Business has been placed at the front and centre of the UN’s plan for a sustainable future, released on 20 July. The plan includes 17 proposed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that will replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) when they expire in 2015. The proposed Sustainable Development Goals explicitly include an implementing role for business.

The proposed SDGs include promoting “sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all”. They also cover poverty, hunger, inequality, women’s empowerment, water and sanitation, energy, ecosystems, climate change and sustainable consumption and production. They will be considered by the UN General Assembly later this year, with the aim of adoption in September 2015.

Read more about the proposed Sustainable Development Goals and the role of business here.

Also see an op ed here from Georg Kell, Executive Director of the UN Global Compact on how business can be a force for good in the SDGs.

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