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SDG Barometer 2020 Quo Vadis? SDG Quo Barometer Vadis? Insights on the engagement of 2020 organizations with the Sustainable Development Goals. A follow-up study of the SDG Barometer 2018 This study was supported by the Federal Institute for Sustainable Development Quo vadis Sometimes I choose a cloud and let it cross the sky floating me away. Or a bird unravels its song and carries me as it flies deeper and deeper into the woods. Is there a way to be gone and still belong? Travel that takes you home? Is that life? – to stand by a river and go. William E. Stafford (1914-1993) American poet and pacifist “As Member States recognized at the SDG Summit held last September (2019), global efforts to date have been insufficient to deliver the change we need, jeopardizing the Agenda’s promise to current and future generations. Now, due to COVID-19, an unprecedented health, economic and social crisis is threatening lives and livelihoods, making the achievement of Goals even more challenging. We need to turn the recovery into a real opportunity to do things right for the future.” António Guterres, UN Secretary-General SDG Barometer 2020 Table of contents Foreword by the Belgian Minister of Sustainable Development 6 4 Survey Results Part 3. SDG prioritization, relevance, and materiality 57 SDG prioritization A word from the deans 10 Perceived SDG relevance Difficulty to implement SDG materiality 1 Key takeaways from the SDG Barometer 18 4 Survey Results SDG materiality and BEL 20 companies 68 2 The SDGs and the SDG Barometer 24 SDGs in a global context 4 Survey Results Part 4. Monitoring, managing, communicating and partnering 72 The SDGs in Belgium The SDGs and COVID-19: build back better Tracking progress Management responsibility Communication about the SDGs 3 About the SDG Barometer 2020 34 Partnerships for the SDGs Historical context Partners 4 Survey Results Sector-specific insights 80 Objectives of the SDG Barometer 2020 Sector-specific insights Methodology Education Presentation of the results Governmental organizations Response demographics Non-governmental organizations 4 Survey Results 38 5 Conclusion 88 4 Survey Results Part 1. SDG adoption and engagement 38 6 Recommendations 92 SDG awareness and sustainability orientations Motivations for engaging with the SDGs 7 References 96 SDG driving forces Barriers 8 List of interviewed organizations 100 4 Survey Results Part 2. Strategic alignment of the SDGs 52 9 Contributors 102 SDG integration levels Relationship with sustainability strategy 4 5 Foreword by the Belgian Minister of Sustainable Development Zakia Khattabi to which many Belgian companies and Minister of the Climate, the Environment, organisations have contributed, clearly Sustainable Development and Green Deal shows that the goals have been extensively Foreword by taken on board in the business community. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals Not only that, but they are entrenched in the (SDGs) were adopted by the UN General way that these entities operate. In five years, Assembly in late September 2015, as all organisations, regardless of their size, part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable shape or status, have made the SDGs their the Belgian Development. They are intended to guide ‘business’. us towards a more sustainable world and society. Of course, there were those who led these moves, showing that it was perfectly possible Just five years ago, the SDGs were still, for to combine financial profitability, social Minister of many, a topic of discussion rather than a development, and respect for human rights strategic element in the management of a and the environment. These trailblazers Sustainable company or organisation. This barometer, opened up the path that many others have Development 6 SDG Barometer 2020 Foreword by the Belgian Minister of Sustainable Development taken since, and it is this path that the 2020 to these challenges also means economic an old and a new world, for if COVID-19 has to make the necessary changes and work SDG Barometer essentially seeks to highlight. opportunity, innovation and sustainability taught us anything, it is that the fates of towards a sustainable future. The barometer’s findings are clear: the SDGs for companies, progress for society and a everyone and everything on our planet are have found favour with Belgian businesses, meaningful future for humanity. inextricably intertwined. We must recognise And let us not forget that public authorities, institutions and academic establishments, this fact both in understanding the causes of NGOs and trade unions can also play a key which are shouldering their responsibilities The coronavirus crisis is an additional the crisis and in coming up with solutions. role in achieving the SDGs in Belgium. I am ever more systematically and with increasing and unprecedented challenge, and one committed to supporting all stakeholders commitment. that will leave a lasting mark on our lives There can be