Media & Publications

Highlights from the 74th UN General Assembly & Climate Action Summit

Last week, world leaders gathered at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) this week for their 74th annual meeting. Conflicts in Yemen, Syria and South Sudan show no sign of stopping, and regional tensions in the Persian Gulf continue to increase. With these, and the ongoing climate crisis, many have questioned whether the UN can still effectively bring nations together to solve problems. The Vatican urged the international community to give special attention to the conflicts in Syria and Yemen and to “put an end to the suffering of so many people”. Cardinal Pietro Parolin (Secretary of State, Vatican) also took the opportunity to highlight the conflict ongoing between the Israelis and the Palestinians (click here to read more).

The Global SDG Awards Announces Winners of its 2018 Sustainability Leadership Competition

On March 25th, 2019, The Global SDG Awards announced the winners of its inaugural sustainability competition. The awards are designed to celebrate private-sector leadership in the advancement of United Nations 2030 Agenda, also known as Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The winners from this year’s competition are breaking barriers, challenging convention, investing for impact and leveraging new technologies to strengthen their competitive advantages. With winners from Australia, Afghanistan, Canada, Japan, South Africa, the UK and USA, the results of the 2018 Global SDG Awards demonstrate that private-sector SDG leadership, investment and innovation is truly a global phenomenon (click here to read more).

50+ Real World Examples of Next-Generation Sustainability Leadership

In July 2018, the 2018 High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) highlighted the positive impact that technological innovation can have on the SDGs. Digital technologies in particular, have the potential to transform the current trajectory of the SDGs. A recent study by the Global e-Sustainability Initiative – a collaboration of major ICT companies and industry organizations – found that at least 11 out of the 17 SDGs are positively connected to digital access. We may take technology and the wealth of digital information available for granted, but the proliferation of these tools can help to reduce inequalities and improve quality of life around the world. Many of this year’s Global SDG Award contenders demonstrate the transformative quality of new technologies (click here to read more).

How The Private-Sector Can Achieve Clean Water & Sanitation

“Water is everybody’s business.” This was the first sentence from August’s World Water Week 2018 report. The annual interdisciplinary and cross-sector event examines and encourages the partnerships, investments and innovations occurring globally that support UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) #6 – Clean Water and Sanitation. Throughout the discussions – in which a record number of attendees from research institutions and both public and private sectors participated – two facts were clear. The first was that investing in water will be central to achieving the 2030 Development Agenda. Secondly, at current investment rates, we are unlikely to achieve key SDG targets related to water and sanitation. A 2017 report jointly commissioned by WBCSD, WaterAid and the UN Global Compact supports the importance of achieving Goal 6 (click here to read more).

Competition Celebrates Private-Sector Efforts to Achieve SDG #13: Climate Action

Last month, another Australian prime minister was ousted from government by his own party after attempting to pass a bill on emissions-reduction targets. The failed National Energy Guarantee bill would have placed a cap on greenhouse gas emissions and increased development of the renewable energy industry. This represents the seventh time in the past twenty years that an Australian prime minister has been removed over climate change policy. More recently, the Trump administration (which famously withdrew the United States from the Paris Agreement in 2017), just ended an Obama-era methane regulation covering public lands. Across the border, the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change has also seen significant opposition (click here to read more).

Global Competition Highlights New Era of Private Sector Sustainability Leadership

Armed with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), businesses from across the globe are leading the way to a more sustainable future. The SDGs are becoming a common language for describing sustainable market opportunities and corporate responsibility efforts. Many companies working towards the SDGs are not household names yet – but they deserve to be recognized for their efforts and incredible positive impacts. Consider companies such as Opus 12, Climeworks and Blue Planet, whose technologies capture CO₂ emissions and transform them into usable materials such as petrochemicals, jet fuel and other useful products; or solar energy companies such as The Sun Exchange and Off-Grid Electric, which use technology to provide clean, reliable and affordable energy to those in need. (click here to read more).

Celebrating The Next Era of Sustainability Leadership

On March 20^th, 1987, former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland sat down to author the chairman’s forward for Our Common Future. The report, commissioned by the United Nations, was intended “to re-examine critical environmental and development problems around the world and formulate realistic proposals to address them”. On that day, Brundtland wrote “the environment is where we all live; and development is what we all do in attempting to improve our lot within that abode. The two are inseparable”. Since the publication of the Brundtland Commission Report, radical environmental attitudes have been largely replaced by reformist ideas contained within sustainable development. Sustainability has become the most dominant environmental discourse, replacing the prevailing survivalist viewpoints of the 60s and 70s (click here to read more).