The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted by all member states of the United Nations in 2015 as the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. These goals include targets for humanity as well as for the environment and the planet.
It may be tempting to ignore the progress of these goals, leaving them to national governments to resolve. However, the urgency of the call to action these goals highlight cannot be ignored. We all need to contribute to achieving them, with businesses playing a major role in providing viable and profitable solutions.
SME Businesses Impact Sustainability
It’s a call to which businesses, large and small, need to respond. As a small business owner, it may be tempting to leave it to bigger companies to resolve. However, SMEs account for 61% of employment and 52% of turnover in the UK private sector (https://www.fsb.org.uk/uk-small-business-statistics.html), therefore collectively, have a significant impact.
Each business is different in how it impacts society and the environment and therefore, will not be able to contribute to achieving all SDGs. However, most SME owners are having to manage more short-term issues than longer-term sustainability concerns. Issues such as maintaining the sales pipeline, keeping the fleet of vehicles on the road or, of late, trying to keep the business going through extremely volatile conditions and uncertainty.
Although these issues may seem important today, for the long-term viability of each business, preparations need to be made for the changes that will inevitably be imposed upon us in the future. These changes may be regulations, availability or cost of goods, financing conditions or customer demands and expectations. All will need careful planning and budgeting.
Sustainability Break-even Goals to Attain
However, there are various organisations which are offering support and guidance to companies, helping them to assess and prioritise any changes that need to be accommodated. One of these organisations is the Future-fit Foundation (https://futurefitbusiness.org/), a not-for-profit, which has developed the Business Benchmark. The Business Benchmark enables businesses to review and assess their operation and determine which Break-even Goals need to be the focus for the company.
The Break-even Goals are, as the name implies, goals which enable companies to ‘break-even’ when addressing societal and environmental impact. These goals are linked to the SDGs. Just as ‘break-even’ in financial terms means no profit, no loss, so in sustainability terms it means doing no harm to people or planet but not improving them either.
The Business Benchmark is designed for any business but is quite an arduous exercise for a SME business, with limited resources, to utilise.
Free SME Sustainability Support
Virgin Money have stepped up, with support from Future-Fit Foundation, and developed a SME version of the Business Benchmark. This version can be completed in less than 30 minutes, producing a scored and prioritised report of appropriate Break-even Goals to focus on.
There are 23 Break-even Goals and Future-Fit have produced a guide for each explaining how the goal has been derived, which SDGs it supports and how to gauge a measurable progress towards achievement.
The great feature of the Business Benchmark, the Break-even Goals Guides and other support material from the Future-Fit Foundation, is that it is all free.
The chances are that businesses, especially the smaller ones, will appreciate assistance and support to fulfil their sustainability objectives. This can be achieved by becoming a Future-Fit Pioneer or employing one of their Certified Professionals. Becoming a Pioneer enables you to join a community of other businesses where help can be obtained, either from fellow Pioneer businesses or the Future-Fit team.
The Sustainable Development Goals are set to be achieved by 2030; less than a decade to go. Contributing to their achievement is possible. As a responsible business will you take up the challenge?
David Harman is a member of the Future-Fit Changemaker Community and is well placed to assist you take up the sustainability challenge and explain how Future-Fit can help.
Book a short, no obligation call with David to discover more: https://www.djh-sustainability.co.uk/