While partnerships are a widely accepted means to complement government policy and implementation, USCIB’s Business Experts Roundtable on Enhancing Impact of SDG Public Private Partnerships (PPP’s), which was held on the margins of the UN General Assembly, zeroed in on the special attributes and expectations relating to such partnerships for SDG implementation.

The Roundtable, hosted by Deloitte in New York, provided feedback from experts and invited speakers from companies, the U.S. government and UN entities to comment on what they considered to be the essential ingredients for impact when it came to designing and implementing those cooperative approaches.

Kay Thompson, Deloitte, served as a facilitator for the session, and encouraged the speakers to reflect on failures as well as successful experiences in their experience with SDG partnerships.

Justin Perrettson, Novozymes, who also serves as vice chair of USCIB’s Environment Committee, offered opening comments on the misperception by many of partnerships as an “easy option.”  Many of the important elements for success and resilience in partnership appear after the initial memorandum of understanding, in their implementation.  Any discussion of ingredients for impact would have to prioritize PPP execution along with PPP design.

Thomas Debass, who represented the State Department Office of Global Partnerships, highlighted the innovation and new ideas that private sector entities can bring to governments and inter-governmental organizations via partnerships.  Many companies have moved to embed the SDG’s into their business model, and this is a development that will certainly extend the positive impact of PPP’s.

Stefanie Amadeo, of the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, added to that observation, reflecting that the UN could learn a great deal from the private sector in SDG PPP design and implementation.

Charles North, U.S. Agency for International Development (AID), reminded the meeting of AID’s long history and experience in partnering for development with business; these experiences lend themselves to data mining to help understand the specific circumstances that enable success and impact.  More recently, he noted that the longest running and most effective PPPs are those in which the private sector partner sees core business opportunities, beyond corporate philanthropy and social responsibility.  He concluded by identifying challenges ahead on SDG PPPs, particularly those relating to differences in language and expectation between public and private sector partners.

Vinicius Pinheiro of the International Labor Organization (ILO) spoke about 3 main elements for impact in SDG partnerships: shared values, clear and concrete commitments and follow-up mechanisms.

Helen Medina of Nestle, and a former USCIB staffer, observed that corporate culture is fundamental in SDG PPPs, and that is a major factor in Nestle’s approach.  For Nestle, almost any business activity involves partnership in some form, hence it is regarded as an integral part of doing business.  The SDGs resonate with Nestle’s strong focus on corporate responsibility, which is expressed in actions at the community level as well as from Nestle’s C-suite.

Sahba Sobhani, UNDP, talked about the ability of the UN system and network to bring multiple business platforms together on a large scale for impact, for example recently on disaster response.  The UN provides an essential ingredient for impact in its capacity building work, including with business groups in country.  He flagged the 3 C’s for SDG PPP impact: Convening, Catalyzing and Mobilizing Capital.

Livio Vanghetti of PMI described the challenges of internal transformation as the company moves to reinvent itself and its products, while still advancing SDG PPPs through their supply chains and local farmers.

Tara Nathan, MasterCard also emphasized the importance of commercial frameworks that can support innovative partnerships, whether through data or supply and value chains links.  For SDG PPP impact, these frameworks should be sought out and aligned with SDG implementation.

Alex Assanvo of Mars shared his experience with SDG PPPs and the need to translate what the SDGs set out into practical changes across diverse and often disconnected business functions, including procurement.  Bringing development agency partners together with business partners can require multiple attempts until the right arrangements and flexibility can be reached.

Throughout the Roundtable, speakers agreed that delivering the SDG’s depends on involvement of the private sector, and a substantial component of that practical contribution will come through partnerships.

USCIB’s SDG Working Group will develop a white paper that will capture and expand on the areas mentioned in this Roundtable, with a focus on U.S. business and the role it can play to scale up the impacts of SDG PPP, working collaboratively through U.S. government and in the context of the United Nations system.

