The UN Sustainable Development Goals were created in September 2015 by the UN General Assembly. They are a universal target for UN Member States to use to frame their agendas and policies until 2030 as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The 2030 Agenda is designed to promote a fully inclusive world, “leaving no-one behind”.

The ultimate aim of the goals are to eradicate extreme poverty, inequalities and climate change by 2030. We believe that it is vital to support the Sustainable Development Goals and Novo-K is aligned to:

Goal #5 ‘Achieve Gender Equality and empower all women and girls’ and #9 ‘Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation, and foster innovation’

Goal #5

Goal 5 stands out for us as 80% of our own workforce are women. In March, we celebrated International Women’s Day as a team and the day gave us the chance to reflect on just how important it is to empower women across the globe. Our next ambition is to ensure greater equality in our own office with a better balance. A diverse team brings significant contributions from experiences different to own.

Goal #9

Goal 9 has significant relevance as a procurement solutions business, because we have a direct impact on the UN ambitions for inclusive and sustainable industrialisation including raising industry’s share of employment and gross domestic product. In other words, inclusivity and improving the sustainability of supply chains and their social impact.

Across the globe organisations align with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. We spoke to Development Perspectives, based in Ireland and York University, Canada about their interest and involvement in the goals.

Development Perspectives are a registered charity founded in Drogheda, Ireland. Their mission is “to contribute to lessening poverty, inequality and climate change through transformative education and active global citizenship”.

In 2016, they piloted the Sustainable Development Goals Challenge, which aims to “engage participants in a creative and meaningful way to take informed action to contribute towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals”. As of April 2019, over 3000 people had signed up to the Sustainable Goals Challenge, and 100 workshops had been held in Ireland, to an audience of over 2000 people.

Take their challenge: https://www.developmentperspectives.ie/SDGChallenge/index.html

We also spoke to York University based in Toronto, Canada. They also align and promote all of the Sustainable Development Goals.

York University were recently ranked 5th highest in Canada for the impact their promotion of the UN Sustainable Development Goals has had. They align with Goals #11, #13, #17, #12 and #10, ranking highly in terms of engagement and reach with each supported goal.

York’s global reach includes more than 300 universities, industry and NGO partners in over 70 countries. “These partnerships provide our students, faculty, staff and alumni with opportunities to contribute solutions to global challenges”.

Novo-K believe it is important to support other organisations that align with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, as well as supporting the goals themselves. Having a Social Responsibility Policy is something you do in isolation – aligning to the UN Sustainable Development Goals is how we all become better global citizens through our workplace.