SDG Specialist: Charles Duchesne

Would your organization like to join and contribute to the achievement of the United Nations' 2030 Sustainable Development Goals?

Our perspective

The COVID-19 crisis has hit the entire planet, exacerbating existing problems such as food insecurity, deterioration of the natural environment and persistent inequalities. The root causes and uneven impacts of the pandemic show that achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is more important than ever. In addition to participating in a major social project, companies that choose to integrate the SDGs into their business model will find many benefits, not least because consumers, particularly millennials, are increasingly concerned about the environmental and social impact of their purchasing decisions.

Similarly, companies that place sustainability at the heart of their activities are more likely to attract and retain the best talent. The SDGs represent great opportunities for society and business, but also a significant challenge. How can organizations take advantage of them? How can they integrate the SDGs into their activities to better rebuild after the pandemic?

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What are the Sustainable Development Goals?

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a global call to action to address the major economic, social and environmental challenges facing our planet. The SDGs define global priorities and aspirations for 2030, and aim to achieve a sustainable, resilient and inclusive society.

The SDGs came into being at the end of a consensus process following the 2015 Conference of the Parties in Paris. They are the result of the collective reflection of various actors in society and over 1,500 organizations around the world. Their contributions have made it possible to establish 17 ambitious and engaging targets to be achieved by 2030.
It's now up to organizations to act and make the most of their full potential.

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Why integrate the SDGs into your organization?

By committing to the SDGs, organizations are creating new growth opportunities, improving their risk profile, and tackling the biggest sustainability challenges facing our world. Together, these challenges represent a potential of US$12,000 billion and the creation of 380 million new skilled jobs, spread across four sectors by 2030: energy, cities, agriculture, and health and well-being (Business & Sustainable Development Commission).

In this way, organizations can use the SDGs as an overarching framework for developing, driving, communicating, and reporting on their strategies, objectives, and activities. In doing so, they can benefit from several advantages, including:

• The ability to react quickly to new opportunities;
• Value creation through better long-term decision-making;
• Strengthening relations with stakeholders and anticipating policies;
• Contributing to the stabilization of markets and companies;
• Mobilization around common objectives shared by the entire international, national, and local community

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What's the state of affairs worldwide and in Canada?

Five years after the launch of the SDGs, the next decade will be entirely dedicated to achieving the various goals and targets set for 2030. Internationally, the SDGs are gradually becoming a recognized sustainable development steering framework for the private sector. However, there are continuing difficulties in integrating the SDGs across the board into the business model, and in identifying precise targets and performance indicators.

• Internationally, in 2019, 65% of organizations identified and prioritized specific SDGs, while only 14% demonstrated good practice in operationalizing the SDGs, including targets, indicators, and a performance monitoring process (PWC, 2020).
• In Canada, in 2019, 33% of the 250 organizations in the TSX composite mentioned the SDGs in their reporting exercise. Of these 33%, only 14% include the SDGs in their business strategy, and very few identify targets and indicators linked to specific SDGs (PWC, 2020).
• In Quebec, in 2018, 25% of organizations listed on the TSX composite mentioned the SDGs in their business strategy (BCE, Bombardier, CN, Power Corporation, Power Financial, Semafo, SNC Lavalin, WSP) (PWC, 2019).
• There is thus a discrepancy between the intentions of senior executives to align themselves with the SDGs and the reality of operationalizing objectives and targets in organizations.

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What are the challenges facing organizations?

There is thus a real gap between the alignment of leadership teams with the SDGs and operational action for management teams.
This discrepancy between words and deeds demonstrates that leaders and managers face many challenges when integrating the SDGs, including:

