The Spanish Global Compact Network has presented its publication “SDGs Year 5, Collective leadership in the 2030 Agenda: a decade for action”, which analyses the level of knowledge and implementation of the 2030 Agenda in the most significant areas of organisations and highlights the need to promote collective leadership in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals ( SDGs). As a starting point for analysing and promoting collective leadership for SDGs within Spanish companies, the Spanish Network has carried out a survey on the integration of SDGs with 411 managers of 161 entities that are part of the Global Compact, belonging to 13 departmental areas, from executive management or top positions to human resources, marketing or purchasing departments.

The survey considers the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the integration of sustainability, among other aspects. In this sense, 84% of the area managers consulted believe that the pandemic will not affect their work in the field of sustainability or that it will improve its integration. A statement that carries significant weight in terms of the executive management and the board of directors, where 53% think that it will not have an effect and 30% support its positive impact. This last statement is a clear declaration of intent by business leaders in favour of the United Nations post-COVID-19 recovery motto “Build back better”, which encourages governments and companies to promote recovery based on sustainability and resilience criteria.

Sustainability strengthens resilience, understood as the ability to adapt to adverse situations. A more sustainable economy is also a more resilient economy; having a financial system and companies that not only focus on economic growth, but also on aspects such as health protection, innovation, the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions or the fight against inequality favours the long-term viability and stability of markets and investments, and protects the economy from times of high financial instability in the future.

The SDGs aim to address current and future problems that could lead to major economic and social crises, for example, climate change and its effects, the loss of biodiversity, natural resource depletion or future pandemics. According to a study by the University of Oxford, government recovery plans that incorporate climate goals can increase resilience to future crises and disasters, create high-quality jobs, and reduce emissions and pollution.

The crisis caused by COVID-19 has shown that protecting people and the planet is essential for protecting the economy. Society is also increasingly demanding that people and the environment be placed at the centre of government and business agendas. In this sense, according to research carried out by the World Bank, 3 out of 4 people around the world expect their governments to develop a recovery plan after the coronavirus crisis that places care for the environment as a priority, a percentage that in Spain stands at 77% of the population. On the other hand, 97% of Spaniards believe that more money should be allocated to public health.

Clara Arpa, President of the Spanish Global Compact Network, stated that "we firmly believe in the immense transformational capacity of companies, both in the business leadership potential of senior management, integrating the SDGs throughout the organisation, as well as in the collective leadership exercised by each person that makes up the company in favour of achieving the 2030 Agenda.”

To encourage companies to promote collective leadership within the organisation, the Spanish Network proposes 10 keys that range from the integration of the Ten Principles and the 2030 Agenda in the company's strategy, to the incorporation of variables linked to sustainability in the company's remuneration system.

Despite the significance of the SDGs and the 2030 Agenda, among the conclusions of the survey, it is striking that, despite the fact that 71% of area managers claim to have a broad impact on the 2030 Agenda through their activities, only 61% claim to know the 2030 Agenda in detail. In order to make progress in terms of achieving the goals by 2030, it is necessary to expand knowledge of them.

On the other hand, the survey also analyses the actions taken for integration of the 2030 Agenda within the organisation, where inclusion in the department's strategy stands out. This measure is taken mainly by the sustainability and environment areas, at 92% and 70%, respectively, while the financial, purchasing and regulatory compliance departments barely include the 2030 Agenda framework in their strategy (at around 33%).

The mapping of the SDGs, on the other hand, is carried out to a greater extent by the sustainability area and by the management and board of directors, at 77% and 58%, respectively. Areas for improvement include the establishment of public commitments, carried out by only 36% of those surveyed, as well as training in SDGs, as the average number of training sessions on SDGs offered to employees in different departments by companies stands at just 27%.

According to Arpa, “it is important that the SDGs are integrated in each and every area of the company, not only in the sustainability department, as they all have an impact on the 2030 Agenda. We are talking about a cross-cutting framework that must be placed at the centre of the company's strategy, with the aim of starting on the path to a better recovery from the crisis caused by COVID-19. And now, more than ever, we need the business sector to lead the transformation to fairer, more responsible, sustainable and resilient systems.”

The business world is also asking for urgent measures to be taken. Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, is also calling for the construction of a completely new foundation for global economic and social systems, with the aim of creating a fairer, more sustainable and prosperous world. Finally, the 2030 Agenda also offers important opportunities for stimulating economic growth and searching for new opportunities for companies. The International Energy Agency (IEA) has drawn up a Sustainable Recovery Plan for the 2021-2023 period with a special focus on promoting renewable energies or clean transport. If this plan is implemented, world GDP could increase by 3.5% and 9 million jobs would be saved or created by 2023. It would also reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 4.5 billion tons and provide access to electricity for 270 million people in countries with the most vulnerable economies.

In the European Union (EU), the application of circular economy principles to production and consumption models in the region could increase the EU's GDP by an additional 0.5% up to 2030 and create 700,000 new jobs. The acceleration of government and business plans to decarbonise the economy, in particular, and to promote sustainability in general, could have a very positive impact on job creation and therefore on economic recovery.

Presented on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the SDGs, the publication is also framed by the beginning of the Decade for Action for the SDGs - announced by the Secretary of the United Nations Antonio Guterres for the next 10 years -, and in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, meaning that collective effort is now needed more than ever to make the 2030 Agenda a reality. In fact, the Decade for Action is a chapter that carries a lot of weight within the document, whereby mobilisation, increased ambition and the development of innovative solutions are proposed as axes.

In order to increase business ambition in the SDGs, the publication includes the presentation of SDG Ambition, a new SDG application framework created by the United Nations Global Compact with the aim of serving as a roadmap for the integration of the SDGs and the Ten Principles of the Global Compact in any business strategy. As such, the document explores the three main elements of the framework: setting ambition in strategy and governance, integrating strategic elements into all operations and encouraging stakeholder engagement.

In short, the COVID-19 crisis has resulted in the need to promote an additional area to the three identified by the United Nations in the Decade for Action (mobilisation, ambition and innovation): the so-called Build Back Better or the need to rebuild a better future. Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations calls for all actors around the world to take advantage of the recovery processes related to the current crisis to place the 2030 Agenda at the centre of government and business strategies, in order to guarantee economic growth and the development of sustainable, resilient and inclusive societies. This unexpected future could be even better, but it is up to us to achieve it.