Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Rise of Stakeholder Capitalism

We live in a world of checks and balances where solving one problem often causes another problem down the line. For instance, as society looks to solve our climate crisis, we know there will be sacrifices for consumers, for employees, for employers, for communities, and for economies.

This comes at a time when we are seeing a shift (back) to stakeholder capitalism, where companies are being asked to take a fulsome view of their purpose and value to stakeholders beyond their shareholders. This shift has underscored the importance of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a multi-stakeholder approach to incite change.

The Agenda, created in 2015, consists of 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 169 targets that can be used by corporations as a voluntary reporting framework. The SDGs specifically address the challenges of an interlinked civilization that seeks to create peace, just transitions, and sustainable production and consumption. Stakeholder capitalism, if it were to be measured, could start with SDG reporting.

In our short video, The Relevance of the Sustainable Development Goals for Issuers, we provide a Canadian perspective on why the goals are of interest to investors, and how companies can start their SDG reporting journey. As you will hear, many investors are already looking for companies and/or projects that align to the SDGs, and more investors plan to do so. Further, the video provides initial steps for issuer SDG reporting, such as stakeholder engagement and identifying which of the goals and targets are relevant for your company and its operations.