‘The clock is ticking for achieving Sustainable Development Goals’ is the title of a recent op-ed co-authored by Jan Peter Balkenende, Chairman of the Dutch Sustainable Growth Coalition and former Prime Minister of the Netherlands, and Jan-Willem Scheijgrond, Vice President of Government and Public Affairs at Philips and Chairman of the Global Compact Network NL, in which they sound a warning that little more than 4000 days are left to meet the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Published in the Dutch publication Het Financieele Dagblad and coinciding with the last day of the International Conference on the Dynamics of Inclusive Prosperity (November 29 - 30, Erasmus University Rotterdam), the op-ed highlights changes in business and education that need to be adopted if the SDG targets for 2030 are to be met. These include increased business demand for sustainable products and services, such as the Philips, AkzoNobel, DSM, Google consortium’s recent purchase of renewable energy from the Dutch Bouwdokken wind farm; integration of SDGs into companies’ long-term business strategies together with metrics and reporting structures that support investors; and embedding the SDGs into state education curricula so that future employees are aware of their importance.
On the day prior to publication of the op-ed, Philips CEO Frans van Houten spoke at the International Conference on the Dynamics of Inclusive Prosperity where he provided Philips’ perspective on the necessary business transformation and governance required to balance long-term sustainability and societal goals against short-term business objectives.
Read the op-ed here in Dutch (registration/paywall), or here in English (with the permission of Het Financieele Dagblad).
Listen to comments from Frans van Houten about inclusive prosperity here.
Learn about Philips’ ‘Healthy people, sustainable planet’ program.
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