The Sustainability Goals and Relevance for Business

Owing to the perishing effects over resources, fast pacing world has ordered the mushrooming effects of global sustainability standards by international organizations. Hitting conventional processes and resolving to improvisations has become the prime agenda for nations and companies. But why is it required to have a set of standards for our modern societies and businesses or for the leaders to change their spectacular way of function and enter the ‘CHANGE’?
Modern society problems or the grand challenges like climate change, economic development, migration, or human rights, can be hardly addressed at the domestic level, and therefore we need international organizations to tackle them and to orchestrate the action of countries. Such voluntary standards, involving multi-stakeholder like governments, companies, civil society, and individuals have been formed after lengthy consultation and negotiation. These are called Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The global standards being more than sustainability-oriented are issue-specific or vertical such as business and human rights or business and children's rights. Business human rights involve how responsibility is conceived and attributed, thus follows the three-pronged approach of protect, respect, and remedy.
Global standards represent a crucial development in the collective ability to harmonize corporate behavior towards sustainability and across countries, thus, making these vital. However, it is expected to catch initial apprehensions and vulnerabilities by companies and policymakers, and especially small businesses. But perhaps it may be considered the only game in town soon and it is of paramount importance that businesses pay serious attention and include such standards in their way of function and delivery. Mapping companies’ institutional landscape accordingly can fetch both legal and social license to operate and long-term economic returns.
Following are the 17 international sustainable goals:
Goal 1   : No Poverty
Goal 2   : Zero Hunger
Goal 3   : Good Health and Well-Being
Goal 4   : Quality Education
Goal 5   : Gender Equality
Goal 6   : Clean Water and Sanitation
Goal 7   : Affordable and Clean Energy
Goal 8   : Decent Work and Economic Growth
Goal 9   : Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
Goal 10 : Reduced Inequality
Goal 11 : Sustainable Cities and Communities
Goal 12 : Responsible Consumption and Production
Goal 13 : Climate Action
Goal 14 : Life Below Water
Goal 15 : Life On Land
Goal 16 : Peace and Justice Strong Institutions
Goal 17 : Partnerships to Achieve the Goal

Latest Buzz:

India has issued 9 standards 2021 for sustainability. These goals comprise the essence of 17 UN goals and Millennium sustainable Goals 2000. These are:

1. Integrity, Ethics, Transparency, Accountability
2. Safe and sustainable goods and stakeholders
3. Well-being of employees
4. Respect and Responsiveness to all stakeholders
5. Respect and Promote Human rights
6. Respect, Protect, and Restore the environment
7. Responsible and transparent policy advocacy
8. Promote inclusive growth and Equitable development
9. Provide value to consumer responsibly

Minding the Basics: Knowing WHY, WHAT, AND HOW?

Nature has always been curious about what it consumes, imbibes, and replaces. Going forth the necessary resources, procure human functions and dependable, are limited. Therefore, this circle of demand and supply requires attention, monitoring, maintenance, and contributions by its ultimate beneficiaries, us. Our ability to maintain a balance between a certain level of inflow and replenishment of resources is sustainability. The culture of corporate sustainability is built upon 3 pillars - People, Profit, and Planet.
But what is corporate sustainability?
Demand, as we say, is nothing but accrued as finished goods and services. Owing to limited supply and increasing competencies among corporates, the utilization and exposure of resources are plenty to be called as sustaining incoming commodities for the companies. Corporate Sustainability is the new and evolving corporate management paradigm or methodology bringing cohesion between environment implications, economic growth, and social justice & upliftment. 
Further pushing the ‘Why?’ brings us to build logical connection and study the Concept of Tragedy of Commons. It summarizes that similar actions of opponents for growth, within competitive market and exploitation of common resources brings short-term growth and long-term failure and scarcity. Resource availability changes dynamically by the similar methodology of consumption. Thus, making sustainability our common endeavor.
In today’s scenario, beyond ‘’what” and “why”, organizations aspire to evolve towards Sustainability and learn “How”.
But just drawing a pen portrayal of theory in hand does not secure results because of few bottlenecks, like sudden switch towards Behavioral Economics against rising growing competencies and current market value. The concept of Behavioral Economics aids in taking decisions that would alter the conventional way of function of a business. It studies the biases, tendencies, and heuristics that affect the decisions that people make to improve, tweak or overhaul traditional economic theory.

Interpretation: 

Knowing the importance and relevance of sustainability for the future, the methodology behind corporate sustainability is pouring into the market among MNCs and par nations. Understanding the ‘why’ aspect and knowing the ‘what’, the world is heading towards the ‘How’. United Nations has published 17 goals for the same towards future sustenance and newer opportunities that benefit the 3Ps. Implementing this new management standard among giants and small businesses has some challenges as they need to revise their objectives, optimize their processes and carry the management and stakeholders along. To know the outcomes of short-term changes and long-term effects, businesses need to adopt the Behavioral Economics concept.

The market reaction towards large-scale similar actions of its components helps in maintaining calculative balance among consumption of resources and eliminating the “Tragedy of Commons” concept.