Harnessing the Sustainable Development Goals for businesses: A progressive framework for action

Abstract

Businesses, as with other sectors in society, are not yet taking sufficient action towards achieving sustainability. The United Nations recently agreed upon a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which if properly harnessed, provide a framework (so far lacking) for businesses to meaningfully drive transformations to sustainability. This paper proposes to operationalize the SDGs for businesses through a progressive framework for action with three discrete levels: communication, tactical, and strategic. Within the tactical and strategic levels, several innovative approaches are discussed and illustrated. The challenges of design and measurement as well as opportunities for accountability and the social side of Sustainability, together call for transdisciplinary, collective action. This paper demonstrates feasible pathways and approaches for businesses to take corporate social responsibility to the next level and utilize the SDG framework informed by sustainability science to support transformations towards the achievement of sustainability.

New challenges for corporate sustainability reporting: United Nations' 2030 Agenda for sustainable development and the sustainable development goals

“…Similarly, Redman () shows possible strategies for firms to make progress in the concept of CSR by introducing the UN_SDGs. Arnold () identified that 50 frugal innovations have been made by firms, which have implemented UN_SDGs.…”

The progress of Corporate Social Responsibility from a Gender perspective through the Change Management

“…Companies have a special interest in applying the SDGs and integrating sustainability to ensure their long-term success (Redman, 2018). The first works on sustainability and profitability reflected that well-managed companies included sustainability as something positive in the sense of good corporate citizens (Rigby & Tager, 2008), but over the years, it has shown that sustainability managed through CSR is a success factor that generates positive impacts on business results (Porter & Kramer, 2006;Tien & Hung Anh, 2018).…”

Introduction to the Special Issue on “The role of SDGs for progressing sustainability”

“…Interestingly, the majority of papers in this Special Issue focuses on SDGs in the context of private business and, hence, tackle the issue of corporate sustainability. The first paper “Harnessing the Sustainable Development Goals for businesses: A progressive framework for action” by Aaron Redman (—this issue) argues that businesses are not yet taking sufficient action towards achieving sustainability. The author addresses this issue by developing an innovative action‐oriented SDG framework consisting of three discrete levels, namely, a communication, tactical, and strategic level.…”