New York, U.S.A., Sept. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The vast majority (94%) of business leaders still view the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a unifying global vision but achieving them requires the private sector to focus on the areas where they can have the most impact, according to new research from the UN Global Compact and Accenture (NYSE: ACN).
Released at the midpoint to 2030, the United Nations Global Compact-Accenture Global Private Sector Stocktake report surveyed over 2,800 business leaders from around the world and shows that the private sector is a critical stakeholder in achieving the SDGs. Currently, only fifteen per cent of the SDG targets are on track, progress on forty-eight per cent is weak and insufficient and progress has stalled or gone into reverse on thirty-seven per cent of the SDGs.
The report presents ten pathways for businesses to take action on the 17 SDGs and have an outsized impact. The ten pathways identified in the report have examples applicable to each of the SDGs and offer a blueprint to help the private sector build a more sustainable market.
“Private sector investment and innovation are essential to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals,” said Sanda Ojiambo, CEO and Executive Director, UN Global Compact. “While not a one-size-fits-all approach, businesses should focus their actions where they can have an outsized impact on people and the planet, and on their businesses. This will enable them to effectively communicate performance, set targets and actions, engage with stakeholders, including investors, and gain access to new market opportunities.”
Forty-four per cent of business leaders surveyed are looking to government to put in place policy incentives to help them integrate the SDGs into business strategy and operations to ensure an even playing field across all businesses. They also want clear guidance on where to concentrate their efforts and clear measurement criteria and calculation methods so that they can not only properly report progress, but also make informed decisions based on these insights.
To help the private sector achieve these pathways they want policymakers to:
- Scale up new incentive models to redefine success in terms of risk, return, and impact:
- The top ask from business leaders is consistent sustainability reporting and disclosure mandates (76%). This helps ensure all businesses are held to the same standard both nationally and globally.
- Expand the benefits of market to achieve responsible business:
- The second ask is adjusting the national minimum wage to equal living wage levels (71%) — a change to the cost structure of businesses, but of value and worth pursuing if borne fairly. In addition, the majority support policies that would help promote gender equality, namely mandatory disclosure and action of gender pay gaps (65%), and mandatory minimum company paid shared-parental leave (58%).
- Transform the bases of business to achieve environmental sustainability:
- Finally, businesses support a range of stronger policies to strengthen environmental protection, primarily ensuring that incentives are aligned for a clean energy transition. Secondary policies are around ensuring mandatory disclosures so that all companies are assessed equally, encouraging equal action across sectors.
In addition to insufficient policy support, leaders pointed to structural limitations as inconsistent sustainability metrics and data skills shortfall in particular as key reasons for preventing greater action towards further SDG headway:
- 84% of business leaders say unclear measurement resources to calculate impact towards the SDGs prohibits their company’s ability to make progress.
- 82% of business leaders say limited access and/or poor quality of data limits their ability to measure contribution to the SDGs.
- 77% of business leaders expressed concern about a skills shortage or mismatch in the workforce to realize SDG-related impact across industries.
“Businesses around the world understand more and more their potential to take meaningful action on sustainable development,” said Stephanie Jamison, Global Sustainability Services lead at Accenture. “Advances in technology and data analytics over the past five years means we can now use multiple large data sets to measure private sector impacts on the SDGs far more accurately and consistently than ever before. This in turn allows leaders to manage those impacts sooner and with better outcomes, bringing a clarity that will help fulfil the private sector’s critical role in achieving the SDGs.”
The report is the latest in a long-standing partnership between UN Global Compact and Accenture, which leverages a survey of over 2,800 business leaders globally along with a proprietary analysis of financial and non-financial data to generate insights on SDG impacts at the aggregate private sector level. The variety of the data utilized for private sector insights and sentiment makes this report one of the most current, comprehensive, and evidence-based analyses of the private sector’s contribution to the SDGs.
Notes to Editors
About Private Sector SDG Stocktake
This report pulls together unique data sources to produce complementary insights about the private sector’s impact on the SDGs. Leveraging three distinct quantitative data providers, this report represents the first attempt to generate insights on SDG impacts at the aggregate private sector level, breaking new ground in the world’s effort to evaluate progress on the SDGs. While methodologies exist to evaluate individual company contributions, this report focuses on aggregate sector-wide impact. In addition, the triangulation of data sources provides the opportunity to explore thematic insights across sectors, products, processes, and ESG reporting for the first time. Finally, this analysis is complemented by traditional tools. The first is a survey of over 2,800 business leaders to gauge sentiment on the private sector’s role and contributions in progressing the SDGs. The second is an analysis of earnings call transcripts using CB Insights. The report was developed in partnership with the International Organization of Employers, International Chamber of Commerce, and World Business Council for Sustainable Development. With the support of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.
About the UN Global Compact
As a special initiative of the United Nations Secretary-General, the UN Global Compact is a call to companies worldwide to align their operations and strategies with Ten Principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption. Our ambition is to accelerate and scale the global collective impact of business by upholding the Ten Principles and delivering the Sustainable Development Goals through accountable companies and ecosystems that enable change. With more than 18,000 companies and 3,800 non-business signatories based in over 101 countries, and 62 Local Networks, the UN Global Compact is the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative — one Global Compact uniting business for a better world. For more information, follow @globalcompact on social media and visit our website at unglobalcompact.org.
About Accenture
Accenture is a leading global professional services company that helps the world’s leading businesses, governments and other organizations build their digital core, optimize their operations, accelerate revenue growth and enhance citizen services — creating tangible value at speed and scale. We are a talent- and innovation-led company with 732,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Technology is at the core of change today, and we are one of the world’s leaders in helping drive that change, with strong ecosystem relationships. We combine our strength in technology with unmatched industry experience, functional expertise and global delivery capability. We are uniquely able to deliver tangible outcomes because of our broad range of services, solutions and assets across Strategy & Consulting, Technology, Operations, Industry X and Accenture Song. These capabilities, together with our culture of shared success and commitment to creating 360° value, enable us to help our clients succeed and build trusted, lasting relationships. We measure our success by the 360° value we create for our clients, each other, our shareholders, partners, and communities. Visit us at www.accenture.com.
Contacts:
Alex Gee
United Nations Global Compact
+447887 804594
gee@unglobalcompact.org
media@unglobalcompact.org
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Alexander Aizenberg
Accenture
+1 917 452 9878
alexander.aizenberg@accenture.com
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