Using Data to Encourage Support for the Sustainable Development Goals
As 2030 approaches, many companies are creating innovative ways to track progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), while others are encouraging the transformation of the SDGs from a corporate social responsibility sector to an integral business process which can impact savings and returns.
Bechtel Corporation has gone a step further by developing a textual analytics framework to use data and metrics that can advance the business case for the SDGs. This framework would help a company transform their SDG practices from their corporate social responsibility and public relations departments into an instrumental aspect of their business practices.
Bechtel’s Global Head of Sustainability Tam Nguyen and his colleague Michael Yamoah, manager of sustainability insights and analytics, have recently written an article in EnvironmentGuru in which they present a case study highlighting the framework process using textual analytics to match business indicators with voluntary national review indicators to highlight different areas for potential project opportunities and risks related to the SDGs. The article goes into detail about the case study by discussing the challenge and approach and noted four key steps to developing the business case for the SDGs.
The new article follows an earlier blog post on June 20, 2017 about Bechtel’s approach to using metrics to advance the SDGs. The blog post focused on how using metrics to study the relationship between the SDGs and corporations would encourage innovation in business to effectively merge the SDGs into business practices.
During last year’s UN General Assembly (UNGA), USCIB organized a Business Experts Roundtable on Data Analytics for SDGs. At the event, Bechtel presented this framework to encourage companies to shift from SDG reporting to developing a business strategy that consolidates SDGs into the entire business process.
Bechtel’s innovative framework can help other companies achieve the SDGs and help to push the 2030 agenda forward for all people. The framework can allow businesses to help their bottom line by impacting their savings or returns through further innovation with the SDGs. Encouraging companies to adopt the SDGs into their business practices is not just good for all, but also good business.
Read more on the case study in the original article here.