28 June 2017: The UN Global Compact (UNGC) presented a framework that outlines key considerations for companies that want to become leaders on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) during a webinar. The webinar also highlighted the development of issue briefs on each of the 17 SDGs and an online consultation on the briefs.
The ‘Blueprint for Business Leadership on the SDGs’ identifies five qualities of SDG leadership: intentional; ambitious; consistent; collaborative; and accountable. An intentional leadership action, for instance, ensures that support for the SDGs is an integral, deliberative part of a leading company’s strategy, not something done by one department or not recognized in the company’s overarching company strategy. Cor Marijis, Vivid Economics, who presented the Blueprint, said consistency, or ensuring that support for the SDGs is embedded across organizational functions and external communications, has been one of the most challenging qualities for companies. Marijis emphasized that all five qualities are essential to leading on the SDGs and that company’s actions must exceed their peers.
During the webinar, UNGC also shared its process for developing SDG briefs that will show how business leadership can be relevant for advancing each SDG. The briefs will provide a narrative on business leadership for each SDG, present leading actions that are independent of time and context, provide questions on the five guiding leadership qualities for companies to evaluate their actions, and showcase practice examples.
The UNGC has launched an online consultation on the Blueprint’s briefs, which asks respondents to rate a list of practices for each SDG on a scale from common practice to leading practice. For example, on SDG 1, the consultation suggests practices that: develop products and services tailored for poor customers; and provide decent work and pay salaries that are above the living wage, among other practices. The consultation aims to collect data that test and inform what leadership for the SDGs means in context (geography, industry and company) as well as to build global awareness and buy-in for SDG leadership and the Blueprint. The consultation runs through 15 July 2017.
In response to a question on how the UNGC will assess that companies’ actions meet the five qualities, UNGC clarified that the Blueprint is not an assessment tool but is a framework for companies to develop and implement an SDG strategy and evaluate whether the company’s action sets it on a course towards SDG leadership and achievement. In response to a question on target audiences for the Blueprint, UNGC said the key audience is the person or department within a company who has primary responsibility for overseeing that company’s SDG agenda.
The ‘Blueprint for Business Leadership on the SDGs’ and 17 SDG briefs will be released at the UNGC Leaders’ Summit in September 2017. The Summit will convene on the margins of the 72nd UN General Assembly (UNGA) General Debate. [IISD RS Sources] [Leaders’ Summit Website] [Consultation Website]