MIT Sloan Management Review Article on The Right Way to Support the Sustainable Development Goals

When 193 member states launched the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the United Nations in 2015, it was not clear how businesses could contribute to an agenda that covered such wide-ranging topics as eliminating poverty and hunger and promoting peaceful, just, and strong institutions worldwide. Two years later, these fears have proved unfounded as business awareness of and action toward the SDGs is increasing annually. More companies are using the global goals to help set corporate performance targets, and 75% of U.N. Global Compact business participants reported that they are taking action in support of the goals.

About the Author

Robert G. Eccles is a visiting professor of management practice at Saïd Business School of Oxford University. He tweets @rgeccles. Lila Karbassi is the chief of programmes and a member of the Executive Management Committee of the United Nations Global Compact. She has steered the initiative’s work on environment and climate change, including at the 2012 Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro and the 2015 COP21 Climate Change Conference in Paris. She currently oversees the Global Compact’s programmatic work on environment, social, and governance issues, as well as the initiative’s LEAD program.

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