Montreux, 17 April 2018:The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) has today released a new publication which lays out a step-by-step process that companies from the same sector can follow as they come together to explore, articulate and realize a common vision for how their industry can contribute to the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
In its landmark Better Business Better World report, the Business and Sustainable Development Commission made a compelling case for companies to come together with peers at the sector level to develop SDG roadmaps as a means of guiding their industry’s shift to sustainable development in line with the SDGs.
Building upon these recommendations, WBCSD has developed a set of guidelines which provide a structured framework and approach that companies can follow as they embark upon SDG road-mapping for their sector.
This framework leads companies through a process of establishing their sector’s current level of interaction with the SDGs throughout the value chain; identifying the sector’s most significant opportunities for impact; and establishing key action items and monitoring systems in order to chart a course towards the sector’s 2030 vision.
According to WBCSD President and CEO Peter Bakker, “realizing the SDGs, and leveraging the market opportunities that they represent, is outside the reach of any one company. It requires companies to pioneer new forms of collaboration across industries and economic systems.”
He underscores that through the road-mapping exercise, “sectors are able to articulate a common vison for how their industry can contribute to the achievement of the SDG agenda and establish collective pathways to accelerate and optimize that level of contribution on the road to 2030. This in turn helps the sector to strengthen its license to operate, manage operational and regulatory risks and open up new growth markets.”
While each industry will undoubtedly face its own unique challenges and opportunities in the context of the SDGs, this resource offers business a set of broadly applicable guidelines that work across national, regional and global levels.
The framework has been refined with experience gained through the piloting of these guidelines with a coalition of leading WBCSD member companies and industry associations from the chemical sector, who have been early pioneers of the methodology and will release their own roadmap later this year.
For more information contact James Gomme, Director, SDGs at gomme@wbcsd.org
