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ero hunger, no poverty, clean water and climate action. These aims represent just a share of the ambitious vision behind the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a 17-goal framework adopted in 2015 to power
the sustainability efforts of governments, NGOs and companies through 2030.
At its halfway mark, the enormous undertaking to remedy urgent global issues—from poverty to biodiversity loss to gender inequality—is facing new setbacks related to the Covid-19 pandemic, economic disruption and political unrest. A 2020 estimate predicted it could be 2092 before the SDGs are realized.
The SDGs form a broad framework that provides a direction for sustainability strategies, but their impressive scope can sometimes make it difficult for companies to define their roles and galvanize change. According to a 2022 EY report based on
in-depth interviews with leading consumer products and retail CEOs working to advance the SDGs, businesses are aiming to measure progress, navigate regional differences, apply national metrics at the company level, improve accountability and juggle evolving priorities.
At the same time, these challenges present opportunities for business leaders—empowering them to develop innovative, targeted approaches that prioritize the goals most relevant to their businesses and support standardized measurement.
Here’s how consumer companies can make an impact through focus, measurement and collaboration.