BCtA and GRI Release Findings on Measuring Business Impact on the SDGs

September 22, 2016 /3BL Media/ -- Today, Business Call to Action (BCtA) and GRI are launching a report that finds that governments are increasingly interested in accounting for private sector contributions to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a trend that has evolved from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The report, Measuring Impact: How Business Accelerates the Sustainable Development Goals, provides a first look at how governments are engaging with the private sector, and how business tools, impact measurement and sustainability reporting can be leveraged to measure, monitor and accelerate business contributions to the Global Goals. The report is a response to two complementary trends: increased efforts by businesses to capture their sustainability impacts; and rising interest from the public sector in capturing business contributions to the SDGs.   Measuring Impact identifies early lessons, from the field of impact measurement and sustainability reporting, that can be harnessed by governments and businesses that want to understand how the private sector can best contribute to a more sustainable economy and world. The report also maps current challenges facing many governments as they seek to account for the contributions of businesses to the SDGs. This includes the need for consistency and comparability of business information, and the importance of communication between constituencies, often in the context of a trust gap between government and business.   “In this first year of reviewing the SDGs, Measuring Impact serves as a signpost of what works, and what needs to be done to further integrate private sector information into the SDG follow-up and review process,” said Teresa Fogelberg, GRI’s Deputy Chief Executive. "We are thrilled to be partnering with Business Call to Action to raise awareness of these critical issues."   “What the report shows us is that many businesses are already capturing their efforts and progress on the social and environmental performance. Here, great potential exists for both the private and public sectors to support the world’s sustainable development agenda by, measuring business contributions to the SDGs” says Paula Pelaez, Head of Business Call to Action.  “BCtA and GRI will continue to take this message forward as we move into SDG implementation.”   Measuring Impact calls on governments to deepen their engagement with the private sector on policy-relevant SDG areas, and to account for business contributions to the Global Goals.  Businesses, meanwhile, can play a critical role by engaging with governments and beginning the process of aligning their impact measurement and sustainability reporting endeavors with the SDGs.   Measuring Impact: How Business Accelerates the Sustainable Development Goals is being launched today at BCtA’s 2016 Annual Forum in New York. Join our discussion on social media using #Measure4SDGs.   For more information please contact BCtA’s Impact Team Lead Tomohiro Nagasaki at tomohiro.nagasaki@undp.org and GRI’s Policy and Government Affairs Manager Punji Leagnavar at leagnavar@globalreporting.org   About Business Call to Action
Business Call to Action is a multilateral alliance that challenges companies to advance core business activities that are inclusive of poor populations, and contribute to the achievement of SDGs. Launched at the United Nations in 2008, BCtA is supported by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, UK Department for International Development, US Agency for International Development, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Government of Finland, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which hosts the secretariat.   BCtA members are market leaders and innovators who recognize that inclusive business drives innovation, builds markets and strengthens supply chains while improving sustainable earnings and empowerment among the poor. More than 165 companies have responded to BCtA worldwide. They have committed to improving the lives and livelihoods of millions with ventures that engage low-income people as consumers, producers, suppliers, and distributors of goods and services.   About GRI
GRI is an international independent organization that has pioneered corporate sustainability reporting since 1997. GRI helps businesses, governments and other organizations understand and communicate the impact of business on critical sustainability issues such as climate change, human rights, corruption and many others. With thousands of reporters in over 90 countries, GRI provides the world’s most trusted and widely used standards on sustainability reporting, enabling organizations and their stakeholders to make better decisions based on information that matters. Currently, 40 countries and regions reference GRI in their policies. GRI is built upon a unique multi-stakeholder principle, which ensures the participation and expertise of diverse stakeholders in the development of its standards. GRI’s mission is to empower decision-makers everywhere, through its standards and multi-stakeholder network, to take action towards a more sustainable economy and world.