Full name of the document – ‘Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’
Adopted by the heads of states and governments during the UN Sustainable Development Summit during the 70th anniversary of the UN General Assembly in New York on 25 September 2015. Officially enforced from 1 January 2016.
- result of multi-year transparent process, considering opinion of various stakeholders and a consensus of 193 member states on sustainable development priorities
- unprecedented international programme, historic global agenda, including 17 Goals and 169 Targets and covers three main aspects of sustainable development – economic growth, social integration and environmental protection
- agenda of transforming our world in the interest of humankind and nature, to form modern inclusive economy, based on inseparable economic, environmental and social factors, considers that resources are depletable, biosphere lifecycle is limited and global problems and risks recognised by the international community, which evolved because of short-sighted previously widespread development practices, resulting from unsustainable growth and a priority of financial profit
SDGs
- are universal and target all the countries, are globally enforced; at the same time they consider different national conditions and respect of national priorities
- interconnected, therefore efforts on achieving them should be holistic
- aimed at eradicating core reasons of global problems and meeting development needs in the interest of humanity and the planet
- highly focused on enforcement means, mobilising resources, rebuilding and alteration of world financial and investment system, capacity building and technological growth
SDGs appeal to all the countries – developing, developed and newly industrialised – to contribute to their prosperity as well as defending the planet. SDGs admit that eradicating poverty should be Interconnected to enforcing strategies contributing to economic growth and aimed at meeting social demands, including those in the areas of education, healthcare, social protection and provision of employment, while simultaneously solving issues of climate and environmental protection.
SDGs and business
Forming a new concept of sustainable development and an innovative world economy model will happen exclusively if a transformation of commercial sector all over the world for the global agenda takes place. Sustainable development goals appeal to the business community, suggesting that it applies to ingenuity, innovativeness and dynamism, to overcome the challenges of sustainable development.
Therefore, business has a key role in achieving the SDGs, since it
- revitalises business-strategies through considering corporate social responsibility values, international requirements to human rights and labour protection, anti-corruption, responsible supply chain, gender equality, etc.
- responds to investor requests and ‘green’ financing
- attempts to receive long-term access to global markets and participates in low-carbon agenda
- looks for local solutions to global problems
- develops forms of making business-models more sustainable, which simultaneously encourages sustainability within companies’ regions of presence, societal prosperity, economic development.
A universal nature of directions, indicated in the UN sustainable development agenda, allows companies to decide on the set of Goals, which in the best possible way aligns with their activities and existing programmes, both at global and local levels.
SDGs and the UN Global Compact
- The United Nations considers the Global Compact as a key inter-sectoral platform for efficient integration of international business-community to achieve Sustainable Development Goals
Business and global agenda – it is a framework for all the structural elements of the UN Global Compact – its 10 principles, working groups activities and committees on numerous topics, priorities of inter-sectoral cooperation and local networks development.
- UNGC more than any other platform reflects current re-thinking of the specifics and scale of corporate responsibility in connection with modernisation of approaches to business-modelling in the context of SDGs
- Being compatible with the outreach of SDGs, the UN Global Compact offers new tools of successful business participation in achieving a sustainable future. These are based on implementing breakthrough leadership thinking, which leads to changes oriented towards the trinity of sustainability in all the traditional business components - management systems and reporting, approach to forming partnerships, financial planning, investment activities etc.
- To assist private sector companies worldwide in perceiving SDGs as innovative business strategies elements, the UN Global Compact offers new forms of targeted international cooperation. Transforming global goals into business-actions and impacts in global markets – that is an objective for the local participants of the initiative, which the UN leadership will support and direct.
The UN Global Compact appeals to companies to actively promote breakthrough innovations and integrate them into business activities, as through taking these steps business will help the world to achieve SDGs in the most efficient way possible, and already today will get winning commercial opportunities of tomorrow.
SDGs Compass guides companies on how they can align their strategies as well as measure and manage their contribution to the realization of the SDGs. The SDG Compass presents five steps that assist companies in maximizing their contribution to the SDGs: understanding the SDGs, defining priorities, goal setting, integrating sustainability and reporting.
For further information
