Considered by some as “the closest thing the Earth has to a strategy”, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2030 can’t be any closer to realization if it is not by raising millions of dollars worth of private sector funds. As confirmed by the Rockefeller Foundation, which estimates the annual SDGs funding gap —that is excepted to be filled by the private sector— to be no less than $ 2.5 trillion. And thus makes impact investing so much needed especially that it has the potential to leverage new financial mechanisms such as the development of new pay-for-performance tools to finance high-impact small and medium-sized enterprises or blockchain enabled solutions that creates economic identities for refugees and displaced populations, to name a few.
And while 2018 made history last January as the first year that ditch the first purpose of doing business to doing more than business[1]. The sustainability metrics’ insufficient standardization and consistency in the sector make it hard to even spot —let alone track— the relationship between the ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) Issues and their impact on the SDGs achievement.
This MIT Sloan Management Review article[2] did a very insightful first analysis of how companies could understand and thus trace back which performances on their ESG outcomes contributes to one or more SDGs. When companies can systematically track their progress on ESG outcomes that impact the SDGs, they can effectively and strategically choose to contribute to the achievement of SDGs by working on their ESG outcomes.
[1] http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/3ylOJiiPiZXtJ1S998GA4M/The-making-of-subprime-in-sustainability.html?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_search_srp_content%3B2FthG7Q%2FQ%2FWUcCrV1t9rIg%3D%3D