Please contact Norine Kennedy or Gabriella Herzog for more information

USCIB convened a Business Experts Roundtable on Data Analytics for the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and National Reports, on September 19, kindly hosted by KPMG.  This session, held on the margins of UN General Assembly (UNGA) week, was intended to start a conversation about how to organize, analyze and improve on frameworks to present and analyze SDG-related data, with a focus on private sector approaches that are already in use.

OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria opened the meeting with a statement of wholehearted commitment by the OECD to advancing SDG action by governments.  He reminded the meeting of extensive data and assessment that the OECD has gathered, but also recognized that the quantity and variety of metrics is overwhelming.  He expressed appreciation for U.S. business involvement on these topics through the Business and industry Advisory Committee to the OECD, and looked forward to further insight that business could offer in organizing what is becoming “too much” of a good thing: data and metrics on SDG action and impact.

USCIB members offered two presentations as examples of business thought-leadership in this area.  Tam Nguyen and Michael Yamoah, Bechtel, described a textual analytics framework to strengthen the business case within the company for SDG action.  The overall objective in the company was to shift from SDG reporting to formulating a strategy that would be integral to the entire business process: new business development, design, building and operation.  Text analytics of national voluntary reviews did provide a structured approach to organize and make sense of voluminous amounts of unstructured data related to business lines, markets and SDG’s.

Gaya Branderhorst, KPMG, provided an overview of dynamic risk analysis (DRA) and its applicability to tracking SDG actions.  In her presentation, DRA is well-suited to sustainability science, reflecting the inherent inter-connections of the SDG’s.  A systems dynamic approach to gauging progress will need to elicit multiple experts, and involve all levels of an organization or company.  This is especially relevant to emerging issues and innovation, which may not be visible to the top levels of a government, inter-governmental and business entity.

Jennifer Park, a representative from the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, observed that the U.S. government also tracks dozens of statistics and other metrics, and spoke about the need for a structure that would allow a “full picture” of sustainable development status and progress.  Carolien DeBruin of C-Change underscored the need to bridge between top-down data gathering and interpretation and working and grassroots experiences in practice.  Manu Bhardwaj of Mastercard provided a perspective on data poverty in developing countries, and the barriers that poses for SDG action.  He described recent efforts in the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth to work with the OECD on utilizing private sector information from consumer transactions to help inform SDG policy priorities.

National governments and other important societal partners are expected to take action on the 17 goals and 169 targets of the SDGs, but governments and business now face the challenge of how to measure progress on multiple and integrated fronts, and then communicate it to important stakeholders.  In addition, many stakeholders are seeking more disaggregated data, which adds another level of complexity.  For business, that means reaching internal audiences as well as investors to demonstrate value and benefit of a company’s SDG involvement, while national governments seek to demonstrate to their public and the international community – perhaps through Voluntary National Reviews to the UN High Level Political Forum – that they are delivering on their commitments.

Some governments have invited and reflected business information and metrics in their VNRs, but these are still in the minority, so a related question concerns a closer look at good practices in public consultation and gaining a better understanding of what business-generated or held information relating to SDG progress could also be useful to governments.

USCIB’S SDG Working Group will explore these and other dimensions of how to structure and understand data on SDG action and impact, and share further private sector experiences and suggestions in this regard.

Please contact Norine Kennedy (nkennedy@uscib.org) or Gabriella Rigg Herzog (gherzog@uscib.org) for more information about the USCIB SDG Working Group.

On the occasion of the high-level opening of the UN General Assembly in New York, USCIB announced new additions and improvements to the Businessfor2030 web platform. USCIB built the platform in 2015 to showcase business engagement on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s), and provide a public resource for businesses and others on SDG relevance, process, partnerships and implementation. The Business for 2030 website, www.businessfor2030.org, features new content in two areas: a just-launched “explore by company” page and featured blog posts on the importance and opportunity of UNGA for U.S. business.

