Business and the SDGs – Building Blocks for Success
With the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) now adopted, attention is shifting to how they will be delivered. While responsibility will ultimately fall to government, leaders across sectors now recognise that the challenges are too great and too systemic for any one of them to tackle alone, and that business’ contribution will be pivotal. There is […]
Investing in Smart Technology
Luxury car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover invests in smart technologies and innovations which are key to its long term success and this focus extends far beyond building better-performing vehicles. The company recently won a Queen’s Award for Sustainable Development for reducing the environmental impact of its vehicles and operations and has set an ambitious target […]
Partnerships for 21st Century Development in Africa
This year, the United Nations (UN) officially adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Rory More O’Ferrall FRSA describes how governments, civil society and industry are working together to address a complex social and development challenge. The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs come into effect on January 1, 2016 and run through to the end of […]
Radical Partnerships to Give Newborns a Healthier Start
The first month of life can be dangerous. In 2013, almost three million babies worldwide lost their lives during those initial four weeks – a quarter due to infection. Many of these deaths could be prevented if the appropriate healthcare was within reach at the right time, in the right place. Newborn babies, wherever they […]
Business Supporting Development: Then and Now
The international aid charity CARE was founded 70 years ago to send ‘CARE packages’ of food and other essentials to people in Europe recovering from World War 2. And in putting together and delivering the aid packages, CARE got a lot of help from businesses… Tea was included in CARE packages sent to Britain (the […]
Setting the Stage for Green & Inclusive Growth
Where many conventional start-up enterprises fail after only two years, more than three out of four SEED Winners have not, that is the major outcome of this flagship report“, states the foreword by Ibrahim Thiaw, UNEP Deputy Executive Director and UN Assistant-Secretary-General. This success is even more astounding when one considers that these are not […]
Setting the Stage for Green & Inclusive Growth
Where many conventional start-up enterprises fail after only two years, more than three out of four SEED Winners have not, that is the major outcome of this flagship report“, states the foreword by Ibrahim Thiaw, UNEP Deputy Executive Director and UN Assistant-Secretary-General. This success is even more astounding when one considers that these are not […]
SDGs: How to Translate Words into Action?
As we all know, a few weeks ago the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted by UN member states. The question asked by many companies is: “What are the linkages between business and the SDGs?” Clearly, the SDGs cannot succeed without support from business to design and scale up sustainable solutions. In turn, the SDGs […]
Learning in Sustainable Development Partnerships
There’s no doubt that the development journey that led to the announcement of the Sustainable Development Goals last month in New York was more inclusive and as a result a good number of companies are seeing the opportunities for engagement – in business development terms as much as to meet public relations, CSR or Shared […]
The Role of Business in the Fight Against Slavery
Today, there are an estimated 21 million people in slavery, in every country and region of the globe. 5.5 million of whom are children. Every person who wears cotton, carries a mobile phone, eats prawns or chocolate, or watches the FIFA World Cup, is implicated in this, because many of that 21 million are enslaved […]
The New Era of Inclusive Business to Achieve the SDGs
The Business Call to Action (BCtA) held this year’s Sixth Annual Forum on September 24th in New York City in conjunction with the 70th Session of the United Nations General Assembly and the Sustainable Development Summit 2015. With community support from Business Fights Poverty, the event convened over 150 people from BCtA member companies, development […]
Business and the Sustainable Development Goals: Building Blocks for Success at Scale, 27 October, London
Lifting Farmers Out of Poverty in Honduras
My family has been farming in Honduras for generations. In fact, at one time, my father was the largest cotton producer in the country, and all of my siblings and I studied agriculture while at university. So we know the important role that agriculture plays in lifting communities out of poverty, solving hunger issues and […]
Collaborating on the SDGs: Start Here
With the jetlag from New York just starting to subside, I’d love to share my thoughts on some of the exciting things to emerge from the recent UN General Assembly at which the world’s leaders signed up to a new global development agenda, the Sustainable Development Goals. Getting to this stage has been a long […]
Turbo Charging Development: Making the SDGs a Reality
By Paul Polman, CEO, Unilever and Mark Gunton, CEO, Clinton Giustra Enterprise Partnership In New York last week global leaders adopted a set of ambitious goals and targets to set the world on a new course. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have committed us to eradicating extreme poverty, fighting injustice and inequality, and taking urgent […]
Hygiene as a Frontier for Good Health
It seems we are often on the brink of something historic or being given the opportunity of a lifetime but in the case of the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals in New York this weekend it may actually be true. If the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals are fully implemented by their deadline of 2030 […]
Collaborative Action to Accelerate Growth with Impact
Yasmina Zaidman, Director, Strategic Partnerships, Acumen On a cold January afternoon in 2012, at Dow’s headquarters in Midland, Michigan, I sat at a large conference table with representatives from across Dow’s venture fund, foundation, sustainability team, and human resources department. This was the first meeting of its kind that I had attended with one of […]
B2B Collaboration that Drives Growth and Impact
A significant shift is happening in the way global corporations and mission-driven organizations see poverty, food security, water scarcity, climate change, and other sustainable development challenges—a convergence around the view, expressed so well by management guru Peter Drucker, that “every single social and global issue of our day is a business opportunity in disguise.” At […]
Business and the SDGs – Building Blocks for Success
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) map out a global vision for a better world. They set out ambitious goals and targets for people, prosperity, planet and peace. Getting there will require us to work together—no matter where we live or work, this is a universal call to action. Leaders in government, business and civil society—all […]
A Global Plan for People, Planet, Prosperity and Peace
Over the past 15 years, the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have provided a vital framework and focal point for driving progress against poverty and other development challenges faced by the world’s most vulnerable. World leaders are now coming together again to formally adopt the 2030 Agenda, including a new set of Sustainable Development […]