September 2016: In the September 2016 issue of the UN Industrial Development Organization’s (UNIDO) ‘Making It’ magazine, Novozymes CEO Peder Holk Nielsen calls the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) a “trillion-dollar business opportunity for the companies that get it right,” and shares how the SDGs have guided Novozymes’ long-term targets, including to save 100 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) through its products by 2020.

Nielson calls on governments to ensure the private sector can contribute to achieving the SDGs, by, inter alia, further developing national climate pledges and ensuring access to well-functioning financing mechanisms and public-private partnerships.

Also in the quarterly publication, UNIDO Director General Li Yong argues that “virtually no country in the history of the world has been able to move from a low-income status to a high level of economic and social development without building a strong industrial sector.” SDG 9 calls to “Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation.”

David Nabarro, UN Special Advisor on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, describes the “massive task” of ensuring the Agenda is fully implemented at country level and in local communities throughout the world. He also stresses that no Goal is more important than another.

Nathan Oxley, Economic and Social Research Council (UK), highlights challenges for the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in the post-2015 era, and recommends: focusing attention on the SDGs in a way that uses them as a framework for supporting innovative projects that harness local ideas and experiences alongside outside interests; and ensuring political space for “champions of sustainable development within LDCs” to debate and share avenues for change. He also addresses ways to ensure accurate data collection and shape narratives and build coalitions. [Publication: Making It]