The Council on Ethics and the AP Funds use the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) as part of their framework for both sustainability work as well as asset management.
The 17 SDGs, adopted by 193 member states at the United Nations in 2015, provide a globally shared framework to address the world’s most urgent sustainability challenges. Achieving the SDGs, which are divided into 169 sub-targets, requires commitment not only from governments and companies, but also from investors. The SDGs address global challenges including those to climate, inequality, environmental degradation, poverty and peace and justice.
The SDGs have achieved a broad reach and acceptance among companies and investors alike. For example, the SDGs are used as a framework for sustainability in dialogues with companies and in the development of financial products.
The SDGs show that sustainability is fundamental to the development of society as they help to stimulate investments that can contribute to solutions to major global problems. At the same time, the SDGs help set the conditions for long-term sustainable development.
There is a strong business case for investing in opportunities aligned with the SDGs, and the benefits of meaningful sustainability disclosures are well established. The 169 sub-targets need to be reworked in order to be used by companies and investors. The work on compiling metrics and indicators and to devise methods for reviewing and measuring the effects of different projects, dialogues or investments is ongoing. The companies operate in various sectors and are therefore faced with a range of challenges.