13 SDG initiatives that will inspire you

It is not uncommon that companies find it challenging to begin working with United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); starting from the ideation phase and identifying concrete initiatives that match their corporate goals. In this article I will share a list of SDG initiatives as inspiration to get companies started on their own SDG journey.

In the past, many companies saw the potential that SDGs could support their reputation and they often were not able to measure the value of their initiatives. As this article will show, today’s companies who successfully execute SDG initiatives also expect operational and growth-oriented benefits in the areas of cutting costs and pursuing opportunities in new markets and products; for example, saving energy, developing green products, and retaining and motivating employees.

Sustainable living

Among retailers and consumer-goods manufacturers, commitment to environmental and social objectives can take many forms—whether it’s distributing fair-trade products, reducing materials used in packaging, or ensuring humane working conditions at suppliers’ factories.

Unilever, for one, has a detailed Sustainable Living Plan, and among the company’s goals for 2020 is to halve the greenhouse-gas impact of its products over their life cycles.

Swedish furniture maker IKEA has installed more than 700,000 solar panels in its buildings worldwide and has committed to own and operate more than 300 wind turbines.

British retail group Kingfisher’s sustainability plan, which it calls Net Positive, aims not only to make frugal use of natural resources but also to restore and regenerate the environment — “putting back more than we take out,” as the company says.

Coca-Cola’s sustainability framework — which it calls Me, We, World — encompasses its initiatives to improve personal health and wellness, the communities in which it operates, and the environment. The company reports making material, tangible progress on metrics related to three specific areas of focus within this framework: well-being, women, and water.

Clothing companies increase their use of organic material in the production. Apparel companies such as Europe’s C&A now use organic cotton, which is grown without synthetic chemicals or genetically modified seeds. Consumer demand for organic cotton is rising: in 2014, C&A sold 130 million garments made from the fabric, up from 85 million in 2012. C&A plans to use organic cotton in 100 percent of its cotton products by 2020.

Sustainability by producing more with less

Danish food producer Danish Crown has addressed climate change for decades. The climate impact of producing 1 kg of pork was reduced by 25% between 2005 and 2016 – with agricultural operations accounting for 18%. This reduction is mainly due to increased feed efficiency with higher production outcome per feed unit, but Danish Crown is also setting goals and measuring the environmental impact on other parameters such as manure, biogas, pharma, transportation, use of non-renewable energy, antibiotics, water and land use.

Puma, the sporting-goods manufacturer, has been measuring its ecological footprint and that of its largest suppliers since 2005. It aims to reduce the waste it generates, as well as its water and energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions, by 25% compared with 2010. The company is making steady progress; between 2010 and 2013, Puma reduced waste generated per employee by 35% and cut energy consumption by 4.2%.

Unilever is redesigning products to make them more sustainable. They have developed a brand of dishwashing liquid, Sunlight, that is equally effective but uses much less water than other brands. Sales of Sunlight and Unilever’s other water-saving products are outpacing category growth by more than 20% in certain water-scarce markets.

Sustainability across the value chain

Zero discharge of hazardous chemicals is key for a coalition of apparel retailers and 4 manufacturers including Benetton, H&M, Inditex, and Marks and Spencer. These companies are aiming for supply networks with zero discharge of hazardous chemicals by 2020.

Sporting-goods maker Nike has implemented a ‘Sourcing and Manufacturing Sustainability Index’, which directs more of its business to suppliers that receive high index scores. This index, one of Nike’s tools for assessing factory performance, gives sustainability factors equal weight with quality, cost, and on-time delivery. Nike requires lower performing factories to resolve issues in a timely manner or else face penalties such as reduced orders or even a termination of the business relationship. The incentives seem to be working: between 2011 and 2013, Nike saw a 19-percentage-point improvement in the number of suppliers that met its standards.

The US-based candy companies Mars and Hershey offer two examples. To secure their future supply of cocoa, both companies are investing in the sustainability of their suppliers and they have set a goal of having their entire cocoa supply sustainably sourced by 2020.

• Mars supports smallholder cocoa farmers in C?te d’Ivoire by providing high-quality seeds and fertilisers as well as training; it is also investing in research to improve the quality and performance of cocoa plants.
• Hershey sends experts to teach its suppliers best-practice farming methods and its Cocoa Link mobile-phone service offers advice and market information. The company also contributes to local education initiatives and the fight against child labour.

At Evonik – a German speciality chemicals company – biogas byproduct is created from renewable raw materials, sewage sludge, slurry or agricultural waste through microbial fermentation.

...

Ultimately, each company must define its own sustainability philosophy in the context of its specific business and mission. The examples described in this article illustrate the competitive advantages and potential payoff that sustainability initiatives can offer. That said, even the most exemplary commitment to sustainability does not change the fact that the earth’s natural resources are limited. A longer-term solution will therefore require new — circular and regenerative — business models that decouple economic growth from resource consumption and I hope this article has given you some inspiration to start your own SDG journey.

--- END ---

What do you think? Are you in the process of managing a SDG initiative? Would you like to add your initiative to this article? Add your comments and questions in below comment field. Thank you!

More information

Thank you for reading this article "13 SDG initiatives that will inspire you”. For additional articles please see below topics and LinkedIn links:

• Sustainability: Quick guide to United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals | UNs Sustainable Development Goals: 4 lessons for companies to do it right
• Digitalisation: Digital leadership is key for achieving digital success! | What drives digital transformation in the agriculture industry? | Critical Data Scientist Skills | RoI and Big Data | Digital Transformation - Digital Leadership | Big Data Strategy Trends - 2016 | Internet of Things
• Data Lakes: Introduction | How does it work? | Managing Risk - Part 1 | Managing Risk - Part 2 | What's so special about Hadoop?
• Customer Insight Analytics: Part 1: Introduction | Part 2: Solutions | Part 3: Implementation | Part 4: Conclusion
• Telecom: Can your roaming management solution handle your discount agreement requirements? | Roaming Discount Agreements vs. Spreadsheets: 8 reasons why you should avoid using spreadsheets | Roaming Tariffs: Big Data Solutions and Predictive Analytics | Roaming Quick Guide: Most Common IOT Discount Agreements
• Sales: Quick Guide to Negotiation Power | 8 strategic sales questions you need to ask when selling SaaS

Let's connect

Please connect to me on LinkedIn (LINK) and Twitter at @CasperTribler.

For more information on this topic please contact me on:

• Email: [email protected]
• Skype ID: caspertribler

Special thanks

Special thanks to below sources of inspiration and references:

1. Source: McKinsey - Getting the most out of your sustainability program
2. Source: McKinsey - The business of sustainability
3. Source: Danish Crown - Together towards sustainable food - Sustainability report 2018/19
4. Source: Evonik - https://corporate.evonik.com/en/products/our-markets/agriculture-123797.html