• Interconnectedness of the SDGs: the 17 Sustainable Development Goals are deeply interconnected, and it is sometimes difficult for managers to establish the limits of action for each of the goals. Given this interconnectedness, actions taken to achieve one SDG can sometimes undermine the achievement of another.
  To address them systemically, the World Benchmarking Alliance has established seven cross-cutting and systemic systems to address the goals in a cross-cutting way and accelerate the achievement of a more resilient world.
• SDG-Washing: some organizations select and prioritize SDGs on which their performance is already established, thus leading to a greenwashing posture (e.g.: the fight against poverty for financial institutions).
  The exercise of prioritizing SDGs based on past performance must be replaced by a prioritization strategy anchored in materiality principles in order to avoid greenwashing.
• Complex management system: many organizations lack the time and financial resources needed to implement an SDO performance management system.
  To facilitate operationalization, we recommend analyzing the potential for integrating the SDG management system into existing structures, such as ISO 9001. In addition, this system should be integrated into a digital management tool to facilitate agile and efficient deployment.
• Accountability and continuous improvement: while the multiplication of extra-financial accountability standards poses many challenges for internal teams, the SDGs add a degree of complexity by including new quantitative and qualitative indicators, which require adequate resources and the development of a track record of the company's trajectory. In addition to communicating its overall performance, the principles of continuous improvement remain the foundation enabling a company to lend credibility to its approach.
  Many managers call on experts to accelerate the adoption of management tools to facilitate the task of teams during the reporting phases (monitoring, balance sheets, communication of results, etc.).

How do you approach the SDGs in your organization?

At COESIO, we work to help executives pilot the integration of sustainable development to deploy eco-responsible business practices. Our customized approach is inspired by the approach to integrating the SDGs proposed by the Global Reporting Initiative and the United Nations Global Compact in the book Integrating the SDGs into corporate reporting: a practical guide.

1. Raise awareness and engage
A critical step is to raise awareness of the SDGs among key internal players and to engage them in a global reflection process aimed at embedding them transversally in all the organization's activities. This is a unique opportunity to establish a transparent and engaging dialogue between the various internal stakeholders. We support you in the development of co-creation workshops, aimed at involving your internal stakeholders, and contribute our expertise, particularly in the gathering and analysis of data (surveys, benchmarks) concerning the SDGs, your business strategy, and your innovation prospects.

2. Plan strategically
An SDO planning process must enable you to prioritize according to your business opportunities and risks, while taking into account the impacts of your decisions and the concerns and interests of your stakeholders. We support you in your strategic planning exercise, using an approach, a process, and management tools aimed at achieving your strategic objectives, and intrinsically, reaching the SDGs.

3. Operationalizing the SDGs
Operationalizing the SDGs is a challenge that can be tackled by implementing an integrated performance management system. This is an opportunity to deploy agile project management best practices. We can support you through this organizational change, in particular by drawing up an action plan, monitoring performance, and helping teams acquire new skills.

4. Measure for better progress
The implementation of actions has begun. You need to ensure constant support for your teams, so that they can react to changes in the market and the performance of your initiatives. This is the time to provide teams with the tools they need to compile quality information, make decisions based on enlightening data, and benchmark themselves against the competition. We provide you with quality support to help you compile your data, keep a strategic watch and analyze your situation in relation to industry best practices.

5. Taking stock
Taking stock enables us to draw conclusions about the efforts made concerning the objectives to be achieved, and to adjust our aim if necessary. It's a good time to draw up a list of what we've learned, the strengths we've integrated into our management culture, and the avenues for improvement. We support you in this reflection exercise through dynamic exercises and workshops involving the various internal players in the process.

6. Reporting
The purpose of reporting is to communicate to stakeholders, regularly, the results achieved in terms of your organization's performance. It's an opportunity to align your communications with the best international standards for sustainable development disclosure (GRI, IIRC, SASB). We support you in your accountability and the drafting of your sustainable development reports so that you can demonstrate your progress concerning the SDGs.

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Where to start?

As specified by the UN, the efforts of all players in society, including businesses, are needed to achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. Organizations need to change the way they think and act and to adopt a long-term vision that integrates sustainable development principles into their raison d'être.

For most organizations, entering this new paradigm may seem difficult, but this perception is often quickly outweighed by the benefits unlocked and the adaptation to the expectations of their stakeholders and constituents. Aiming for sustainable development means better workforce retention, stronger consumer loyalty, new opportunities and greater access to investment.

Don't hesitate to contact the COESIO team for support in your responsible approach to integrating the SDGs into your strategy. Stay tuned for more information on our new offers and services on the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

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Written by:

Charles Duchesne, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Elizabeth Duboc, SDO Analyst

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