Global Goals That Work
Over the last decade, there has been a proliferation of sustainability indexes and frameworks. This report attempts to bring greater alignment between actors and better ways to measure progress using our planet's health and people's well-being as the yardstick, rather than Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or profit alone. Read the report to learn how sustainability is measured at government, business, and societal levels, and how it can be aligned to the triple bottom line (people, planet, profit) and the SDGs.
Looking Back
The Opportunity
The year is 2030. Fifteen years ago, in 2015, the world signed off on a set of Global Goals. Companies and governments took action – not just because the natural world depended on it, but because the future of their businesses and welfare of their societies depended on it. Civil society saw in the SDGs a way to hold government and business to account. The SDGs enabled all to think through systemwide change, to engage those who suffer from system failure and – crucially – those who hold keys to system change.
The SDG framework became a benchmark for setting priorities at all levels – corporate, national, and local. National statistics bureaus and planning departments developed alternative measures of progress, beyond GDP, to track the effectiveness of their policies. Investors benefited from environmental and social tagging systems in the capital markets to assess the quality of their investments. Corporations expanded their metrics of success to ascertain the risks and opportunities affecting their business models. Accountancy bodies played a key role in devising alternative means to value social and environmental capital. In turn, that accounting logic helped governments to work with other stakeholders in managing the portfolio of capitals that provide the foundation for development.
The health of the planet and the wellbeing of people became the yardstick of progress.
"With better information as a foundation, we can build a virtuous circle of better understanding of tomorrow's risks, better pricing for investors, better decisions by policymakers, and a smoother transition to a lower-carbon economy".
Mark Carney,
Governor of the Bank of England
SDG 5: Gender Equality
The global economy will grow by $28 trillion by 2025 if women participated in the labor force to the same degree as men- equivalent to the combined GDPs of the U.S. and China.
SDG 12: Sustainable Consumption And Production
Demand for biodegradable plastics will grow from 2 billion in 2015 to 3.4 billion in 2020.
SDG 10: Income Equality
The microfinance market is expected to grow by 10 – 15 % in 2016 alone.