Chile – ACCIÓN Empresas

What is Chile doing with respect to the SDGs and how have they engaged business around this agenda?

Following the adoption of the SDGs by the United Nations, the Chilean government set up the “National Council for the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” in 2016 through Decree No. 49 of the Chilean Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Council is chaired by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and composed of officials and experts from Chile’s Ministry of Economy Development and Tourism, Ministry of Social Development and Ministry of the Environment.

The Council’s main mission is to advise the country’s President to make informed decisions to support Chile’s SDG contributions; it also serves as the country’s central coordinating mechanism for the implementation and follow-up of the SDGs and the 2030 Agenda nationally and regionally. In this regard, the Council acts as the focal point for national and cross-cutting coordination efforts with all key stakeholders including government entities, international organizations, NGOs, the private sector and the civil society.

The implementation of the 2030 Agenda in Chile will consider the principle of inclusion and participation of all to further the principle of “leaving no one behind” reiterated in the UN’s 2019 High-Level Political Forum Political Declaration. In this spirit, inclusiveness is at the core of Chile’s approach for the implementation of the Goals. Under the leadership of Chile’s Ministry of Social Development, the Council’s Technical Secretariat supervising the follow-up and implementation of the 2030 Agenda gathers government representatives, experts, members of the civil society and business leaders in special commissions and working groups – some of which being focused on key SDGs (including for instance, for Goals 16 and 17). Guiding principles for participation includes decentralization, transparency, and relevance.

Chile’s 2019 Voluntary National Report defines five key areas of sustainable development: Education (SDG 4); Employment (SDG 8); Tackling inequalities (SDG 10); Climate Action (SDG 13); Strong Institutions, and Partnerships (SDG 16).

What are some of the key trends with regard to how business is engaging with the SDGs in Chile?

Since 2016, companies across Chile have begun to measure and document their contributions related to the SDGs, align their strategy with the 2030 Agenda and incorporate the Goals into their management and operations. Departments were setup and/or strengthened to better monitor and report on sustainability commitments – with a special focus on the SDGs. Over the past years, business have gradually enhanced their SDG reporting, including on some of the priority SDGs identified by the Chilean government (i.e. SDG 4, 8 and 13).

As of today, it is possible to get a clear picture of companies’ progress towards the SDGs through the online platform Empresas sumando valor. The latest available report, published in June 2019, outlines that:

Companies quoted and reported mainly against SDGs 4, 8 and 11. Business gave special attention to education (SDG 4), and reporting against Climate Action (SDG 13) significantly increased compared to previous years.
However, companies still face challenges in monitoring and reporting against SDGs 14 and 17.

Overall, SDG integration and alignment are growing among Chile’s private sector – with increasing concrete case studies highlighting concrete SDG actions untaken by companies. On the other hand, more action is needed to support the private sector in better understanding the business case for the Goals, and in identifying and monitoring companies’ impact throughout the entire value chain. These two areas are central to ACCIÒN Empresas’s strategy to help the Chilean business community in accelerating its contribution to the 2030 Agenda.

What is ACCIÓN Empresas doing with respect to the SDGs?

ACCIÓN Empresas together with the Confederación de la producción y comercio (CPC), have stirred the development of the Empresas sumando valor, with the support of the Manufacturing Development Society (SOFOFA) and the UN Global Compact.

This initiative, unique in Latin America, aims to highlight the concrete contribution of Chile’s private sector to the 17 SDGs and uses information and data published by national companies in their annual integrated and sustainability reports and can inform transparently benchmarking exercises, comparing in an aggregated and consistent way the companies’ contributions to the Global Goals.

ACCIÓN Empresas promotes sustainable business management with its 130 member companies in Chile, and engaged in the survey of the private sector’s contributions to the 2030 Agenda which informed the 2019 Chile Voluntary National Report (VNR) submitted to the UN High-level Political Forum for Sustainable Development. We also launched, together with the UN Development Programme and the Centro Vincular of the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso, the reference report Grandes Empresas y Sostenibilidad en Chile: Alcances de la implementación de la Agenda 2030 en el sector privado.

ACCIÓN Empresas’ strategic axes of Action, structured around 7 thematic lines, are aligned with the 2030 Agenda, including through management indicators. Currently, we are finalizing the design of strategy for 2021 that allows Chile’s private sector to continue raising awareness of the SDGs and provides practical and impactful tools for its implementation.