Lecture/Presentation

UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals – Impacts on Companies and their Stakeholders

October 13, 2015 6:00 - 8:00 pm

• Where: Baruch College Robert Zicklin Center for Corporate Integrity, Room 750 151 E. 25th Street (between Lex. & 3rd)
• Hosted by: SPN, Barch College
• Go to event website »

Between 2000 and 2015, United Nations Millennium Development Goals were powerful tools in setting the development agenda for nations, municipalities, companies and their stakeholders. They set time-bound quantifiable targets addressing the various aspects of extreme poverty, gender equality, education and environmental sustainability. In the last 15 years, the world has taken major strides towards achieving many of these goals, notably by helping to lift more than one billion people out of extreme poverty, reducing hunger, enabling more girls to attend school than ever before and to protect our planet. While there is still progress to be made, they were effective in generating new and innovative partnerships, galvanizing public opinion and showing the immense value of setting ambitious goals and measuring progress toward achieving them. They also provided strong leadership for business. The MDGs helped shape systems of sustainability reporting and accountability, such as the GRI framework; they have focused more attention on developing KPIs for sustainability, on ESG metrics, and on moving corporate valuation away from simple short term financial quarterly reports and towards a broader look at social value and environmental risks. As we embark on the post-2015 development agenda, the newly launched Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will set the agenda for global action for the next fifteen years. The SDGs cover a broadened range of sustainable development topics with 17 goals and 169 specific targets. They expand on the 8 previous goals (poverty and hunger, education, gender equality, maternal health, child mortality, HIV-AIDS, environmental sustainability, global partnership) and incorporate new goals and targets related to sustainable energy, economic growth and employment, resilient infrastructure, inequality, improvement of cities and settlements, sustainable consumption and production, climate change, sustainability of the seas and ecosystems, and a promotion of peaceful, inclusive societies. This discussion will address what the new SDGs mean for the business community, seeking to answer: How will the SDGs push the sustainability agenda forward, involving companies as partners? What are resources for companies seeking to align their corporate responsibility goals with the SDGs? What impact will they have on the development of legislation or incentives affecting companies? About the Sponsors The Sustainability Practice Network (SPN) is a New York based inter-disciplinary community of professionals who seek to learn and share knowledge to advance sustainable development across sectors and disciplines. We mobilize our members to practice sustainability in their lives and work. Our mission is to raise awareness of the importance of individual and corporate sustainability and thereby create a more stable and equitable world. Baruch College – Robert Zicklin Center for Corporate Integrity The Robert Zicklin Center for Corporate Integrity is a forum for discussion of a broad range of contemporary issues confronting US corporations and capital markets. Our concerns include: transparency of corporate reporting, corporate governance, examining legal and ethical corporate behavior, spotlighting executive accountability, corporate responsibility in global business development, risk assessment and amelioration, resolving conflicting corporate stakeholder interests, and evaluating the role of governmental regulation. Panelists: Tara Nathan, Executive Director of International Development, MasterCard Gavin Power, Deputy Director, UN Global Compact Emily Grady, Manager North America, World Business Council for Sustainable Development Alyson Genovese, Head of Corporate l Stakeholder Relations, Global Reporting Initiative Moderator: Ariel Meyerstein, VP Labor Affairs, Corporate Responsibility and Governance, US Council for International Business Please RSVP [email protected]

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