AGENDA 2030: OPERATIONALIZING GLOBAL SUSTAINABILITY GOALS
The UN attracted a great deal of attention when it published its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the fall of 2015. Oriented towards the year 2030, the goals address policy-makers, the business sector and society in industrialized, emerging and developing nations—and in equal measure—with the goal of achieving a sustainable future for everyone.
From euphoria to minor disillusionment
Large companies proved particularly euphoric about this global frame of reference. The 17 SDGs and their 169 targets were in fact the very first globally accepted framework for designing future development. The multi-colored SDG tiles quickly found their way into many sustainability reports—which is why some people have begun referring to “rainbow washing” or “SDG picking.” After all, it’s not enough to simply ask which goals fit the company, in what areas a great deal is already being done and what can be reported about. The SDGs are meant to shape companies’ strategic orientation and must therefore be considered as a whole and as mutually interdependent. Even so, this is only a very first step in operationalizing the goals and it goes without saying that the current geopolitical framework conditions are not exactly conducive to this kind of intense engagement with the SDGs in companies.
A vital need to set the course
In light of the planetary boundaries, which will sooner or later have a considerable effect on doing business as we know it, companies are advised to keep using the SDGs as a significant frame of reference. akzente has the expertise required to carefully examine exactly how the different aspects are connected, where a company itself—or via its supply chain—has a particular impact, and what conclusions can be drawn from this in terms of setting a strategic course. Because the problems of tomorrow will close in upon us with increasing speed. To give just one example: Only three years ago, the “Life below Water” SDG was hardly on anyone’s radar. Today, however, the pollution of our oceans through plastic waste is on everyone’s lips, and the respective EU regulations concern a wide range of sectors.
