April’s ESDN Spotlight interview features James Gomme, director of SDGs at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. The WBCSD is a network of over 200 leading businesses around the world, cooperating to accelerate the transition to a more sustainable future. The objective is to leverage the innovation and leadership capacity of businesses to achieve a vision for a good life within planetary boundaries by 2050. The WBCSD has always oriented its work by the principles of SD, and the SDGs have provided a stress test for previous efforts.
Companies can make use of the SDGs by incorporating them into their business strategy and into their monitoring. According to James Gomme, there are huge opportunities for businesses when they embrace the 2030 Agenda. In fact, he predicts that those businesses who adopt the 2030 Agenda early on will be more successful in the long run. For this, however, there needs to be clear government policy on the SDGs, and governments need to communicate the expectations they have of businesses. Overall, James Gomme notices a strong desire of governments to work together with businesses in order to tackle systemic challenges.
The interview was conducted by Prof. André Martinuzzi, Coordinator of the ESDN Office and Head of the Institute for Managing Sustainability. If you would like to inform colleagues who may be interested in sustainable development, there is a Teaser Video of James’ interview available on the ESDN’s YouTube Channel.