Raising the Bar: Rethinking the role of business in the Sustainable Development Goals

Since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in September 2015, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have attracted greater interest from many businesses and business associations. While governments are the key actors in driving the SDGs, business is an important stakeholder on account of its resources, its ability to innovate and its scale and reach.

Nevertheless, for companies to truly contribute, they must move beyond current forms of engagement, abandon a narrow focus on the SDGs as an opportunity to increase corporate profits, and embrace their wider responsibilities to the societies in which they operate.

This paper explores ways in which business can provide more meaningful contributions to governments’ commitments to reach the Sustainable Development Goals.

Download the paper here.