Business alignment for the “Decade of Action”
By Lisa E. Sachs and Jeffrey D. Sachs
Abstract
The SDGs and Paris Climate Agreement, taken together, constitute the best hope for charting a new course for the world’s politics and economics, to produce “the future we want.” This paper briefly explores the central environmental, social, and economic challenges; the pathways to sustainability; and the central role of companies in achieving our global goals. We are facing four very deep and interconnected global environmental crises: human-induced climate change, unsustainable land use, mega-pollution, and increased frequency and intensity of pandemic zoonotic diseases. At the same time, we face massive social crises, including increasing inequality. There are six necessary SDG Transformations that each requires a major change in the organization of societal, political, and economic activities – which delineates also the critical role of business. The paper specifies four key questions that companies and their stakeholders can ask to effectively align with the "Decade of Action" needed to achieve the SDG ambitions.