While the business community was largely silent during the drafting of the Millennium Development Goals, it is now time for a change, say two leading business organizations in a new report.
The report was released March 27 by the United Nations Global Compact and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, with the support of the World Economic Forum and business representatives of the U.N. Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda.
The report sheds light on the value of engaging the international business community as a partner in the “historic opportunity” of shaping the new development agenda, as increasingly complex global challenges require the participation of all stakeholders.
The report notes the evolution that the business community has undergone since 2000, when the MDGs were drafted. It cites the rising interest among the business community in recent years to take part in global development initiatives.
More and more companies, says the report, are adopting a values-and-principles-based management and operational approach rooted in the concept of “corporate sustainability.”
In the report, the two organizations listed the following recommendations for the post-2015 agenda:
Adequately address the nexus of water, energy and food, and the effective management and maintenance of biodiversity, ecosystems and ecosystem services.
Continue to address universal access to health care and education, since these are pathways to decent, qualified and productive employment, without which an economy cannot grow and prosper.
Customize goals for different business sectors, while at the same time promoting a universal framework of integrated reporting encompassing financial, natural and social capital.
As for the agenda’s successful implementation, the report proposes more public-private partnerships, the enhancement of corporate sustainability disclosures, including “integrated reporting,” and the creation of more effective incentives for businesses to adopt sustainability practices.
A copy of the report has been delivered to the high-level panel on the post-2015 agenda, which recently highlighted global partnerships as an area of reform for the new agenda.
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About the author
Johanna Morden
Johanna Morden is a community development worker by training and a global development journalist by profession. As a former Devex staff writer based in Manila, she covered the Asian Development Bank as well as Asia-Pacific's aid community at large. Johanna has written for a variety of international publications, covering social issues, disasters, government, ICT, business, and the law.
