3GF Africa Regional Conference 2015 Partnership Market Place Business Actions on SDGs When: Where: Speaker: Wednesday, 13 May, 17:00-18:30 Tent in the fountain area Michael Kuhndt, Director, Collaborating Centre on Sustainable Production and Consumption michael.kuhndt@scp-centre.org, + 49 202 459 58 What is the green growth challenge you are trying to overcome? What are the key barriers to change? This partnership addresses the entirety of the green growth and sustainable development challenges, by enabling and supporting companies to contribute effectively to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which the global community is set to adopt at the United Nations in New York in September 2015. Given that the SDGs are new and currently still being finalized, companies are only just starting to pay attention to them and need be made aware and engaged in order to enable successful implementation of the SDGs. What is your partnership approach / hypothesis? In order for the SDGs to be achieved, the engagement and coherent action of different stakeholders - including the private sector - is required. A rapidly growing number of companies realize that they have to act as responsible corporate citizens and are taking action to address their environmental and social impacts as part of their continued economically successful operation. This partnership will assist business to integrate the SDGs into their operations and sustainability activities, thereby contributing to effective private sector action in support of the SDGs. Who are the partners involved and how? Who are the other stakeholders? The Collaborating Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production (CSCP), a non-profit “Think and Do Tank” brings its expertise in cooperating in depth with individual companies of varied size and from different sectors and geographies on enhancing their sustainability actions. The UN Global Compact (UNGC) - Food & Agriculture brings its large network of companies with a specific interest in such topics. Further stakeholders have been and are invited to join the partnership, including businesses, business coalitions and their partners, experts and advisors. What are your partnership objectives and what achievements have there been to date? As a precondition to this partnership, we will first raise awareness of the SDGs among African companies. The objective of the partnership is to engage African business into the process of SDG implementation and thereby contribute to the overall success of the SDGs, which are the global effort to tackle these complex challenges. The CSCP is already in consultations with one large multinational company discussing their contributions to SDG implementation. What is the potential of this partnership to achieve impact and scale? The SDGs are the global effort to address sustainable development and business action is a key ingredient to successful implementation. With the expertise and guidance of the CSCP and the UNGC - Food & Agriculture, business will be actively engaged and supported to contribute to SDGs. The partnership is looking for interested companies and other stakeholders to join and foster exchange and synergies.