Guest Blog by Ihor Dlaboha: Promote the SDGs and You’ll Build Your Business
Ihor Dlaboha is a consultant who has worked for the UN helping to organize four UN DPI NGO Conferences. He also has over 40 years experience as a journalist.
The Sustainable
Development Goals or 2030 Agenda
offer benefits for everyone on the planet and it behooves everyone to abide by
their principles. Even businesses should integrate sustainable environmental,
social and governance issues into their business models – and act on them.
The SDGs grew out of the United Nations Millennium
Development Goals, a set of eight targets that were designed for the onset
of 2000 16 years ago but in time deemed inadequate to improve life as we know
it on this planet.
Consequently, they were expanded by a partnership of UN
member-states and non-governmental organizations to include 17 goals and 169 targets that address
critical issues facing the world and cities, your business, such as the
eradication of extreme poverty, tackling global inequality and climate change,
promoting sustainable urbanization and industrial development, protecting
natural ecosystems, and fostering growth of peaceful and inclusive communities
and governing institutions. Hopefully these goals and targets will be attained
within 15 years, by 2030 thus their secondary moniker – 2030 Agenda. (Click tosee all of them):
In my last blog, I urged NGOs to participate in the campaign
to promote their work and SDGs. However, as you can see from the SDG chart, all segments of society can benefit
from them and participate in them. Entrepreneurs
and businesspeople should not belittle these goals as something for tree
huggers, altruists or social reformers. Learning about the SDGs and
incorporating their tenets into their business plans will contribute to their
bottom lines.
One major reason for this direct relationship is that your consumers not only support sustainability
but expect the marketplace to actively favor them as well.
Many companies – your colleagues and competitors – today are
making a conscious effort to put sustainable practices into action. The understand
that doing so not only helps the environment and society, but it also creates
goodwill for their reputations and contribute positively to their brands’
health and performance. It can help them gain
greater market share.
But do consumers really care about socially aware capitalism
when it comes to buying decisions? Are they willing to pay more for products
and services that come from companies that engage in actions that further global
social good?
According to numerous recent surveys, consumers have expressed
the opinion that they care about the
environment and extreme poverty around the world. Their conviction converts
to action when it comes to buying decisions, reported Nielsen. Assuming a positive ratio between a stated willingness to
pay and an actual willingness to open one’s wallet, the survey found that the
answer is yes for a growing number of consumers around the world.
So social responsibility, sustainability and profits go hand-in-hand in today’s marketplace.
Research conducted by Research+Data Insights for
Hill+Knowlton Strategies and Environmental Defense Fund found that 91% of
Americans believe it’s important for
companies to implement greater corporate sustainability practices,
while nearly 63% expect companies to actively pursue and implement such
policies.
Furthermore, 62% of Americans want to learn more about
private sector efforts to improve energy efficiency and 82% of
Americans report that increased transparency around climate change initiatives
will increase the trust they have in a company.
This trend includes millennials
with an estimated $170 billion of
purchasing power. Their appetite for green products and services is higher than
previous generations. DDB Worldwide Communications reports that millennials are
twice as likely as boomers to own a hybrid car and seven times as likely to own
an electric car.
The study also found that 51% of respondents indicate
reports from third-party organizations are the most credible means by which a
company can convey its efforts to be more energy efficient.
Other surveys found:
- 9 out of 10 consumers consider environmental impact when making a purchase
- Nearly 50% of Americans value being environmentally conscious over a growing economy
- 72% would recommend a brand that supports a good cause over one that doesn’t
- 1 in 2 consumers are willing to pay more for products and services from eco-friendly companies
- Nearly half of shoppers purchase from at least one “green” brand a month
- 76% of consumers say the best way to confirm a company’s eco-friendly claims is a certification
- 62% of people prefer to work for companies that regularly give back
- Two-thirds of American consumers regularly read instructions on how to properly dispose a product
- 78% of shoppers will refuse to purchase from a company that is misleading about green practices
While the ultimate intention of going green should be to do
your part and give back to your community, there are tangible benefits aside from that “doing good” feeling. With
consumers preferring to support green companies, businesses can develop a more loyal customer base by promoting their
eco-friendly practices.
Green initiatives can also save money: reducing packaging materials, minimizing transportation
costs and installing energy-efficient lighting are just some of the ways
environmentally savvy companies are cutting costs; emailing documents instead
of printing them; and switching out traditional light bulbs for compact
fluorescents (CFLs).
Many companies have admitted that they are actively integrating sustainability
principles into their businesses, according to a recent McKinsey Global
survey. They are doing so by pursuing goals that go far beyond earlier concern
for reputation management—for example, saving energy, developing green
products, and retaining and motivating employees, all of which help companies
capture value through growth and return on capital. These executives also
stated that sustainability programs make a positive contribution to their
companies’ short and long-term value.
Businesspeople aren’t merely blindly accepting
sustainability but rather they reported a more
well-rounded understanding of sustainability and its expected benefits.
They see the potential for supporting corporate reputation, but they also
expect operational and growth-oriented benefits in the areas of cutting costs
and pursuing opportunities in new markets and products.
An overwhelming number of executives, 94%, reported their companies have integrated sustainability
into strategic planning, versus 53% of all other respondents.
Going green in your business can not only help build trust
and authority with customers – or thought leadership as I have written, but it
can also reduce operating expenses and qualify your business for more tax breaks.
But the bottom line is that it’s not just about profitability—it’s also about a
culture change; it’s about creating
a sustainable lifestyle in your
marketplace and community.
Incorporating sustainability into your businesses culture
involves becoming aware of the impact of your choices in business, the
marketplace, food, products and energy use, and consequently your domestic
lives.
The SDGs present an opportunity for business-led solutions and technologies to be developed and implemented
to address the world’s biggest sustainable development challenges. As the SDGs
form the global agenda for the development of our societies, they will allow
leading companies to demonstrate how their businesses help advance sustainable
development, both by minimizing negative impacts and maximizing positive impacts on people and the planet.
The SDGs can help to connect business strategies with global
priorities. Companies can use the SDGs as an overarching framework to shape,
steer, communicate and report their strategies, goals and activities, allowing
them to capitalize on a range of mutual benefits.
As you launch your SDG campaign, don’t forget to promote your work in your marketplace,
industry, with stakeholders, civil society and other hometown resources. Align
your business programs with NGO projects. Distribute
press releases – yes, the old-fashioned media are still productive. Take photos and post them on Facebook,
Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and elsewhere. Share them and retweet others’
photos and posts. Don’t forget to use the appropriate Twitter handles, which are easy to find on the Internet and don’t
forget to use hashtags and handles
such as #UN, #SDGs, #2030Agenda, #globalgoals, #sustainability, @globalcompact @UN
and others.
This outreach will help you inform a wide range of potential
followers that will be attracted to your
business and the SDGs.
As Ban Ki-moon,
UN secretary-general, correctly observed: “Business is a vital partner in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.”
For more ideas on how businesses can partner in the SDG campaign,
visit http://www.sdgcompass.org.
I invite you to visit also:
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