Time for Business Unusual: Putting Sustainability at the Core

Businesses today face a simple choice: Embrace sustainable development or risk getting left behind.

 In a new report, the Business and Sustainable Development Commission finds that sustainable business models in four key areas – energy, cities, food and agriculture, and health and well-being – could open up at least US $12 trillion of economic opportunities and create up to 380 million jobs by 2030. 

The report is a call to action to business leaders to embrace sustainability, and it argues that the adoption of sustainable business practices over the next 15 years will be as significant as the move to digital technologies was over the last 15 years. In short: Companies that lead in sustainability today will be on markedly stronger footing in tomorrow’s economy.

At first glance, it might seem odd for this message to come from the head of an organization whose mission is to support the United Nations in solving global problems. But actually, the only way our work to help the UN create a world of dignity for all will be achieved is if the private sector is a leader in sustainable development.

In 2015, after extensive consultations that included the private sector, 193 world leaders gathered at the UN and adopted the Sustainable Development Goals – 17 concrete goals that form a shared, universal agenda to make ours the generation that ends extreme poverty, reduces inequalities, and halts the worst effects of climate change.

To fulfill this promise, the private sector must be an active player. Businesses are the engine of the global economy and on the front lines of providing many services – from energy to food to savings accounts – in communities across the globe. If we want to enable more people to move from poverty to prosperity, we need the resources, expertise, reach, and partnership of the private sector.

More and more businesses recognize that sustainability is more than a social responsibility; it’s an economic opportunity. As the report outlines, businesses that embrace sustainability can increase their profits and get ahead of the inevitability of sustainability. They can build trust with customers, increase employee productivity, create jobs, and reap the benefits of expanded prosperity.

Furthermore, there is a cost to inaction. The status quo, with its focus on short-term profits, disregard for environmental consequences, and extreme inequality that has left tens of millions of people behind, has resulted in instability around the world that is bad for business and for people.

Many companies are already leading the way to change, actively advancing sustainable development as part of their core operations.

Philips aims to improve 3 billion lives a year by 2025 and link 95 percent of its revenues to support for the goals on health and sustainable consumption and production. Unilever is working to help more than 1 billion people improve health and hygiene, halve its environmental footprint, and enhance livelihoods while growing its business through its Sustainable Living Plan. And Safaricom is integrating the global goals into its corporate strategy.

Now is the time for business “unusual.” By embracing change and growing the movement of businesses that put sustainability at their core, we can create a world that works for people, planet, and profits. This can be done through a number of concrete recommendations.

Businesses can align their corporate goals with the Sustainable Development Goals, work with the UN’s Global Compact, raise awareness of the goals among employees and the next generation of business leaders, and make the business case for sustainability with their investors, Boards of Directors, and colleagues.

They can also collaborate with other organizations within their industry to find ways to maximize action for the Sustainable Development Goals, including by developing shared goals, common metrics to track progress, and key technology and policy levers to drive industry-wide progress. GSMA and the mobile industry have been an example of this kind of cooperation and how the sum can be greater than the parts.

Additionally, the private sector can advocate for greater public investment in the infrastructures needed to deliver on the global goals, push for financial markets that reward sustainable investments, and collaborate with policymakers to help make markets work better and more fairly.

Finally, while businesses are focused on economics, they are also leading figures in societies and can help shape social norms. This means business leaders can advance justice by promoting human rights, inclusiveness, and equality – including gender equality. A report by the McKinsey Global Institute found that if women’s participation in the labor market was the same as men’s it could add up to $28 trillion to annual global GDP by 2025. Equality is a foundation of human rights; it should also be a business best practice.

Throughout history, the private sector has been a driver of change. It can do so again. The transition to sustainability will not be easy, but the return on investment will be great – for businesses, for citizens, and for the world. As a colleague from the private sector once said to me, “The smart money is on those companies that put people and planet right there with profit.”