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SDG Compass - Coggle Diagram

- - - - Absolute goals best express the expected impact on
        society, but do not take company growth (or decline) into
        account. Relative targets on the other hand measure
        more accurately your company’s performance per unit
        of output, but the impact the goal will have is unsure.
        Neither type of goal provides a complete picture, so the
        recommendation is to tell the story of what impact your
        company aims to achieve
  - - - The growing number of initiatives that promote and
        support an ‘outside-in’ approach to business goal
        setting include:
        ––The Science Based Targets initiative by CDP,
        the World Resources Institute (WRI), WWF and
        the UN Global Compact, which is developing tools
        and methodologies for companies to set targets
        that align with the prevailing scientific consensus
        that global temperatures should not rise above
        two degrees Celsius.
        ––The Future-Fit Benchmarks developed by Natural
        Step which identify a set of ‘absolute’ goals that
        are based on social and natural science and that
        all companies must ultimately strive to reach,
        irrespective of the products and services
        they offer.
        ––WBCSD’s Action2020 which sets the agenda for
        business to take action on sustainable development
        to 2020 and beyond. Action2020 defines societal
        targets, ‘Societal Must-Haves’ and around nine
        Priority Areas, based on a scientific review led by
        the Stockholm Resilience Centre.
        In addition, there is inspiration to be found in online
        databases for business goals and targets, including:
        ––The United Nations website which contains
        public commitments to goals and targets
        announced by companies.
        ––PivotGoals by Winston Eco-Strategies which
        allows users to browse goals and targets set by
        Global 500 companies.
  - - - Whenever possible, your company is advised to select
        KPIs that directly address the impact or outcome of
        its activities. For some goals this may be difficult or
        even impossible, due for example to a lack of relevant
        and available data. In such cases, select KPIs that can
        be considered ‘proxies for impact’ – for example, by
        addressing the resources, such as capital, that your
        company will invest or the specific activities, such as
        training, that it intends to undertake
- - - - Innovative technologies to increase energy
        efficiency, renewable energy, energy storage,
        ‘green buildings’ and sustainable transportation;
        ––The substitution of traditionally manufactured and
        processed products by ICT and other technology
        solutions that reduce emissions and waste;
        ––Meeting the needs of the large and mostly
        untapped market for products and services –
        including in healthcare, education, energy, finance
        and ICT – that can improve the lives of the four
        billion people who currently live in poverty.
    - - ––The introduction of taxes, fines and other pricing
        mechanisms to make current externalities
        become internalized to the business. This will
        further strengthen economic incentives for
        companies to use resources more efficiently
        or to switch to more sustainable alternatives.
        ––Younger generations in particular value
        responsible and inclusive business practices,
        and sustainability performance is emerging
        as an important factor in the ‘war for talent’.
        Employee morale, engagement and productivity
        may further strengthen within companies that
        take action to advance the SDGs.
        ––Around the world, consumers are increasingly
        basing their purchasing decisions on their
        perception of a company’s sustainability
        performance, and the SDGs may further
        strengthen this trend.
    - - Companies that align
        their priorities with the SDGs can better engage with
        customers, employees and other stakeholders, with
        those that don’t being exposed to growing legal and
        reputational risks.
        Companies that help advance the SDGs will be
        likely to:
        ––Improve trust among stakeholders;
        ––Strengthen their license to operate;
        ––Reduce legal, reputational and other
        business risks;
        ––Build resilience to costs or requirements imposed
        by future legislation.
    - - Successful implementation of the SDGs will help to:
        ––Lift billions of people out of poverty, thereby
        growing consumer markets around the world;
        ––Strengthen education, thereby fostering more
        skilled and engaged employees;
        ––Make progress on gender equality and
        women empowerment, thereby creating a
        ‘virtual emerging market’ equivalent in size
        and purchasing power to that of China’s and
        India’s populations;
        ––Ensure that the global economy operates safely
        within the capacity of the planet to supply
        essential resources such as water, fertile soil,
        metals and minerals, thereby sustaining the
        natural resources that companies depend on
        for production;
        ––Foster accountable and well-governed institutions
        as well as open and rule-based trading and
        financial systems, thereby reducing the costs
        and risks of doing business.
- - - - A five-step process, often referred to as a Logic
        model, traces the path from inputs through activities,
        outputs, outcomes and impacts. It is often helpful to
        develop such a model together with stakeholders,
        including those affected. The Logic model can be
        used to understand which data should be collected.
        For example, if your company cannot collect data on
        outcomes and impacts, it may be able to collect data
        on outputs instead.
        
        In order to select the appropriate indicators for the
        impact assessment, your company should first choose
        a combination of indicators that offer a balanced and
        adequate reflection of the company’s performance
        and impacts in a given area. This includes considering
        different types of indicators, expressing inputs,
        activities, outputs, outcomes and impacts and ensuring
        a balance between lagging indicators (those that
        measure outcomes and impacts) and leading indicators
        (those that predict the outcomes and impacts).
        The next action is to identify and collect data for each
        of the selected business indicators. It is not always
        possible to collect data directly, because of impacts
        occurring further up or down the value chain and
        also the complexity of the value chain. The cost and
        complexity of measuring must be proportional to the
        value that measuring helps to create.
        Using existing business systems and processes for
        data collection, for example extracting the required
        data from purchasing or sales systems, will be more
        efficient than developing new processes.
  - - - During the mapping process, it is recommended to take
        context into account, such as the proximity of operations
        and other segments of the value chain to geographical
        areas that have a low performance related to the SDGs.
        For example, if your company has labor-intensive
        operations or supply chains in regions with low wages
        and poor enforcement of labor rights and standards,
        this will likely define an area of potential high impact.
        Similarly, current or potential operations in countries
        where there are human needs that the company’s
        products can help to address – such as medical needs
        or access to sustainable energy – may also indicate an
        area of potential high impact.
      - In some cases, industry sector data is available to help
        identify high impact areas and additional tools can also
        help this process (see ‘Tools for mapping high impact
        areas across the value chain’).
        
        tools can be applied to specific SDGs.
        Examples include the GHG Protocol Scope 3
        Evaluator, the Social Hotspots Database,
        the Human Rights and Business Country
        Guide, the WBCSD Global Water Tool and the
        Poverty Footprint Tool
      - Engaging stakeholders
        Inclusive internal and external stakeholder
        engagement is key to the three-action process.
        Paying close attention to their issues, interests,
        concerns, and expectations will help identify and
        build a full understanding of your company’s impact
        on the SDGs. Stakeholders can also provide
        relevant information and inspiration for exploring
        business opportunities related to the SDGs.