By Suzanne Orme November 6, 2019
The task of “aligning business success with the SDGs” means catalysing a shift in business thinking across the entire Australian business community. It means re-defining the concept of “business success” to include both financial performance – such as profit and loss – and “extra-financial” performance – environmental and social impact (both positive and negative).
One part of my work assists businesses to strengthen their capacity to assess, manage and report their performance more broadly by conducting a Sustainability Assessment using the Future-Fit Business Benchmark. This identifies the issues that need attention, alignment with the Global Goals (SDGs) and some immediate actions and quick wins. Business decision-makers can draw on this information to set long-term ambitions that will enable them to flourish into the future. They may choose to undertake more detailed assessments of every site and operation on each indicator over the coming years using freely downloadable tools.
Taking this approach will provide the impact reporting information that investors are increasingly seeking when deciding where to direct their capital. By aligning and prioritising company efforts with the Global Goals (SDG)s, the business will engage and excite key audiences such as staff, customers, the community, become more resilient and ready to take on 21stC challenges.