The drivers of sustainable development in the world today are private companies, especially big business. At the same time, the prioritisation of sustainable development goals by companies often differs from what seems to be most important for the government and even more so for the population, says Yulia Shulga, general director of the Centre for Expertise and Integral Models.

A study by the UN Global Compact, an international UN-business initiative together with Accenture, a consulting company, showed that the most important objectives for companies are fighting climate change (63%), decent work and sustainable economic growth (52%) and responsible consumption and production (51%).

Meanwhile, for ordinary Russians, according to the Centre for Expertise and Integral Models (CEIM) survey, the most important factors are poverty eradication, stable employment and a healthy lifestyle. Should companies listen to consumers in different markets or continue to push the envelope?

The most important sustainability goal for companies by region:

A joint study by the UN Global Compact and consulting firm Accenture, shows that the most important objectives for companies are to combat climate change (63%), decent work and sustainable economic growth (52%) and responsible consumption and production (51%). Meanwhile, for ordinary Russians, according to the Centre for Expertise and Integral Models (CEIM) survey, the most important factors are poverty eradication, stable employment and a healthy lifestyle. Should companies listen to what consumers are saying in different markets, or should they continue to push the envelope? Let’s start by going back to the UN study again. There are significant geographic differences among big business in prioritising sustainability goals: countries in the northern hemisphere are predominantly focused on climate issues. While southerners are heavily invested in gender, quality education and economic growth.

The differences by macro-region are very clear: in the Northern Hemisphere, the basic goals of sustainable development – ending poverty, hunger and even gender inequality – are much better off, while in the Middle East and Africa, some of the basic challenges remain to be addressed, so companies from these regions are focusing on this. A study by the UN Global Compact international business initiative UN Global Compact together with consultancy firm Accenture, shows that the most important goals for companies are fighting climate change (63%), decent work and sustainable economic growth (52%), and responsible consumption and production (51%). Meanwhile, for ordinary Russians, according to the Centre for Expertise and Integral Models (CEIM) survey, the most important factors are poverty eradication, stable employment and a healthy lifestyle. Should companies listen to what consumers are saying in different markets, or should they continue to push the envelope? Let’s start by revisiting the UN study again. There are significant geographic differences among big business in prioritising sustainable development goals: countries in the northern hemisphere are predominantly focused on climate issues.

While southerners are heavily invested in gender, quality education and economic growth. The differences by macro-region are very clear: in the Northern Hemisphere, the basic sustainability goals of poverty, hunger and even gender inequality are doing much better; in the Middle East and Africa, some of the basic challenges have yet to be addressed, so companies from these regions are focusing on these.

How the consumer is changing the role of sustainability

Социальная активность приводит к повышению ответственности брендов, и с каждым годом роль Social engagement is leading to greater brand responsibility, and the role of consumers will only increase with each passing year. Futerra research in the US and UK has shown that 88% of residents are more likely to buy goods and services from companies that care about the environment. But so far, companies are not keeping up with residents’ demands: 43% of those surveyed believe that buying consumer brands today makes it more difficult to comply with sustainability principles. This is reflected in brands’ use of multi-layer, non-recyclable packaging, the exploitation of child labour in developing countries and low wages for employees.

For example, in 2020, the Russian division of Swedish company H&M faced criticism after an independent investigation revealed that clothes donated to H&M for recycling were not sent for recycling in Germany, as the company announced, but for resale in the Moscow region with significant environmental costs (only part of the clothes are bought, most of it goes to landfills anyway). H&M has acknowledged the breach and announced a new contractor and a new textile collection and recycling system by March 2021.

It is not always possible for the consumer to vote for more sustainable companies through the consumption of their products. For listed companies, independent investors are also looking at ESG metrics and embedding sustainability goals into strategies. Norilsk Nickel, for example, lost around 15% of its share price in a couple of days after the Norilsk diesel spill in May 2020 – also a kind of consumer influence on the company’s sustainability and ethics, although the motivation of investors was more financial.

Being listed and working with investors has long been one of the incentives for sustainability in companies, and this trend will only increase. We have already mentioned that millennials are twice as likely as older generations to pay attention to companies that have social and environmental goals in addition to financial ones – namely, their role in all economic processes is now becoming predominant.

Sustainability as a way of looking at the world more broadly 

This leads us to a somewhat unconventional but promising conclusion: companies that think globally about their, their consumers’ and the planet’s future and invest in tomorrow today are the winners. And not only with the help of cardboard cups visible to consumers or labels “made from recycled materials” on products, but also with more complex sets of actions. Here are a couple of examples. Huawei, which in Russia is known primarily for phones, laptops and telecommunications equipment, has launched the TECH4ALL initiative, which deals with education, environmental protection and improving public health.

The company’s projects include buses to educate women in rural areas in Bangladesh, an application on Huawei Cloud AI to create real-time text subtitles for the hearing impaired, an initiative to protect Amur tigers and leopards (without harming nature, the company introduced LTE towers and cameras to monitor population, behavioural patterns and control the national park area in north-east China) and many others.

The children’s constructor manufacturer LEGO launched an educational initiative for children in 2018 on the importance of sustainability – a wind turbine model was produced and numerous materials about renewable energy sources, the LEGO Replay project allows unused LEGO cubes to be recycled (over 42,000 children received LEGO this way). One of the key benefits of the concept of sustainability for business is the opportunity to look at a company’s global role and realise that their contribution can be multi-sectoral and needs to benefit a large number of people around the world, industry companies and associations and even natural biocenoses.

Awareness of one’s contribution leads to an understanding of responsibility for the future – this is the main role of the concept of sustainable development.