The Make-or-Break Decade for the SDGs has begun

Linda Lacina of the World Economic
Forum rightly says: “Putting the planet
over profits isn’t a ‘nice-to-have’ – it’s
a must have for businesses looking for
long-term survival. Nearly half of GDP
is dependent on nature. But while more
and more leaders are embracing that
simple principle of stakeholder capitalism,
there’s still more work to do and
plenty of leaders talking about change
and coming just short of taking action.
No leader wants to be consciously disruptive,
she says. They’re parents and
citizens, too. I think that they are often
trapped in a paradigm which they can’t
get out of.”
Katrin Muff is an internationally recognized
thought leader on transformation
and sustainability. She is the director
of the Institute for Business Sustainability
in Lucerne, and in a newspaper
interview she complements Lacina’s
forementioned thoughts: “Apparently,
this is also convincing more and more
people in the boardrooms. Recently, 180
CEOs of well-known US corporations
such as Amazon and Walmart vowed
in a Statement of Corporate Purpose to
benefit their employees, society, and the
environment in the future – instead of
just their shareholders. Is the economy
just becoming green and good?
“In companies that set out in this way,
four things change. First, the internal
culture, which is reflected not only in
new criteria for promotion, but also in
concrete corporate goals. Climate goals,
for example, must be verifiable. If a
company promises to become climate
neutral by 2050 but has no short-term
implementation plans, nothing happens.
Secondly, something like this can only
be achieved together with others. And
to do that, a company has to see itself
as part of society instead of just focusing
on itself. It’s about more.
“Thirdly, we need a supervisory board
that is fit for the future. The same type
of person should not always sit on it;
more diverse supervisory boards bring
strategic corporate issues more strongly
to the table. At a supervisory board meeting,
questions are no longer only asked
about return on sales and risk minimization,
but also about new business
areas that help improve society or solve
environmental problems. This is the
fourth point: How does all this show up
in new services and products?”
Metrics can create momentum for
stakeholder capitalism
Setting clear metrics for management
that align with company purpose is an
important step for boards. “Business lead-
10 Global Goals Yearbook 2021