5) Creating and Measuring Societal Value: The Role of the Sustainable Development Goals

Jillian Goltz, Chair of the organizing committee for the local community of B Corps in Alberta, implicitly explains the importance for a business to aspire to be in the top-right quadrant, “I think everyone has a role to play. I think it’s one thing for businesses to say, ‘we want to align our profit with purpose’, but you also need to look at the community that the business is in. Because if they’re not addressing the needs within their communities, from a purpose perspective, then it’s kind of irrelevant.” In addition, it is the opinion of a number of the Accelerators that in the future when determining the value a business is seeking to deliver other than profits it will need to look beyond its stakeholders and consider providing value for all of society.

This approach may sound rational, but there are undoubtedly challenges for business leaders to get away from the day-to-day and short-term pressures of maximizing profits for their organizations’ next quarterly report with the goal of investing more time, effort, and resources into ameliorating their stakeholders’ well-being.

5) Creating and Measuring Societal Value: The Role of the Sustainable Development Goals

“If it can’t create a societal benefit, then a business does not have a right to exist.” Faisal Kazi, President and CEO of Siemens Canada

If a business leader accepts that in the not-too-distant future the purpose of a business will go beyond generating profits for shareholders, owners, and/or investors and will be about creating and sharing value with society, the next question becomes ‘What type of value for society should a business create?’

A few Survey Participants submit there is a pivotal nuance to be aware of: it is conceivable for a business to be concentrated on a given purpose and to be sharing the value it is creating, yet not be creating ‘value’ that is a net positive for society. To illustrate, Kasha Huk, points out that there is an important movement afoot to have businesses internalize the externalities of creating their products or providing their services that before now, were never taken into account.

A couple of Survey Participants exclaimed that if this movement picks up steam, businesses better start to ‘future prep’ as their business models will potentially be completely outdated. Some Survey Participants - like Tamara Vrooman – explain that if the true cost that goes into producing products and services would need to be paid in totality by businesses, a significant proportion of them would not be as profitable as they are with the cost of the externalities being covered by government and ultimately the general public.

There are several Survey Participants, however, expressing uncertainty regarding how best to determine what is ‘value’ for society. A notable percentage of the Business Leaders argue that determining what type of ‘value’ for society is deemed positive is subjective and thus makes it difficult for a business to deliver on something that is ill-defined.

Although many of the Accelerators acknowledge that it is not necessarily easy, they believe there is a way to determine what is of ‘value’ to society objectively using the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (hereinafter referred to as the “SDGs”).

It is remarked by many of the Survey Participants that the SDGs are an international consensus on what the world needs and are, therefore, a logical way in which to determine what type of value a business should create for society.

The former Canada Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York, Marc-André Blanchard, flags that business leaders should refrain from searching for a better guide and use this internationally recognized one that “already exists and is all-encompassing”. An Accelerator surveyed is of the same opinion, “They are the right goals and the (UN) has put forward a comprehensive set of goals not just for governments but also for businesses.” Mary Ellen Schaafsma opines, “They’re an excellent framework to align efforts all in the same direction.” A Business Leader surveyed agrees, “It’s an extremely useful set of goals that allows everybody to orient themselves quite nicely.”

A challenge, however, is that the SDGs seem to suffer from low awareness amongst the Canadian business community. Chris Ragan estimates a very low proportion of the business community is engaged with the SDGs, “I’d be shocked if 10% of Canadian businesses understood the SDGs.” Marc-André Blanchard admits there is not a high level of awareness of the SDGs amongst the Canadian business community.

The majority of Survey Participants believe the SDGs suffer from limited awareness amongst the Canadian business community. In fact, 55% of Survey Participants state they judge there to be low or no awareness while only 8% believe there is high awareness and 32% are of the view that there is high awareness among some specific businesses, but low in most others. Amongst the Business Leaders group the percentage of those who respond low or no awareness jumps up to 61%.