little doubt that we urgently and strengthening existing initiatives, guided and societies. Although primarily a health need to take action on a global scale, to by a firm determination to make the SDGs Nevertheless, major challenges remain, crisis, coronavirus is also having, and will adopt a long-term mindset and to pool our our common end point. many of them complex and some particularly continue to have, numerous socio-economic strengths and collective intelligence in order sensitive: supply chain transparency, respect repercussions. However, managing the to build (or rebuild) a sustainable world that for human rights in a globalised economy, pandemic and its impacts gives us the works for all. And companies have a major decent wages for all, preservation of natural chance to change course and seize new role to play in this endeavour. Painful though resources, protection of biodiversity and opportunities. I hope and trust that this it is, the coronavirus crisis is also an immense the fight against climate change. Facing up pandemic marks a turning point between opportunity for us all to come together “Facing up to these challenges also means “Painful though it is, the coronavirus crisis is economic opportunity, innovation and also an immense opportunity for us all to come sustainability for companies, progress for together to make the necessary changes and society and a meaningful future for humanity.” work towards a sustainable future.” 8 9 A word from the deans “It was the best of times, it was the worst of A word times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was from the the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the deans spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.” This is how the famous novel ‘A Tale of Two around change. Not just because COVID-19 Cities’ by Charles Dickens starts. Some 160 has dramatically altered many lives around the years later, the phrase reflects well what the world and the way people perceive the world, world is currently going through amidst the but because it is a symptom of a systemic COVID-19 pandemic. crisis. It is crystal clear that the year 2020 will be If anything, the cause and scale of the event remembered as a year of extreme turmoil. and the inadequacy of the system responses We have all witnessed the terrifying news, point at deep problems in the environmental, have heard surrealistic stories, and have governance and economic organization seen pictures that will leave a long-lasting of our society. The conventional misbelief impression. At the same time, we can that a status quo is a viable and imposed be proud of what humanity collectively option is definitely rejected. After crisis and has achieved in just a couple of months. urgency, the world is looking for resilience New sources of inspiration have revealed and sustainable solutions. Indeed, this is what themselves and there is reason to be hopeful the agenda of sustainable development is about the future. essentially about – it is an agenda of change. It is agenda that we should fully embrace in The main message that we take from the order to recreate the world we want and so COVID-19 pandemic, however, revolves desperately need. 10 11 SDG Barometer 2020 Against this background the SDGs are more important than ever. Together – recall that the goals cannot be seen in isolation – they represent a universal, indivisible, and integrated agenda for creating a better world. There is no better time to relentlessly pursue this than now. Or, as it has been popularly labelled, to build back better. Steven De Haes, This second edition of the SDG Barometer, Dean Antwerp Management School a joint effort of our institutions and other Belgian partners, shows that steps towards realizing the SDG agenda are being taken by business, government, non-governmental organizations, and educational institutions. It confirms the consolidation of the earlier observed changes and the signals the emergence of several new, promising trends that may further the realization of the SDG agenda. Koen Vandenbempt, The trend is very positive. Still, a word Dean Faculty of Business and Economics, of caution is in order: while respondents University of Antwerp recognize that the COVID-19 pandemic has shown the SDGs to be more important than ever, they also indicate that the economic crisis following the pandemic may delay the realization of the SDGs. We strongly think that the results of the SDG Barometer should encourage everyone – including us, at our own institutions – to step up our game and make sure that we build back better. We can use the collective spirit Per Joakim Agrell, that has guided us through the pandemic to Dean Louvain School of Management our advantage in doing so. 12 13 SDG Barometer 2020 SDG awareness in Belgium continue to rise… and the majority tends to PRIORITIZE A SELECTION OF THE SDGS rather 98% than focusing on the entire set of Nearly all organizations (98%) have goals or prioritizing one SDG.
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