SDGs in Strategies Event: Through the Eyes of Leaders and Stakeholders

On January 14th, 2030 Builders hosted an event called “SDGs in Strategies”. That took place in the Verdensmålhuset – the Sustainable Development Goals House. We had a lot of inspiring people coming. Sustainability enthusiasts, company leaders and stakeholders of multinational companies such as Leo Pharma and Siemens.

The main topics being discussed were the concept of sustainability, the reason for companies to work with the SDGs and their challenges to overcome.

In the beginning, we asked the participants about their New Year’s resolutions. Their answers were ranging from cutting down meat consumption, choosing a bike or public transportation over the car, investing in an electric car, sorting and eliminating waste and even choosing train travel for the holiday’s plans instead of a plane.

We also got to know that the majority of sustainable influences come from the young generation, children of our attendees that have a bigger influence on the whole family. It might be because the younger generation is the one being most affected by our unconscious behaviour and the one being responsible for the change.

However, when it comes to integrating sustainability in business, the situation is completely different.

It is okay to not be perfect

“There should be a high ambition for everyone. And most importantly – transparency, Mia Negru said. It is okay to not be perfect. And it is completely fine to have your business model far from the “sustainable” status. It is not fine, however, to refuse to put any effort into changing that.

Empowering human capital and the entire organizational hierarchy is crucial for any strategic decision. Especially if that decision has a significant influence on the world. And truthfully, that’s where many challenges come across.

According to Steen Dalsgård, in order to successfully work with sustainability, you need to have a purpose-driven company mission and make sure that Sustainable Development Goals do not only increase your profit but also create a reason for employees to work there.

Regarding integration SDGs into business strategies, the answers were as follows:

“I would start by looking at what problems my business or industry is generating. I would identify the negative impact and start acting upon that. In the long-term, I would look at how to make things even better.” says a representative of Siemens.

“We focus on Goal Number 3 – access to health, that is integrated into our business. On the other side, we also look at the climate and at our CO2 footprint” says a Leo Pharma representative. 

“The issue of integrating sustainability in each organizational culture varies from company to company. However, that’s where our platform makes things much easier. Since it’s a cloud solution, you just click on a link and go on a journey as a group. The alignment of the entire organization on sustainability concepts, frameworks and dilemmas facilitates the anchoring into the company’s strategy and creates engagement between departments. It paves the way towards the next step in working with sustainability goals” says Mia Negru.

The introduction of “Impact Play” Facilitation

After the presentation, the participants got a chance to test our “Impact Play” facilitation, which combines gamification with collaborative problem-solving. The facilitated process is recommended for organizations to provide their members with a hands-on strategy session. With this process, you will get a chance to connect macrotrends with local actions.

The integration of SDGs in long-term business strategies is something that can not be solved in 2 hours of the event. However, it was astonishing to see so many initiatives and curiosity spark up such valuable discussions from all our attendees. 

Solving global challenges definitely takes a large effort and collaboration and it is our purpose to empower everyone to participate, as we believe that sustainability is everyone’s responsibility.

To learn more about what our software can do for you, book a demo so that we can show it to you.