September 25th: SDG Action Day
September 25th is the SDG Action Day. The theme of the 2020 edition is all about ‘starting the decade of transformation’.
Despite all efforts undertaken since the introduction of the SDGs in 2015, we are not on track to deliver the SDGs in 2030.
700 million people still live in extreme poverty.It will take 257 years to close the gender gap if we continue at the current pace. We are on track for 3.5C temperature rise this century per current commitments. Also 8 million metric tons of plastics enter our oceans every year which has a huge impact on live below water.
The Covid-19 pandamic has a huge impact on the SDGs. According to the World Bank, the pandemic could push about 49 million people into extreme poverty in 2020, reversing two decades of poverty reduction.
We need to address the performance gap between the current business performance and global & societal needs. The private sector has a responsibility and more ambitious corporate targets are needed if we are to achieve the 2030 Agenda.
As 84% of companies report taking actions to support the global goals only 46% are embedding the SDGs into their core business. 39% of companies say they have targets they believe are sufficiently ambitious. And just 15% of companies have targets approved by the Science Based Targets initiative.
So, it is time to step up efforts of business leaders and start to fully embed the SDGs within their strategies, operations, through supply chains and in communications.
Starting the ‘decade of transformation’ also means to truly start focusing on collaboration and partnerships. Looking beyond the company boundaries and start focussing on system transformations. Team up with industry partners and start setting industry specific goals. The decay of transformation has started. We are in it together: government, private sector, civil society and citizens.