Within the framework of the Congress “Economy and Sustainability, the commitment of the 2030 Agenda”, organized by Global Compact, the “Leadership and Report on the SDGs” dialogue was held in Bogota on may 3, bringing together investors, governments and civil society. The meeting, moderated by the Data Coordinator of Cepei, Fredy Rodríguez, focused on discussing the contribution of companies to the SDG implementation.
Global Compact is a corporate responsibility network which purpose is to generate actions that allow the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) through local networks. One of the most important local processes that must be promoted is the global dissemination of the actions carried out in the territory for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. For this reason, Global Compact convened this dialogue on leadership and reporting of corporate actions for the SDGs.
Taking into account that the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development requires collaborative work at the global level, in which the private sector plays a key role, the dialogue explored how companies can contribute to the achievement of the SDGs through innovative initiatives, and build confidence scenarios through transparent communication of their results. The growing interest of investors, governments, civil society, among other groups, in contributing to the implementation of the Global Objectives, encourages the creation of guides and tools that support the private sector in its accountability exercises.
General Objective
Generate spaces for reflection and experiences exchange, good practices, learning and collaboration, through partnerships that enable the analysis and performance of the regional economy, in order to face the challenges of sustainability in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.
Specific Objective
Align efforts at the local, regional and global levels to strengthen and coordinate effective interventions for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Guiding questions
What are private sector’s main challenges and progresses in the implementation and reporting of the SDGs in Colombia?
Has the inclusion of the SDGs in the sustainability reports led to changes in the corporate management?
“One of the challenges when reporting on the SDGs is the lack of understanding within the company itself and its different departments regarding the relevance of acting and reporting, having the executive’s support and the leadership of the company to the It is very important to integrate the Sustainable Development Goals into the business strategy and to communicate the impacts on them”.
Bernhard Frey, United Nations Global Compact Office
The Data Coordinator of Cepei, Fredy Rodríguez, moderated the meeting, which was joined by Bernhard Frey, Senior Manager, Impacts and Report of the SDGs, United Nations Global Compact Office; Tatyana Orozco, Vice President of Corporate Affairs, Grupo SURA; Ariel Arturo Suárez, Corporate Responsibility Management, General Secretariat, ECOPETROL S.A.
“The sustainability exercise aligned with the SDGs was born naturally in ECOPETROL because the company has been walking in the different sustainability standards since 2009. In this way, at the moment we looked at the 17 Global Objectives it was very easy to make that alignment because they are issues that we have already been working on”.
Ariel Arturo Suárez, Corporate Responsibility Management, ECOPETROL S.A.
The most important conclusions of the dialogue were raised by the Data Coordinator of Cepei:
- It is important to align the strategy of the organization internally to achieve processes more aligned with SDG reporting. This will have a positive impact externally with other parties.
- Raising awareness of the 2030 Agenda is key for the organization to understand what this global commitment is all about.
- The strongest challenge that lies ahead is that of measurement because that is where we can see effectively what is the level of impact on each of those objectives.