It is hard to believe, but we will soon be celebrating the first anniversary of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Though we are still in the first year of implementing these ambitious new global goals, we need to get it right from the start. As Plato once said, “the beginning is the most important part of the work”.
We need to take inspiration from the well-known A.I.D.A. model – attention, interest, desire, action – and begin by creating awareness about the SDGs before expecting companies to take action. It is with this idea in mind that we have created the Making Global Goals Local Business campaign.
Our vision is inspired by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who has often called on the international community to “mobilize a global movement of sustainable companies and stakeholders to create the world we want”. And while many innovative companies have already started integrating the SDGs and responsible business principles into their strategies and operations, our work has only just begun. In order to create a truly global movement, we must reach the thousands of companies around the world who have yet to take up this call.
Fortunately, we have a very clear blueprint for the future.
Last month, UN Member States gathered for the first time since the adoption of the SDGs - and business was there. The first annual High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) was an important opportunity for all stakeholders, including the private sector, to reflect and take stock of activities that are underway in this first pivotal year of SDG implementation.
The private sector was welcomed as a real partner in this high-level process with a dedicated business day, the importance of which should not be undervalued. The SDG Business Forum – co-hosted by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the UN Global Compact and the International Chamber of Commerce, with the support of the Global Business Alliance for 2030 – highlighted the growing understanding that business and social values are inextricably linked and that business is a key player in achieving the SDGs by 2030.
In the business community, it is well known that you cannot manage what you cannot measure; so on this occasion, the UN Global Compact made a commitment to be a vehicle for measuring the private sector contribution to the SDGs. We will be retooling and modernizing our data-collection instruments to capture and present relevant data to future HLPFs. The SDGs will remain our blueprint, but the HLPF was a reminder that we must continually course correct to ensure that our good intentions turn into real action.
We will also continue to Make Global Goals Local Business. The actions we take at the national and regional level will be the foundation of our work over the next 15 years. Our Global Compact Local Networks have shown us time and again that the solutions and innovations we need are already out there. Change will not come as a result of meetings held at UN Headquarters alone, but as a result of deliberate and tangible action on the ground.
We are entering a critical period and the world is watching. As we look toward the UN Private Sector Forum in September, where we will be addressing the urgent refugee crisis, we cannot be satisfied by merely achieving ‘most’ of our goals. Throughout this journey, we must never forget that we have the power to affect real change and improve the lives of real people. The work we are doing now is the most important work we will do in our lifetime. Let’s make a global movement to create the world that we all want!