In 2015, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was adopted by all 193 United Nations member states. It consists of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs can provide a common parameter to work on sustainable development. Organizations can base their sustainability strategies on the SDGs.
However many are still struggling with connecting their contribution to the SDGs in some way or the other. First comes the huge number - each SDG has a set of sub-goals, across all 17 SDG’s there are a total of 169 sub-goals and hundreds of indications. The sheer number of goals to achieve is sure to throw off many. But if we look deeper, the SDGs and targets stimulate action in the following critically important areas: poverty, hunger, education, health and well-being, education, gender equality, water and sanitation, economic growth and decent work, infrastructure, industry and innovation, reducing inequalities, energy, sustainable cities, consumption and production, climate action, ecosystems, peace and justice, and partnership.
Now comes the major question, why? Why is it important to the world that a company works on the SDG’s? Why is it important to the company? Why is it important to the owner?
We can see that each of the 169 sub-goals targets a major social issue. Instead of looking at CSR and sustainability as a whole, if we break it down into smaller sub-goals, it gives more focus area to each of the issues and can reduce redundancy. How? At the start of a financial year, each organization allots a certain budget to CSR and plans to carry out the projects against some verticals, such as health, education, rural development, etc. But down the line it may so happen more focus is given to one vertical than the other, and the balance gets upturned. Or some projects conducted may not be able to touch the social issue actually aimed for. Here is where the SDGs come into play. If the CSR projects are defined by the 169 sub-goals, it helps in focusing more on each and every social issue, rather than conducting CSR in an uncontrolled manner.
So, if an organization wants to resolve hunger, all the projects which target to reduce hunger, such as Mid-Day Meal in schools, etc., will play a part in completing the #2 SDG: ZERO HUNGER. In the same manner, each and every project will play a part in completing one or more of the SDGs. This, in turn, streamlines the CSR expenditures by reducing projects/activities that do not align with the SDGs and only approving the ones that can be tagged to at least one of the SDGs. A corporation is spending its fund, time, and manpower on CSR, if the projects are not streamlined, it, in turn, will not be able to reach the impact aimed for, and all the effort goes to vain.
Nowadays, applications and software are being developed with the provision to tag each project to the 17 SDGs, and with the completion of each of the projects, it will, in turn, auto tracking the fulfillment of each SDG.
The UN has defined these 17 SDGs and the 169 sub-goals after much deliberation and discussion to cover all the social issues that require to be addressed. SDGs and the sub-goals break down CSR and can help us to streamline our efforts to carry out sustainable business in a more effective manner. If we embrace the Sustainability Development Goals, it will return more value than imagined.