Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the UN’s response to increasingly urgent warnings that we must change our ways to be more sustainable and reduce our carbon footprint.
Key Points:
- Despite warnings, it is still taking time for businesses to accept their responsibility to the rest of the world and to make fundamental, lasting environmental changes in their activities.
- A modern, forward-thinking business needs to think sustainably. Any business plan must include policies to reduce carbon emissions from activities such as production and transport.
- The SDGs, or Sustainable Development Goals, were introduced by UN member states to enable individual businesses to have a real impact in the broader world.
Of course, it can be daunting to examine your business and determine how to remodel your processes and resource use to become more sustainable and environmentally friendly. That is a lofty ambition that, at first glance, seems to apply only to large global corporations.
But a roadmap to sustainability already exists—with a wealth of information and guidance in the form of the SDGs (sustainable development goals) —available to businesses of any size.
What are the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)?
Back in 2015, all United Nations Member States adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. At its heart is an urgent call for action in the form of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are:
- No poverty
- Zero hunger
- Good health and well-being
- Quality education
- Gender equality
- Clean water and sanitation
- Affordable and clean energy
- Decent work and economic growth
- Industry, innovation and infrastructure
- Reduced inequalities
- Sustainable cities and communities
- Responsible consumption and production
- Climate action
- Life below water
- Life on land
- Peace, justice and strong institutions
- Partnerships for the goals
If you have already accepted your business’s need for change and are developing a set of actions, it can still be challenging to see how these fit into the list of SDGs above.
However, applying these goals to your business’s sustainability strategy can help you focus your objectives under a holistic framework.
How can I relate these 17 SDGs to my business strategy?
A truly modern, forward-thinking business needs to think sustainably. Any business strategy must include policies to neutralise carbon emitted by activities such as production and transport.
Businesses need to focus on sustainability for several reasons, including the UK government’s net-zero target and accompanying environmental legislation. Sustainability is increasingly important to consumers, so greater sustainability can make your business more competitive.
Health, Safety, and Environment Officer Ian Price recently completed an ISEP course to align Invacare’s sustainability strategy with the 17 SDGs. Here, he describes the benefits he has been able to deliver to his organisation:
Where do we start to become more sustainable?
Reviewing your business’s processes, gathering information, and winning stakeholder buy-in are strong starting points when building sustainability initiatives as part of your business plan.
Your sustainability strategy needs to be specific to your business to achieve meaningful results, reduce environmental harm, and positively impact the planet.
Perhaps not all SDGs are relevant to your business’s goals. But they will help guide and focus you. In addition, other companies may have advice and share their experience of addressing these 17 themes.
Can we maintain a successful business while remaining sustainable?
Ultimately, for most businesses, the primary goal is profit. Aligning your plans with the global sustainability agenda is not solely for the good of the planet; it can also benefit your business.
Addressing resource waste, harmful emissions, and production and transport methods can help streamline a business and improve efficiency. This results in higher productivity and profit.
Preparing your business to meet today’s climate change challenges and those that may lie ahead will future-proof activities and make the business more resilient. The 17 SDGs encourage the gathering, analysing, and sharing of knowledge and data to inform practices.
How do I get everybody on board?
To help align your business with the SDGs, TSW offers a range of environmental courses; these can equip your employees (at various levels) with the green skills needed to build your sustainability plan aligned with the 17 SDGs, and give your business the knowledge, expertise, and agility it needs to comply with evolving environmental legislation.
Training your employees in environmental skills will also help them feel proud to be part of a forward-thinking, responsible business. This builds loyalty and a sense of working together for the good of the planet, not just for profit.
How do we know if we’re doing the right thing?
The UN has also developed a Business Report on SDG initiatives to show businesses how to embed SDGs into their plans in a valuable and practical way. This includes reporting on impact and relaying information to stakeholders.
Partnerships can leverage other companies’ findings to inform their sustainability plans. Not everything will succeed immediately; some actions will take time to yield benefits, and there may be higher upfront costs.
By sharing knowledge and working in partnership, the 17 SDGs can impact individual businesses and the wider world.
