All Eyes on a Sustainable COVID Recovery

The landmark annual global gathering to drive action in support of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) starts today – with nations and stakeholders focused on how a resilient and inclusive response to the COVID-19 pandemic can be the pathway for achieving the 2030 Agenda.

The UN High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF, 6-15 July) sees 43 countries update on their SDGs progress and culminates in a three-day ministerial session to crystalize action. This year is a virtual-only format and GRI, as provider of the world’s most widely adopted sustainability reporting standards, is hosting and participating in a series of events:

7 July (2.00 pm EDT): Fostering evidence-based decision-making for sustainable and just COVID recovery and transformative SDG implementation

This GRI co-hosted session will explore the need for measurement and data in order to enable SDG decisions and policies that lead to impact-driven solutions. It will showcase the tools and resources that can help, including the SDG Corporate Reporting Tracker in Colombia, which Andrea Pradilla (Director, GRI Hispanic America) will present on.

8 July (7.30 am EDT): The key role of innovative partnerships and transparency for the SDGs

GRI, UNDP Business Call to Action and Enel are holding a session on the need for multi-stakeholder cooperation and business engagement to accelerate a sustainable and resilient post-pandemic transition. Examples will be shared by experts from nine countries and speakers include GRI’s Asthildur Hjaltadottir (Chief Regional Officer) and Peter Paul van de Wijs (Chief External Affairs Officer).

8 July (1 pm EDT): SDGs From cities' perspective: achievements and challenges for the elaboration of Voluntary Local Reviews in local governments in Latin America

How can cities collaborate on inclusive solutions, promoting a citizen-centered vision to address the crises in public health, the economy and society? GRI’s Andrea Pradilla participates in this dialogue session that include perspectives from the mayors of Bogota, Buenos Aires, Lima, Madrid, Montevideo and Rio de Janeiro.

In addition, GRI and UN Global Compact are arranging a multi-stakeholder event on 15 July, to explore the benefits of double-materiality in business reporting on the SDGs, and the UN’s perspective on the SDGs-relevance of corporate data. Contact GRI for more information about this invite-only session.

Looking ahead to the HLPF, GRI’s Peter Paul van de Wijs said:

“Since the SDGs were adopted in 2015, GRI has been a strong and vocal champion for partnerships that recognize the role of the private sector in driving progress. The pandemic has only further emphasized why more collaboration is needed, to ensure we can secure a sustained and inclusive pandemic recovery.

The High-Level Political Forum is therefore a key moment for global dialogue on the collective sustainability challenges we face. GRI looks forward to contributing to that debate, to secure solutions that are empowered by transparency on organizational impacts and actions.”

GRI works with organizations around the world to support the integration of corporate sustainability data into the Voluntary National Reviews (the status check on SDGs progress by individual countries), which has included a GRI-led partnership in Indonesia.

GRI provides free resources and tools on how to integrate the SDGs into sustainability reporting. GRI recently published a new version of Linking the SDGs and the GRI Standards and recommendations for policy makers on using corporate reporting to strengthen the SDGs. 

Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is the independent, international organization that helps businesses and other organizations take responsibility for their impacts, by providing the global common language to report those impacts. The GRI Standards are developed through a multi-stakeholder process and provided as a free public good.