In 2015, more than 150 heads of state and government met at the historic Sustainable Development Summit in New York to create the Agenda 2030 of the United Nations. This Agenda contains 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of universal application that, from on January 1, 2016, lead countries’ efforts to achieve a more sustainable society by the year 2030. Inheritors of the Goals of Development Goal (MDG), the SDGs seek to expand the successes achieved with the latter and achieve those goals that were not achieved.
Last Thursday, January 24, the conference organized by Unesco Etxea and the Open University of Catalonia in Bilbao, aimed at the business world and organizations, to publicize the Agenda 2030 and the SDGs. The objective of the conference was to generate a debate on the responsibility that companies have to help achieve the 17 objectives mentioned, publicize successful experiences in this field, and promote a global movement for companies to commit to the sustainability of the planet. .
Achieving the SDGs will require win-win contexts based on scenarios of socio-economic prosperity and environmental sustainability. Last December 21 (2018) a law in the Congress of Deputies by which certain companies must prepare non-financial information reports, which include aspects of environmental and social sustainability. Likewise, in the second edition of the study Brands with Values®: The power of the consumer-citizen, it is shown that the 80 % of Spaniards already look for brands beyond quality or price when buying products, demonstrating that the economic aspect is not everything.
The speakers at the aforementioned conference highlighted the importance of integrating the SDGs in companies to achieve and integrate these socio-economic and environmental aspects. Isabel Garro, international expert on the 2030 Agenda and speaker at the event, spoke about a detailed report carried out by the SDG Observatory on the contribution of Spanish companies to the SDGs. There are also examples of companies that, through innovation (ecodesign), sustainable management, collaboration with entities (NGOs), and other actions, have opted for the path of approaching the SDGs. Likewise, the United Nations (UN) guide to incorporate the SDGs in companies is now available through corporate reports, as well as another business action towards the SDGs of the UN, WBCSD and GRI.
At NAIDER we believe in the importance of incorporating the SDGs into the management and daily activities of companies. We work to integrate the value of natural and social capital into their decision-making, in turn generating new business opportunities and companies acquiring greater competitive value in the market. We believe that the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs represent a sustainable path for economic growth, as well as an opportunity to increase the social and environmental responsibility of companies without neglecting the economic dimension.