New CEO Guide to the Sustainable Development Goals Highlights Competitive Advantage for Sustainable Businesses

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) today launched the CEO Guide to the SDGs - a new resource aimed at galvanizing engagement from global business leaders in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The CEO Guide to the SDGs sets out clear actions that CEOs can take to begin to align their organizations with the SDGs and plot a course towards unlocking the value they represent.

It draws on the landmark research of the Business & Sustainable Development Commission which has found that achieving the SDGs could be worth at least US$12 trillion a year in market value by 2030 and create 380 million jobs in the process.

Highlighting the critical role for business in realizing  the SDGs, the Guide also explores the business implications of the SDGs across the spectrum of risk, opportunity, governance & transparency, and the need for collaboration.

The Guide’s foreword is signed by WBCSD President & CEO Peter Bakker alongside Paul Polman (CEO Unilever and Chairman, WBCSD), Sunny Verghese (Co-founder and CEO of Olam) and Svein Tore Holsether (CEO, Yara International), in their capacities as both Council Members of WBCSD and Commissioners of the Business & Sustainable Development Commission.

"The SDGs provide us with a new lens through which to translate global needs and ambitions into business solutions", said the four CEOs

“These solutions will enable companies to better manage their risks, anticipate consumer demand, build positions in growth markets, secure access to needed resources, and strengthen their supply chains, while moving the world towards the delivery of the SDGs.”

The CEO Guide will be translated into several languages over the coming weeks (in Spanish, Portuguese and Japanese) and is complemented by a short video and a foldable pocket guide.

The CEO Guide can be downloaded from the SDG Business Hub, a central resource for information, tools, case studies and insights to support business as it looks to align with the SDGs.

For more information, please contact:
Felicity Glennie-Holmes
WBCSD Communications
glennie-holmes@wbcsd.org  
+41 (0)22 839 31 00
+41 (0)79 933 3665