SUSTAINABILITY BRIDGET WILLIAMS
Putting HR into sustainability Bridget Williams, from Bead and Proceed, explores where and how HR professionals can start to get to grips with sustainable development goals (SDGs).
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ccording to Forbes, sustainability is one of the 10 biggest business trends for 2021 everyone must be ready for. However, ‘trend’ suggests more of a fashion statement than a practice that determines our future. We’re hearing and seeing this word more often, and we know it’s important. It’s a term we all connect with but often find it hard to put into action, so, where should we start?
Where to start
In 2015, the New Zealand Government adopted a framework to help New Zealanders action sustainability: The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The SDGs focus on 17 diverse goals ranging from climate action to gender equality, to poverty, life on land and below our waters, to name a few. The SDGs are a blueprint and organised framework for international cooperation to help achieve global sustainable development for the 18
HUMAN RESOURCES
WINTER 2021
period of 15 years to 2030 (the SDGs’ deadline). Before you start thinking, “Oh, great, another framework”, the SDGs are different and have unique elements that make them particularly special: • because all 193 United Nations member states adopted the SDGs, they are the largest globally recognised framework for sustainability • they focus on sustainability in all its forms: economic, social and environmental, making them relevant to every industry • they hold developed nations accountable for helping developing nations achieve the goals by the 2030 deadline • the United Nations does not own the SDGs: we all do, which makes it the responsibility of everyone to take action. Taking action towards the SDGs starts by understanding them and connecting to the goals personally. At face value, the goals seem like colourful, fluffy aspirations. They are not! Like any SMART goal, they are defined and measured by their 169 targets and 232 indicators.
Next steps
Be sure to review the targets that sit behind the SDGs you align to,
and when selecting those you can focus on, be honest about how you can make a realistic and tangible contribution towards the goal. Think about the connections, platforms and resources you can leverage to take you from passively working in that SDG space to having a real impact. Then I encourage you to go one step further and align the SDGs to your workplace. Already we’re seeing the SDGs being weaved through organisational and business strategies and being reported against. HR is about people, and so are the SDGs. They are also known as the People’s Goals, and essential to the SDGs is the notion, ‘leave no one behind’. Forbes might tell us ‘sustainability’ is trending, but let’s turn that trend into action. We can start by connecting with the goals personally and using HR as a tool to take all staff on the journey – a journey to achieve the world we want and need by 2030. As quoted by Francois-Henri Pinault: “Sustainable development is a fundamental break that’s going to reshuffle the entire deck. There are companies today that are going to dominate in the future simply because they understand that.” Enough said.
