The UN Global Compact (UNGC), in collaboration with DNV GL, published its 20-year progress report, Uniting Business in the Decade of Action: Building on 20 Years of Progress. The report marks the 20tanniversary of the UNGC and the 5anniversary since the launch of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In light of these milestones, the UNGC reports on progress towards its vision “to mobilize a global movement of sustainable companies and stakeholders to create the world we want,” including progress towards meeting the objectives of the SDGs.
Based on a variety of data sources, including interviews with 40 different business leaders (most at the Chief Sustainability Officer-level) across sectors and countries, the report shares findings on business contributions to the SDGs across all sectors, including the below takeaways:
Business leaders call for an operating environment that “incentivizes SDG action”:
The finance industry is needed to incentivize and fund innovation and action towards the SDGs:
There is a gap between company commitments to the SDGs and company implementation:
Companies prioritize SDGs that have a clear link to business, but struggle to set targets for SDGs without a clear connection to their business:
The UN Global Compact concludes that “businesses urgently need to accelerate transformation towards a sustainable future and address the interconnected and growing challenges to health and well-being caused by inequality and climate change.” They issue an urgent call to action for the next “Decade of Action” to meet the 2030 SDGs, and call on all companies to (1) fully integrate the UNGC principles, (2) raise SDG ambitions and (3) advocate for ambitious policies and engage in collective action.
Here are the ten business benchmarks for the upcoming Decade of Action:
Source: UN Global Compact, Uniting Business in the Decade of Action: Building on 20 Years of Progress (June 2020)
When it comes to collective action, the UNGC states that “the change we need to see in the Decade of Action will not happen through incremental improvements and adjustments to ‘business-as-usual’. Along with these ambitious changes, we need more CEOs to advocate for SDG-aligned policies and influence national plans to deliver the Paris Climate Agreement by illustrating their own ambitious commitments. Only by working together — across business, finance, civil society, UN and Governments — will we be able to tackle the world’s biggest challenges.”
Source: UN Global Compact, Uniting Business in the Decade of Action: Building on 20 Years of Progress (June 2020)
“The COVID-19 pandemic, with its twin health and socio-economic crises, has swiftly and dramatically upended lives and livelihoods in nearly every corner of the globe. It has exposed global fragilities and laid bare the rampant inequalities that were already making life difficult for the most vulnerable. Upholding the core promise of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development — to leave no one behind — has never been more urgent.”
António Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General, Uniting Business in the Decade of Action: Building on 20 Years of Progress (UN Global Compact, June 2020)