BUS604: Innovation and Sustainability

Open and accessible data is not enough if we are not communicating progress. All players benefit if we can answer the question - are we on track for a sustainable future?

Produce A National Integrated Report

In a world where we 'measure what matters', a national integrated report on progress towards the SDGs should be from the whole country, not from a single ministry or department. As such it would include insights and data from all stakeholder groups - national and local government, business, and civil society to generate a 360 degree perspective of progress. There should be a strong narrative component of the report to allow stakeholders to make sense of the data.

Make It Relevant To The Individual

Progress reports and statistical machinery can seem remote from people and the issues they are facing. Wherever possible, efforts should be made to make progress reports speak to their audiences in accessible and relevant terms.

Example Linking Data To People And Their Lives

In South Africa it is the Chief Statistician's responsibility to report to the public each week - and to link statistics to livelihoods. This approach is proving a powerful tool for communicating what policy decisions mean for people. This outreach is underpinned by robust statistical machinery which helps with business intelligence, communicating progress which subsequently leads to action.

Collate Data To Show The Big Picture

Statistics Netherlands has a data portal to allow users to browse, collate and use all the data generated by government organizations. Similarly, the UK Office of National Statistics uses a traffic light system to show both long term and short term progress across 60 core sustainable development indicators. Each year it reports on the headline indicators with accompanying graphs and visuals in a range of formats.

Example The Value Of Aggregated Data

Integrating data sources can reduce costs, increase coverage and drive faster data collection. The MY World survey, run jointly by the UNDP, UN Millennium Campaign, and the Overseas Development Institute, has gathered over 5 million responses worldwide to answer a question about people's priorities for themselves and their families. Standardization of the question has meant that all the data can be aggregated into a single, open database, and allows easy disaggregation by country, gender, age, and level of education. People have used it to identify country priorities, to identify patterns of concern about specific issues, and to illustrate differences and similarities in concerns by age and gender.

Use Visualization To Overcome Complexity

With 17 goals, 169 targets, and 230 indicators to report, communicating progress towards the SDGs is not an easy task, in particular when additional layers of analysis are added to meet the ambition to leave no one behind. Visualization can play a key role to break down complexity and enable all stakeholders to understand trends and the interdependencies between the Goals, and to respond.

Align Existing Reporting Guidelines With The SDGs

Major standard setting groups are assessing how existing reporting standards align with the SDGs. The SDG Compass includes a mapping of the GRI reporting framework against the SDGs. Similarly, the UN Global Compact is exploring how the Communication on Progress prepared by over 8,000 business signatories from around the world is aligned with the SDGs. The UN Principles for Responsible Investment is undertaking a similar exercise to enable the investment community to report the contribution made towards achievement of the Goals.

Example Using The SDGs To Assess Company Performance.

The Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership's Investment Leaders Group is developing an approach to enable investors to assess performance of the companies in which they invest, taking the SDGs as the starting point. Within their recent publication 'In Search of Impact: measuring the full value of capital' they have developed 'basic', 'stretch' and 'ideal' metrics that can be used across all sectors, mapped to the SDGs in areas such as decent work.