2026: The year organisations can close the gap on SDG delivery
by Dr Adam Richards, Senior Advisor to SVI
As we begin another year, it is important to take stock of where we are in terms of meeting agreed requirements to transition to a more equitable and sustainable global society.
And unfortunately, our current state is far from where it needs to be.
Progress against the Sustainable Development Goals provides a clear indication of current performance towards what is needed. And while few would dispute that the Goals of no hunger, equality of opportunity for all, and the protection and restoration of natural ecosystems are beneficial for all, the truth is they are essential for our shared prosperity. However, with four years to go until we reach the target year of 2030, we are failing to deliver what is required for a sustainable, equitable, and thriving future for ourselves and those who come after us.
We continue to breach tipping points and exceed planetary boundaries, with ever-increasing repercussions being all-too-often experienced by those with the least responsibility for creating them.
From global to organisational level
The well-known funding gap to meet the SDGs highlights significant challenges that require systemic and transformative solutions, bringing together policy makers, business, and other important stakeholders. Investment in urgently needed public goods - from climate resilience and adaptation to infrastructure and access to healthcare and education - cannot be ignored. At the same time, the contribution that organisations make to sustainability and the SDGs is not optional, but a core part of how these goals will be achieved.
“Making sustainable development part of everyday practices would provide significant contributions to the SDGs and help to reduce the scale of funding required to meet the needs of people and the planet. ”
Organisations of all shapes and sizes can increase their positive contribution to sustainability; to do so requires a systematic approach to integrate the processes, systems, and behaviours needed to effectively manage the impacts of their activities and decisions.
Positively, many organisations around the world recognise both the moral and business imperative to do this. The increasing consumer and employee demands for responsible practices, along with legislative pressures, provide evidence for the necessary shifts. But of much greater significance is the mounting recognition of what we have always known: organisations depend on healthy and thriving social and environmental systems. Quite simply, business cannot survive without the people and planet it depends upon.
From commitment to action
Even organisations that are genuinely committed to being responsible and sustainable often struggle to turn that intent into consistent, organisation-wide practice. A growing ecosystem of ESG frameworks, disclosure standards and compliance requirements has emerged to support this shift, and these can play an important role in improving transparency and accountability. However, transparency on its own does not create sustainability. Many of today’s frameworks are designed primarily to inform financial markets about risk and exposure, or to support regulatory reporting. They are not, by themselves, designed to help organisations understand, manage and improve the real-world impacts they create for people and the environment. In some cases, this can lead to reporting becoming the focus, rather than a reflection of effective impact management. For an organisation to make a genuine positive contribution to sustainable development, impact must be integrated into the core of its purpose, strategy and decision-making. That requires a systematic approach to understanding who is affected, what changes are being created, and how those changes can be improved over time - just as with any other area of organisational performance.
“For an organisation to genuinely contribute positively to sustainability means integrating impact management into the core of its purpose – and this requires a systematic approach, just as with any organisational change for it to be successful. ”
Integrating the practical requirements
Changing systems, processes, and behaviours is unlikely to happen immediately. It will take time to reach a position where an organisation can confidently state they have integrated the necessary requirements so that strategy, governance, and operations are all supporting the ambitions to manage its intended and unintended impacts.
The practical requirements to support an organisation with this is are available through the SDG Impact Standards produced by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the forthcoming ISO 53001/2. These Management Systems Standards (MSS) outline what is required to integrate impact management – and importantly they both recognise the urgency of the challenges faced. Neither the SDG Impact Standard or ISO53001 expects perfection - continuous improvement is built into both. But both also recognise the need to be ambitious: in the targets that are set, in the pace and scale of decision-making, and in the rate of improvement over time.
So where is the starting point for an organisation that wants to accelerate their contribution to sustainability and develop their approach to achieving their ambitions? Well, they’ve already started – no organisation is starting from zero! Whatever the starting position, strengths can be built on and areas for development can be identified– guided by standards that provide the building blocks to enhance current practice, integrate impact management, and meet the needs of stakeholders.
If not now, when?
We live in unprecedented times; we face multiple crises that are the consequences of both conscious and unconscious choices that have served to create huge benefits for an ever-smaller group of people.
But it is also unprecedented that we are the first generation that have the solutions to address such crises. It will take conscious choices shift much of what is currently taken-for-granted if we are to transform organisations to deliver what is needed for the shared prosperity of all.
As we move into another year, it must be one of ambition – ambition to integrate the behaviours and processes that place sustainability at the centre of organisational purpose; ambition to optimise the impacts we create; and ambition to create a society where accountability to those affected is seen to be valuable.
This year, SVI will continue to provide practical guidance and tools to support organisations in integrating impact management into how they operate and make decisions.
If you would like to go further:
• Explore SVI’s training and accreditation on the SDG Impact Standards
• Read SVI's blog on the forthcoming ISO management system standards and what they mean for organisations
• Get in touch to discuss how impact management can be applied in practice across your organisation.
