USCIB supports the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals. As the only U.S. business group with UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) NGO observer status, USCIB brings the voice of U.S. business to key UN deliberations pertaining to sustainability, working closely with its global sister business organizations, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the International Organization of Employers (IOE).
The SDG Working Group informs UN policy deliberations, and facilitates ongoing dialogue with UN officials, U.S. representatives to the UN, as well as other governmental representatives, business organizations and key stakeholders. In addition, it provides a platform for USCIB members to showcase their actions and initiatives to deliver the SDGs, through side events, webinars and active participation at key UN meetings and deliberations at the UN in New York and elsewhere around the globe.
USCIB’s Agnes Vinblad delivering a statement during the HLPF 2023 General Debate at the UN in New York
Ewa Staworzynska representing USCIB at the 2023 International Labor Conference in Geneva
Objectives:
USCIB’s SDG Working Group invites member participation from all sustainability related USCIB Policy Committees, including the Environment Committee and the Corporate Responsibility and Labor Affairs Committee.
The SDG Working Group:
- Advocates balanced economic, environmental and social policy frameworks to deliver the SDGs, mobilizing public private partnerships, and enhancing meaningful and substantive engagement of the private sector.
- Calls for inclusive multilateralism that provides transparent and meaningful opportunities for all sectors of business to contribute to scientific assessment, inform policy deliberations, and track, measure and improve implementation.
- Monitors and weighs in on business relevant UN deliberations under the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with a focus on where business helps advance the SDGs.
- Provides U.S. business views and involvement in relevant UN meetings, such as UN ECOSOC Partnership Forum, Science, Technology and Innovation Forum and Financing for Development meetings, leading up to the annual UN High Level Political Forum and the opening weeks of the UN General Assembly.
- Highlights U.S. business initiatives to integrate and deliver the SDGs, through official side events, high-level business dialogues, and other events.
Priorities for 2021 – 2022
The primary focus of UN discussions will continue to be on pandemic response and recovery, as the entire organization turns its attention to tackling thus multi-dimensional crisis, and develops proposals for integrated actions to “build back better.” Increasingly, UN institutions.
Other major developments in 2021 – 2022 include UN wide efforts to accelerate implementation of the SDGs and get back on track to meet 2030 targets, and follow-up from the UN General Assembly UN75 Global Dialogue, setting into motion consideration of options to make the UN more meaningful and responsive to current and future challenges.
USCIB’s SDG Group will continue to:
- Express business views in favor of good governance and rule of law, enabling frameworks for private sector infrastructure investment and innovation, and the importance of rigorous metrics and indicators to track progress in SDG implementation.
- Draw attention to the role of the private sector in converging pandemic recovery and sustainability action, and shine a spotlight on public private partnerships with and through the UN system.
- Inform the review of both the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and the HLPF, with a view to strengthening their effectiveness in advancing the 2030 Global Goals.
- Work with USCIB All In UN75 initiative and other business partners to make the case for inclusive multilateralism and public private sector partnerships with and through the United Nations.
- Maintain close cooperation with U.S. Missions to the UN in New York and Geneva to advance enabling frameworks for private sector solutions and engagement across the 17 SDGs.
- Continue to support of the Business and Industry Major Group as a recognized constituency in the United Nations in New York, for which USCIB serves as a co-chair.
Background
Launched in 2015, the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals represented a global consensus blueprint, setting out 17 goals and 169 targets for sustainability by 2030. The SDGs were developed in an inclusive series of meetings that sought and included input from non-governmental interests, and USCIB was able to observe and feed in its members’ views in the process – especially in including economic, job creation, partnership and good governance as integral elements of the SDGs and UN 2030 Agenda. USCIB has also represented its members in every meeting of the UN High Level Political Forum, the specific UN body that reviews national actions and seeks to strengthen implementation of the SDGs.
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Chair
Dr. Alejandra Castro
Global Head, Partnerships – International Organizations, Bayer
Staff
Ewa Staworzynska
Director, Corporate Responsibility and Labor Affairs
212-703-5056 or at ewa@uscib.org
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Agnes Vinblad
Director, Environment and Sustainable Development
212-703-5082 or avinblad@uscib.org
