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there is a mounting case for considering more radical fiscal approaches such as shifting taxation away from income (especially on incomes below the median income line) towards resources, carbon pollution and land. Beyond income, essential services including health care, education, child-care and care in old age form the foundation of sustainable society. 5.2 Providing decent work and more jobs How can businesses pursuing the Global Goals respond to the likelihood of the next wave of automation having even more radical consequences for employment than previous technological revolutions? The Commission would encourage business leaders to work with civil society and governments on developing market opportunities with the greatest potential to create growing amounts of decent work in well-paid jobs. Private business already creates most of the world’s jobs: in developing countries, 90 percent of jobs are in the private sector, 217 while among OECD countries the pre-crisis average was around 85 percent, a figure likely to have risen since because of public sector austerity programmes. 218 In today’s employment context creating the estimated 380 million new jobs in business that arise from achieving the Global Goals (see Section 2) becomes all the more important. They could account for more than 10 percent of the estimated global workforce in 2030. Equally important is making sure all the jobs in a business provide decent work and that no-one is left behind. "The Global Goals could deliver 380 million new jobs in business." At a minimum, business leaders are expected to ensure that jobs throughout their supply chains are physically safe, and to be ready to show how they are making sustained efforts to tackle unsafe working conditions, child labour and modern slavery. Today, job-related injuries and sickness kill more than 2.3 million people every year. 219 Around 21 million people work in forms of forced labour (some estimates suggest up to 40 million). 220 And 168 million children are involved in child labour, half of whom are in hazardous work. 221 They are embedded, invisibly, in the first mile of almost every global value chain – from mining to garments to food and agriculture to waste management. Global businesses are also expected to have integrated human rights into their operations. While many companies have embraced the need to reduce their negative environmental impacts, much less progress has been made on their social impact. The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights 222 aim to bring this issue 86
to the centre of business practice, through helping companies identify how to reduce human rights risks along their entire supply chains – an approach that promotes sustainable development as well as reducing harm. These principles also create a formal responsibility on both states and businesses to protect human rights and decent work, and to provide effective grievance procedures and remedies against human rights abuses. To help businesses meet this responsibility, the Better Work programme, a partnership between the International Labour Organization and the International Finance Corporation, helps enterprises to improve labour standards at the factory level through training and capacity building, and to increase competitiveness in global supply chains by increasing productivity and quality. 223 There has been strong progress here. Since 2000, there has been an 80 percent increase in global framework agreements between multinational firms and global union federation, where companies consent to respect workers’ rights and to promote decent work globally within their subsidiaries and along their global supply chains. 224 And many new and effective business-NGO platforms have formed to help companies uphold human rights throughout their operations. These include ACT in the fashion sector (see Box 11: Action, Collaboration, Transformation), the Ethical Trading Initiative in food and agriculture, the Bangladesh Accord, and the Malawi 2020 Tea Rehabilitation Programme. 225 Box 11: Action, Collaboration, Transformation The recently established apparel sector initiative Action, Collaboration, Transformation (ACT) describes itself as an “initiative between international brands and retailers, manufacturers, and trade unions to address the issue of living wages in the textile and garment sector. It aims to improve wages in the industry by establishing industry collective bargaining in key garment and textile sourcing countries, supported by world class manufacturing standards and responsible purchasing practices”. 226 One of ACT’s roles is to examine the purchasing practices of brands and retailers and how they affect wage levels. Through this work, companies understand their influence on suppliers and also tackle instances where particular actions or their business models in general hinder progress towards living wages. ACT makes a clear business case for industry collective bargaining agreements. Through such approaches, workers and communities become more aware of their rights. Paying living wages ensures that families can support themselves, educate their children, and cope with periods of sickness or other contingencies. Business 87
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BETTER BUSINESS BETTER WORLD The re
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THE BUSINESS AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELO
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Photo credit: MD. Zakirul Mazed 3
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3.5 Incorporating the Global Goals
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economic system. But we cannot defe
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© lindrik / Adobe Stock 9
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towards achieving the Global Goals
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Photo credit: Flickr / Engineering
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Leading for sustainable development
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Rebuilding the social contract requ
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1. INTRODUCTION: THE GLOBAL GOALS A
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2050, up from around US$2 trillion,
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However, progress needs to go much,
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scaling challengers to fossil fuel
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Economic gains from achieving all t
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Though this big group of opportunit
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• Forest ecosystem services (US$1
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investment in solar PV has already
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Page 39 and 40: EXHIBIT 6: Pricing externalities in
Page 41 and 42: EXHIBIT 7: More than half the value
Page 43 and 44: EXHIBIT 8: Almost 380 million jobs
Page 45 and 46: 3.1 Sustainability is already good
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Page 49 and 50: The majority of businesses successf
Page 51 and 52: EXHIBIT 11: Number and valuation of
Page 53 and 54: 3.3 Transforming the way business o
Page 55 and 56: Box 2: Ericsson executives champion
Page 57 and 58: the company and through its supply
Page 59 and 60: Many sectors are agreeing “pre-co
Page 61 and 62: etter while also solving societal p
Page 63 and 64: use of micro-irrigation techniques;
Page 65 and 66: EXHIBIT 12: Negative profit margins
Page 67 and 68: such as mandatory carbon pricing. A
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Page 71 and 72: year. 163 Nearly US$100 trillion is
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Page 75 and 76: strategic alignment with the Global
Page 77 and 78: amounts of private capital. Specifi
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Page 81 and 82: 4.3 Aligning regulation with invest
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Page 85 and 86: More than half of the Global Goals
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Page 93 and 94: electorates are angry and fearful.
Page 95 and 96: Unilever promotes health and well-b
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Page 99 and 100: 6. CONCLUSION This report has prese
Page 101 and 102: through putting less tax on labour
Page 103 and 104: such catalytic ideas, which could c
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Page 107 and 108: 18 United Nations World Commission
Page 109 and 110: 57 International Energy Agency (IEA
Page 111 and 112: 95 Data-Pop Alliance, 2015. Reflect
Page 113 and 114: 139 World Cocao Foundation, 2014. C
Page 115 and 116: 184 IFC, 2009. In a Historic Step,
Page 117 and 118: 227 UN Women, 2016. UN Women Annual
Page 119 and 120: Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics Base
Page 121: Business and Sustainable Developmen
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