24 September 2019: The UN Global Compact (UNGC) and Accenture have launched a joint strategy on the contribution of business to the SDGs. The strategy document notes that CEOs believe business is not doing enough to support the SDGs, and are responding with a call for their peers and sectors to increase the private sector’s contribution to the SDGs through three calls to action.

The publication titled, ‘The Decade to Deliver: A Call to Business Action. The UN Global Compact-Accenture Strategy CEO Study on Sustainability 2019,’ shares the perspectives of over 1,000 CEOs from 99 countries and across 21 industries on the opportunities and challenges to sustainability since the adoption of the SDGs in 2015. The report finds that only 21% of CEOS believe business is playing a critical role in contributing to the SDGs, and less than 48% of CEOs are integrating sustainability into their business operations. At the same time, 71% of CEOs believe that business can play a critical role in contributing to the SDGs with increased commitment and action. CEOs said an “unprecedented shift in public expectations” is encouraging businesses to advance sustainability to build competitiveness in their markets and trust among consumers.

The broad-scale transition to sustainable business will stall without new economic incentives.

The report shares barriers that CEOs said prevent business from doing more. CEOs said an increasingly competitive business environment and other pressures are slowing a “broad-scale transition to sustainable business,” and action will stall without a shift in economic incentives. Further, 55% of CEOs say they face pressure to operate under extreme cost-consciousness versus investing in a longer-term strategic objectives, which are critical to sustainability. PVH Corp. CEO Emanuel Chirico said “uncertainty and volatility are the areas where we are facing the most challenge.” Ingka Group CEO Jesper Brodin identified climate change, resource scarcity and growing inequality as key challenges.

CEOs also highlighted potential enablers to drive more transformative action. For example, 88% of CEOs said global economic systems need to refocus on equitable growth, and 63% of CEOs viewed the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) as a critical accelerator of the socioeconomic impact of companies. In additional, 65% of CEOs globally and 78% of CEOs in Asia and North America believed it is important to decouple economic growth from natural resource use and environmental degradation.

To promote a transformative approach, the report focuses on three calls to action. CEOs are calling for business and industries to, first, raise ambition and action to lead systems transformation, including by driving change in their own organizations and through the disruption of market systems. CEOs recommend raising ambition through “threshold” actions aligned with the SDGs and adopting new technologies to accelerate impact. For example, on SDG 1 (no poverty), the report defines the current level of business action as 25% and says the threshold action is to “implement and promote living wages where we operate.”

The second call to action is for collaboration towards “increased honesty” about challenges and impact, to shape and facilitate new ways of connecting. CEOs identify three areas for collaborative action: shaping realistic, science-based solutions, with honest dialogue on challenges and trade-offs; leveling the playing field to facilitate non-competitive coordination and exchange; and driving local action, including through elevating the role of local partnerships in advancing global and local implementation.

Finally, the report calls to “redefine responsible leadership for 2030,” to encourage leaders to embrace a role as change agents to champion the sustainability agenda. CEOs elaborated on emerging qualities of responsible leadership that will facilitate a leading role for business in accelerating the SDGs, ranging from pioneering systems changes and building cultures of sustainability in their organizations and markets to taking sustainability personally, as individuals. [Accenture Press Release] [Publication: The Decade to Deliver: A Call to Business Action] [SDG Knowledge Hub Story on 2018 Report]