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Global education publisher Pearson took inspiration from the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals in developing an educational program tailored to the needs of refugee children.
Global education publisher Pearson took inspiration from the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals in developing an educational program tailored to the needs of refugee children. Photograph: Hussein Malla/AP
Global education publisher Pearson took inspiration from the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals in developing an educational program tailored to the needs of refugee children. Photograph: Hussein Malla/AP

How can companies integrate sustainable development goals?

This article is more than 8 years old

The UN’s sustainable development agenda for the next 15 years can be used as a model for businesses

When the Syrian refugee crisis hit the news, global educational publisher Pearson wrote a check. But after sending £500,000 ($765,605) to aid relief efforts, the company began looking for more ways to make a more personal contribution.

“In big humanitarian crises like this, our usual answer is to make a philanthropic contribution,” said Kate James, the company’s corporate affairs officer. “We’re a global learning company. “Conflict zones are not our area of expertise.”

But as more information about the crisis poured in, it became clear that the flood of Syrian refugees included thousands of displaced children, many of whom would need educational assistance. This was a place where Pearson could help. Its contribution was to develop an educational program tailored to the needs of refugee children.

Pearson didn’t come to this conclusion on its own: its efforts were greatly influenced by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which were ratified in September. Designed to set the development agenda for the next 15 years, the SDGs are, in many ways, tailored for businesses that are looking to integrate sustainability into their business plan.

At a recent meeting of the UN Private Sector Forum, UN Development Programme administrator Helen Clark emphasized this relationship between sustainability and corporations. “[The SDG] requires very big partnerships, and the growth engine of the world economy is business,” she said.

Conversely, she pointed out, the SDGs have vast potential for improving the global business climate. By encouraging a “solid enabling environment”, she explained, they also provide the basis for corporate growth.

Michael Meehan, CEO of the Global Reporting Initiative, agreed. “This is really about building trust not only in companies, but also in your markets, in your sectors and in the economy as a whole,” he said at the forum. “It’s about adapting strategies and business models to rise above the fray of short-termism,” he added.

So business is important to the SDGs, and the SDGs are important to business. But how can companies integrate the SDGs into their business models in a way that is profitable and productive – and true to their core identity?

Getting business involved

There is a strong precedent for business involvement in UN-led sustainability initiatives. Lise Kingo, director of the UN Global Compact, pointed out that more than 12,000 organizations are signatories to the compact. As for the SDGs, she emphasized their usefulness to companies that are looking for long term investments. “It’s great for businesses to know what the priorities are,” she said at the forum. “And, with the new goals, we’ve also got a new platform for innovation and growth.”

But, as the GRI’s Meehan pointed out, it’s easy to sign on to programs like the SDGs; integrating them into a business model is another matter entirely. As Peter Bakker, CEO of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development illustrated at the forum, the mind-boggling breadth of the SDGs could be a hindrance to companies looking to integrate them. “As beautiful as these goals are, as much as we all support what they stand for, 17 goals and 169 targets are too much for any businessperson to deal with,” he said. “How are we going to make the transformation beyond business as usual happen?”

Some companies have already begun integrating the SDGs into their business model – and using them to find ways to expand their offerings. Pearson’s efforts with Syrian refugee children, for example, directly link the SDGs to the publisher’s research and development program. In addition to fulfilling SDG 4, which exhorts companies to ensure “inclusive and quality education for all”, Pearson’s efforts also link to SDG 16, which calls for the promotion of peace, justice and strong institutions.

When it came to creating an educational system that fulfilled both these goals, James said: “We decided we needed a mobile solution we could scale, depending on the size of the crisis.” The company has committed another £1m ($1.53m) to researching and developing its new program. Right now, it is working with Save the Children, a charity that it has partnered with before, and is interviewing displaced parents and children, as well as people in the host countries. Ultimately, it hopes that its new educational program will be able to be easily adapted and quickly deployed to help children displaced by future crises.

Enhancing a business model

Kerry Adler, CEO of SkyPower Global, suggests another way that the SDGs could be integrated into a company’s business model. SkyPower previously committed to build one gigawatt of solar electricity in Kenya over the next four years. As part of the SDGs, it committed to double that.

The company is also getting involved in Kenya’s infrastructure development. As part of its SDG commitment, it agreed to donate 3,600 solar powered LED streetlights for a 3,000km highway that the Kenyan government is planning.

SkyPower’s gifts will yield dividends for both Kenya and the company. “We make the investment, which is estimated at $4bn,” Adler explained. “The installations generate energy, which we sell at the market price to the government’s utility, which then distributes it to its customers.” By covering the initial installation costs, SkyPower has given itself a toehold in a market that is likely to expand – helped, in all likelihood, by the new highway the country is building.

“We’ve figured out how to build a large business, give a fair return to our shareholders, and make a substantial contribution to society for the life of the project,” Adler said.

Expanding the definition of society

Other companies are doing SDG work in areas that are less directly related to their core business. For example, Tammy Medard, CEO of ANZ Bank (Lao) has decided to focus on SDG 5: gender equality. At the UN event, she pledged that, by 2017, 40% of her bank’s vendor panel will be women-run businesses.

“This is a near-impossible target in Lao,” she said. “I told this to my staff and they all started sweating, because they realized that the majority of our tenders were to IT services, none of which in Lao are run by women.”

One long term solution that Medard’s team came up with was to start planting the seeds for the next generation of women in tech. “They agreed that they would go to high schools and talk to women about engagement in technology,” she said.

In the short term, Medard’s team has sought gender parity in the businesses that they are reaching out to. “We’ve added new businesses to the list of companies we seek bids from,” she said. “In just a few months, we’ve already seen improvement in our vendor gender balance.”

While not directly related to ANZ Lao’s business model, Medard’s push for gender balance suggests a broader notion of society, as well as potential business partners for her community. “Equality should be embedded in how we work and live; it should be agnostic to our strategy or business plan,” she said. “For the SDGs to be successful, leaders have to think beyond creating bespoke programs that address the SDGs, but actually embed them into the ethos of an organization and its people.”

Ultimately, SDG commitments such as Medard’s have the potential to expand business – and ensure the stability of the business environment that companies rely on.

Speaking at the event, Feike Sijbesma, the CEO of Royal DSM, explained the intimate relationship between business and sustainability. “Nobody can be successful – or even dare to call themselves successful – in a world that fails,” he said.

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