Director of UNEP Speaks on the Role of the Private Sector in Achieving the SDGs
Jorge Laguna-Celis sat down with Ethical Corporation to share his insight on the integral part that corporations have played in working towards the Sustainable Development Goals
In a recent interview with Ethical Corporation, the Director of Governance Affairs at UN Environment, Jorge Laguna-Celis, explained that engaging with the private sector has been part of UNEP’s “modus-operandi” since the SDGs were signed in 2015. According to Laguna-Celis, “the vision of our executive director Erik Solheim is very simple. In every division, every staff member, in every project he or she is working on, has to devote resources to engaging with the private sector.”
Last year, UNEP launched the Clean Seas campaign which called on the private sector to commit to reduce plastics use in production, product design and packing improve, measure and report actions to reduce marine plastic litter and microplastics and work with partners to raise the profile of this issue with their audiences. The Coca-Cola Company has been a major contributor to this initiative.
In the future Laguna-Celis claims that the UNEP wants to scale up its work on biodiversity, which he says has not received the same amount of attention as climate change. “We are working very closely with partners in the convention on biodiversity to ensure that the private sector is aware of the business opportunities in a large global partnership for protecting biodiversity”, he explains.
Jorge Laguna-Celis will be speaking at Ethical Corporation’s upcoming Responsible Business Summit in London on the integration of the SDGs into business strategy alongside Pedro Ortún, Lise Kingo and Filippo Veglio. For more information, download the event brochure here http://1.ethicalcorp.com/LP=17670