The scale and ambition of the 2030 Development Agenda creates a tremendous opportunity for the private sector to demonstrate the central role it plays in sustainable development and human prosperity and to serve as an essential partner to bridging the gap in finance and technical capacity necessary to meet the challenge of achieving the SDG’s. The Business for 2030 site showcases business’ past and continuing contributions to sustainable development through the prism of the SDG’s. The goal of the site is to stimulate a more productive partnership between the public and private sectors at the UN and at national levels and to demonstrate the need for a proportionate role for business in the negotiations, implementation and follow-up mechanisms of the 2030 Development Agenda at both the UN and at national levels

The all new “Explore by Company” page on the Business for 2030 website allows users to filter by company for case studies of business contributions to the SDG’s, and complements the “Explore by Goal” page. The new page also simplifies the website’s search functions, aiding users who are looking for company-specific information.

The Businessfor2030 blog also included two new posts relating to UNGA:

• “What to Watch for During UNGA Week” features a DEVEX article that highlighted António Guterres’ UNGA debut as secretary-general, UN reform, President Donald Trump’s speech to the UN and humanitarian crises. It also flags the recognition of the need for private-sector engagement in order to achieve the SDG’s.
• USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson also contributed a featured post on the blog to reflect on where business fits into the complex multilateral and multi-dimensional challenge of the Agenda for 2030. The blog discusses how good governance and support from the private sector can help to achieve the SDG’s and sets out three broad challenges for SDG implementation by business: inclusiveness, innovation and information. Robinson commends the progress that has already been made, while simultaneously asking more of both the business community and the UN community in the future.

The Business for 2030 Twitter account (@bizfor2030) tweeted out specific case studies throughout the UNGA week linked to specific SDG’s and USCIB events. We invite companies to continue contributing their case studies to the Business for 2030 web platform by contacting Kristen Bauer (kbauer@uscib.org).

After the high level opening week of this year’s 72^nd United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), USCIB is moving ahead to draw attention to U.S. business accomplishments and recommendations as the UNGA now moves into its longer-term deliberations.

This year’s UNGA got underway during a time of stresses and strains in the international community. The nature of these stresses is particularly acute for the U.S. business community: a growing need for financing and investment in infrastructure, the open trading system called into question, and calls by some for a retreat from engagement in multilateral forums. How does American business plan for these challenges in the international marketplace, and where can we make the biggest difference?

The 72^nd UNGA is a particularly relevant forum for USCIB this year because it provides platform to begin addressing these very questions through the lens of the UN’s 2030 Development Agenda and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This year’s UNGA is also compelling because of the opportunities that UN reform proposals by Secretary General Guterres and others could offer to strengthen business access and enabling frameworks for business action.

In the face of challenges such as global unemployment, climate change and population growth, USCIB events last week spotlighted our members’ view that the SDGs are “must-wins” for the United States and for the American business community. While economic growth abroad helps create jobs at home, open markets and policies that foster private investment offers new markets for our products. In USCIB’s view, private sector-led innovation aimed at improved sustainability gives the U.S. a leg-up in global competition while advancing investment in energy sources and new technologies to combat climate change.

USCIB’s side events and messaging during UNGA’s high-level opening week also emphasized multilateral solutions to global challenges, with USCIB policy experts and its members constructively contributing to dialogues and forming close working relationship with both U.S. government and UN representatives to advance U.S. business contributions to sustainable development. USCIB’s commitment to the SDG’s was reflected in its theme, “Business Makes It Happen.” This continuing theme will emphasize that achieving the SDG’s relies on strong involvement, commitment and incentives for the private sector.

This newsletter consolidates summaries of USCIB-related side-events and activities during UNGA opening week and outlines outcomes and next steps.

For questions regarding USCIB’s work on Sustainable Development, please contact Norine Kennedy, vice president for strategic international engagement, energy and climate change: nkennedy@uscib.org.