and

  • Collaborating with national governments on accounting for the private sector’s contribution to the goals.

Business Call to Action and GRI are working in partnership with businesses to support their involvement with the SDGs. The report is the first step of this new collaboration and will be launched on September 22nd at the Business Call to Action’s 2016 Annual Forum. Join our discussion on social media using #Measure4SDGs.

Faye Leone is a member of the core publication team of the Measuring Impact report. She is also the content editor of Sustainable Development Policy & Practice at the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD). 

Content on this page is provided by Business Call to Action, and originally appeared on the The Guardian Business and the Sustainable Development Goals Hub

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