Insights

It may come as a surprise to many that it’s actually been 50 years since the Sustainable Development Goals were first proposed. In 1972 (when the global population was less than half it is today) global think tank the Club of Rome were examining the limits to growth and suggested a set of global goals for sustainable development. It wasn’t until 2000 that the first eight goals were formalised as the Millennium Development Goals. Then in 2015 came Agenda 2030, and the 17 goals we now know as the SDGs.

Here we are, halfway to 2030 and global progress to achieving the goals is nowhere near where it needs to be. To paraphrase former Prime Minister of Norway Gro Harlem Brundtland, we are now certain to compromise the ability for future generations to meet their needs. Go us.

So, what’s wrong? Why is traction so difficult? Perhaps more importantly, what can you do as an organisation to help accelerate progress?

Here are 5 essential lessons we have learned over the last decade or so of working with and around the SDGs.

Lesson 1: Go beyond alignment

Oh yes … don’t we love wrapping our organisation in a nice, warm SDG coloured blanket by demonstrating how much of our activity aligns with many of the goals. The SDGs even look a bit like a quilt made by our beloved grandma! Sarcasm aside, it is unfortunately true that most organisations struggle to get beyond an expression of commitment for the SDGs and acknowledgement of which goals their current initiatives are aligned to.

So, if you are serious about your commitment to the SDGs, go beyond alignment. As a minimum be clear about where the SDGs fit in your organisational structure – both executive and board accountability should be clearly nominated. From there you can identify additional initiatives, identify and nurture collaborations around SDGs and report on progress. Speaking of reporting, the SDG framework provides you with 169 targets and 231 unique indicators to get you started so there’s really no excuse.

Lesson 2: Use the tools provided

You are not alone. In fact, there is no hope of making progress towards the SDGs if we do operate alone! There is a vast and growing network out there to assist and there are many tools, resources and examples available to help inform your SDG progress. The indicators and targets are just the start. The SDG Compass has been around since 2017 and provides a simple guide to understanding the SDGs, defining priorities, setting goals, integrating and reporting on progress.

More recently the SDG Impact Standards provide more sophisticated guidance to enterprises and funders to optimise their contribution to sustainable development. They demonstrate ‘best practice’ approaches for sustainable development and provide detailed guidance for embedding SDGs in your management approach, strategy governance and reporting.

Lesson 3: Challenge your whole business model

Wouldn’t it be convenient if we could just keep doing what we do and just get our Sustainability Manager to tack on some SDG-related initiatives to make us look even better? Um, sorry – sustainable development means a whole lot more than that. The simple fact is that business-as-usual might feel like an option for us, but it is not an option for our children. They will inherit the results of our short-termism, our profit-at-all-costs mentality, and our over-consumption of finite resources.

But don’t despair! Those organisations which are the first to adapt their business models and embrace sustainable development will be (and are already proving to be) the leaders of tomorrow. The SDGs provide a useful guide for this transformative process by showing where we need to focus amidst the complex challenges we see around us today.

Lesson 4: Get trained

On the surface, the SDGs may seem like 17 fairly self-evident and certainly worthy goals for us all to achieve. But they represent a whole lot more than that and to work with them effectively requires some deep knowledge. Full disclosure here, Think Impact are a leading trainer in the SDG Impact Standards so we can certainly help here. It’s not a big earner for us – we do it because we think it’s important! So please, get trained, get up to speed and join the conversation.

Lesson 5: Measure and report progress

How many times have you heard it? – ‘What gets measured gets done’ (or words to that effect). If there was one thing we have learned after more than a decade working with organisations on sustainability and social impact issues, it’s this: organisations that make no effort to measure and report on non-financial progress are effectively placing a value of zero on the things that matter to their customers and stakeholders.

Think of the SDGs as the material sustainability topics for eight billion people. We love to report on things like company profits, share prices and GDP growth. Yet ironically, these are the very things that are contributing to over-consumption of finite resources, pollution, climate change and inequitable distribution of income and wealth. The SDGs are there because they are important goals for us to achieve. They are material and therefore must be adequately measured and reported.

Bonus lesson for policymakers and system influencers: Ask the right question

I almost always see even the best-performing organisations approach the SDGs through the lens of, ‘What can we do as an organisation to contribute to the achievement of the SDGs?’. While this makes sense on the surface, the simple fact is that the SDGs can never be achieved if each of our organisations contributes in their own way. The challenges thrown up by the 17 goals are too complex and too large for this approach.

The right question to ask (and answer) is, ‘What would it take to achieve the SDGs?’. This quickly leads us all to realise it will take coordinated, cross-sectoral, properly resourced and legislatively supported action. Only then will we stop stealing from future generations.