On the second day (27 April) of the Making Global Goals Local Business Conference by UN Global Compact, Lise Kingo, the chief executive officer and executive director of UN Global Compact, urged the audience that “time is of the essence”, as there are less than 5,000 days left to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) launched in September 2015.
The audience consisted of more than 300 global and local leaders from businesses, civil society and governments.
The conference concluded on opportunities focusing on changes which are transformational and the utilisation of breakthrough innovations to accelerate the quest to achieve the UN SDGs.
“The first movers to align their businesses with the global goals will have a five-to-fifteen year advantage on this sustainable playing field, and the best minds from the world of sustainability are coming together with those at the forefront of innovation to generate disruptive technologies,” said Kingo. “We are seeing how new breakthrough technologies in a range of fields are enabling the type and scale of change needed to meet the global goals.”
Local and global leaders were brought together in this two-day event, to focus on innovative solutions to tackle the challenges of sustainable development and to advance responsible business practices and tap into new opportunities and markets found within SDGs.
Facilitation of a multi-sectoral dialogue was an objective of this event, to contribute to UN Global Compact’s new suite of action platforms, launched this year with participants from civil society, business, government, the UN and academia.
These action platforms aimed to promote responsible business activities and fill emerging gaps in meeting the global goals. Breakout sessions with participants from all sectors led to the generation of new ideas, and shape these platforms in the future. For example, on breakthrough innovation, impact reporting, humanitarian action and peace, sustainable finance, low-carbon development, inclusion, decent work and sustainable living.
The session also led to the release of the Better Business, Better World- India country report by the Business and Sustainable Development Commission. The key takeaways from the report were:
• SDGs offer a compelling growth strategy, opening up at least $1 trillion of market opportunity for the private sector in India. This is out of a total global value of $12 trillion that could be unlocked by sustainable business models in four key areas: food and agriculture, energy, cities and health
• Over 72 million new jobs could be created in India by 2030. One market hot spot alone — low-income food markets — could create around 11 million of these jobs
• Indian business leaders are already using innovative technology and business models to enter global goals-related markets
There was a call for having a holistic approach to SDG leadership by participants and speakers as they discussed their company’s efforts to align with the 10 principles of UN Global Compact, which asks businesses to meet fundamental responsibilities in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption. ‘Do no harm’ practices and collective action initiatives were spoken about during the breakout sessions, with topics ranging from corporate water stewardship, to anti-corruption, to financing education for girls.
The UN Global Compact, in partnership with Carbon Disclosure Project, World Resources Institute and World Wildlife Fund presented a special partner session, focusing on science-based targets initiatives, advocating for businesses in India to set science-based targets about the urgency and amount of reduction of greenhouse gas emissions required.
Kingo also announced the launch of the search for the 2017 class of SDG pioneers, and next steps on the journey to 2030 (the year by which SDGs have to be achieved), seeking out individuals who are taking bold actions for SDGs. She called on individuals to submit their story to the UN Global Compact by 26 May 2017.
The conference concluded with a call to action to businesses in India and around the world to spread the global movement for responsible and sustainable business, and to incorporate SDGs and the 2030 agenda into their mainstream business.
“Let’s build our movement and keep the momentum,” Kingo signed off.
BW Reporters
The author is correspondent at BW Businessworld, he has a keen interest in sustainability and environmental economics
