‘Business Avengers’ pledge to advance SDGs

The recent UN summit on climate change in New York has generated plenty of interest in solutions. One initiative that seeks to enact meaningful change is “Business Avengers.”

Bringing together 17 leading corporations with $500 billion in total revenue, the initiative aims to help achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. Unilever, Microsoft, Nike, Mastercard and other heavy-hitters in the corporate world have all signed on. 

Many of the companies on the list already have solid SDG agendas and are on track to meeting their 1.5°C climate targets. Yet ambitious collaborations of this kind allow for scaling up efforts to make sustainability a new normal in the corporate world. Based on an announcement, each company has paired with one SDG they will lead on while also actively supporting all the others. The actions will be coordinated by Project Everyone, which represents a global team of communicators committed to spreading messages on SDGs.

Richard Curtis, co-founder of Project Everyone, notes: “We’ve made some progress but nowhere near enough to deliver on the promises made by all nations in 2015. It is now mission critical to inspire and engage the world to set the path for a decade of delivery.” Curtis believes that “Business Avengers” can help to close the gap toward desired targets through using the power of technology, finance, innovation and other factors crucial to achieving the goals.

For the corporations involved, it makes good business sense to have joined the initiative. A stake is the “$12 trillion prize” that businesses can expect to achieve in terms of new market opportunities from making SDGs happen. Who wouldn’t want to do good if it also helps them make plenty of money?