Figure 12: Breakdown of Survey Participants’ assessment of the level of awareness of the UN SDGs within the Canadian business community

Figure 13: Breakdown of Business Leaders’ and Accelerators’ assessment of the level of awareness of the UN SDGs within the Canadian business community

One-third of all Survey Participants - 23% amongst the Business Leaders and 43% amongst the Accelerators group - respond that there is a high awareness of some Canadian business leaders and low awareness in most others. This ‘mixed bag’ of an answer is most likely explained by the fact that a number of Survey Participants are of the opinion that overall, there is low awareness, but a small number of businesses are more aware of the SDGs out of necessity. They opine that the necessity is attributed to certain businesses needing to be engaged on the SDGs as a result of the industries and/or markets they are in. One business leader explains that in the resource industry, the SDGs are very much a focal point, therefore, Canadian businesses need to be engaged on the SDGs as they look to develop natural resource projects around the globe.

Further, it is suggested by some participants that businesses with significant and diversified international operations and markets have higher awareness out of a requirement of doing business in regions that are more engaged on the SDGs. Mark Little explains, “Where we tend to see the UN SDGs a lot more is when we engage with the global business community.”

Furthermore, it is concluded by some Survey Participants that the level of awareness of the SDGs in the United States is low. They argue this low awareness, in turn, leads Canadian businesses in which the United States is their primary – and for some, only - international market to not engage with the SDGs as much as other businesses that have considerable international markets in other regions other than the United States. One Business Leader surveyed declares that they judge the engagement of the SDGs of the business community in Canada as higher than that of the United States but lower than that of the European Union. Should there be more SDGs?

Some of the Accelerators are advocating for three new SDGs to be included in the UN’s framework; Aging, Indigenous people, and Sense of belonging.

Another Business Leader surveyed offers a hypothesis as to why there is lower engagement with the SDGs in the United States and Canada, “I think a lot of these SDGs are targeted towards a developing world.”

Lisa Kimmel submits that even though some in the Canadian business community may be aware of the SDGs, whether the United Nations’ goals are at the heart of their business’ decision making and operations remains questionable, “Companies that are multinationals with Canadian subsidiaries may be signatories to the principles, but are they living them and are they part of what guides them?”

Indeed, it is worth underlining that a noteworthy number of the Survey Participants note that an important number of Canadian businesses demonstrate an interest in advancing the SDGs by often using them in CSR reports or annual reports. It is hypothesized by some Survey Participants such as Allyson Hewitt and Judy Cotte, however, that this is due in part to the fact that the businesses are reverse engineering desirable results with the corresponding SDGs. Meaning, instead of being intentional about advancing a specific goal, they highlight the areas they are currently working on and then link them to an SDG.

Vic Huard goes a step further and adds affirmatively that there are virtually no Canadian business leaders that can say the SDGs are truly serving as their guiding framework.

Denis Carignan, President of the Professional Aboriginal Testing Organization, effectively encapsulates the Survey Participants’ impression of the Canadian business community’s utilization of the SDGs, “I think that there are elements within especially larger corporations that are aware of them, but it really depends on what you’re doing and who you’re talking with as to the degree of awareness. I don’t think that any businesses have incorporated all of that into their business mantra.”

With all that said, most Survey Participants, even amongst those who are of the view that Canadian business leaders lack awareness concerning the SDGs, do believe the United Nations’ framework can play an enhanced role within the Canadian business community moving forward. Michael McKnight is of the view that “There’s more international recognition of it than there is local recognition of it in Canada, but it’s growing, it’s becoming a bigger and bigger topic.”

Some Survey Participants suggest there are numerous potential benefits to yield from the further engagement of the Canadian business community on the SDGs. Kate White, the President and CEO of the United Nations Association in Canada, submits that the SDGs represent an economic opportunity for Canada while Marc-André Blanchard, who points out that China’s five-year plan is based on the SDGs, opines that the United Nations’ framework represent an opportunity for Canada to exert more influence on the world stage as many countries will need help delivering on the seventeen goals.

Some Survey Participants observe that millennials and Gen Z are more aware of the SDGs. The Right Honourable David Johnston postulates, “I think the SDGs are impressive and good standard setters. I think they may not be nearly as well known in the business community in Canada, but I’ll tell you where they are - amongst young people.”

Given the younger generations will increasingly find their voices as employees, customers, and investor groups moving forward, there is assuredly reason to be cautiously optimistic about the future of Canada’s commitment to the SDGs.