Aliging Profit with Purpose - Global Goals Yearbook 2019
What are companies for? The rules for companies have changed. The focus is increasingly on their sustainable, social, and ecological impacts. The strategic orientation toward the so-called corporate purpose is decisive for profitable growth in the future. This currently results in a large number of questions for businesses: How do you find an inspiring and future-oriented corporate purpose, and how can it be aligned in such a way that it brings profitable growth and social responsibility in concert? The new 2019 edition of the Global Goals Yearbook offers answers to these crucial questions thanks to its consistent orientation toward the UN Sustainable Development Goals and a competent editorial board and author pool.
What are companies for? The rules for companies have changed. The focus is increasingly on their sustainable, social, and ecological impacts. The strategic orientation toward the so-called corporate purpose is decisive for profitable growth in the future.
This currently results in a large number of questions for businesses: How do you find an inspiring and future-oriented corporate purpose, and how can it be aligned in such a way that it brings profitable growth and social responsibility in concert? The new 2019 edition of the Global Goals Yearbook offers answers to these crucial questions thanks to its consistent orientation toward the UN Sustainable Development Goals and a competent editorial board and author pool.
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Sheila Bonini<br />
Senior Vice President Private<br />
Sector Engagement at WWF<br />
1. Introduction<br />
Five years ago, sustainability was just<br />
beginning to shift from corporate philanthropy<br />
to an integrated business<br />
need. In my former role <strong>with</strong> McKinsey’s<br />
sustainability practice, I wrote about<br />
the management principles required<br />
for successful sustainability strategies.<br />
Steve Swartz and I saw that not only<br />
did environmental challenges pose real<br />
business risks, but that business could<br />
also play a positive role in solving some<br />
of the biggest threats to the planet. At<br />
the time, sustainability was still seen as<br />
a “nice to have,” but there was growing<br />
evidence that well-managed sustainability<br />
initiatives could be profitable. Indeed,<br />
meta-studies showed that addressing<br />
sustainability issues makes a positive<br />
financial contribution to financial performance.<br />
I highlighted the economic<br />
benefits of sustainability initiatives and<br />
illustrated how better organizational<br />
practices could help companies reap the<br />
value of sustainability. These practices<br />
included focusing on a few key issues<br />
(what we call “material issues” today),<br />
setting ambitious goals, communicating<br />
the benefits of sustainability, and<br />
creating accountability for sustainability<br />
across the organization.<br />
In my new role at World Wildlife Fund<br />
(WWF), I am acutely aware of the threats<br />
to our planet: from climate change to<br />
deforestation and land conversion, water<br />
scarcity, overfishing, and more. Governments<br />
and international conventions are<br />
failing to deliver the scale of change that<br />
is needed, and time is running out. Now<br />
more than ever, innovation and change<br />
must come from the private sector. I am<br />
optimistic because I know that companies<br />
have vast resources – from human<br />
and financial capital to technology and<br />
the global footprint needed to address the<br />
planet’s greatest ecological challenges.<br />
The good news is that businesses increasingly<br />
recognize the risk from climate<br />
change and other environmental chal-<br />
52 <strong>Global</strong> <strong>Goals</strong> <strong>Yearbook</strong> <strong>2019</strong>
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