United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal Number 16, (SDG16) labeled “Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions”, was crafted to promote strong humanitarian, government, and for-profit institutions essential for human survival, personal health, and planetary well-being. SDG16 recognizes that strong institutions of all types—government agencies, for-profit business, NGOs—are all needed to advance the SDG’s aspiration for peace, justice, and equity. Indeed, it’s well-known that regions without strong institutions are more inclined towards poverty, social and political unrest, and unhealthy, unsustainable communities.

Institutionalizing sustainability planning means consulting the Sustainable Development Goals as an aspirational framework. Doing so is now a pervasive and growing trend in virtually all large institutions throughout the world, regardless of their mission. Moreover, this trend is increasing rapidly as the leadership at virtually every major business sector, from finance to mining, from real estate to aviation, has publicly committed to sustainability planning and, especially, to some level of climate action.

Hundreds of institutions throughout the globe are increasingly seeking to redefine and re-imagine how to manage their entire value chain from a sustainability perspective. Investors, employees, community leaders, customers, the media, government regulators, local governments, athletes, fans, and other stakeholders expect all the institutions and businesses they deal with to be a responsible environmental steward, and they increasingly expect to have access to information about their environmental profile and commitments.

Sustainability planning by any institution, whether government agency, a fashion business, finance, or sport must ultimately be driven by a recognition that nature is the ultimate source of all economic value. Nature provides the ecological services on which all life depends. Accordingly, building strong institutions to promote SDG16, “Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions” is driven by our collective obligation to address unprecedented and urgent ecological and social challenges including climate change, poverty alleviation, livable wages, gender bias, racial equality, etc.

SDG16 focuses on the need to create and support institutions that authentically respond to these sustainability challenges, including public demands for more livable and sustainable communities. Accordingly, sustainability engenders new management priorities for the 21st century institution. It goes without saying that the strategic relevance of sustainability planning for any institution is invariably unique to its mission. However, scientific rigor, ethical transparency, equity, and effective policy development rely upon validated assessment methodologies.

As recent fires, flooding, drought, and storm events throughout the world have made eminently clear, the effects of climate change and the growing global demand for climate action have imposed an unavoidable obligation on all institutions to develop sustainability plans that advance the UN SDGs. At minimum, all institutions engaged in sustainability planning should look to SDGs 1, 2, and 3 (end poverty and hunger, promote good health) and eliminate all avoidable greenhouse gas emissions. 

Pursuing sustainability is indeed ‘The right thing to do’ and that may be enough to motivate more committed organizations. Eventually, however, all institutions need to get to the place where sustainability is recognized as crucial to its long-term mission, whether as an NGO, a government agency, or a for-profit business. As the Harvard Business Review reported two years ago:

“Corporate boards of directors must tackle questions about sustainability in a new and urgent manner. If they don’t, they will hear from investors about their lack of action. In just the latest indication of the investor community’s increasing scrutiny on sustainability, Yahoo announced in 2018 that it would start publishing sustainability ratings for publicly traded companies. In order to fulfill their obligations, every listed company board must now become ‘sustainability fluent.’”[1]

Recognition of the need for SDG16, of the need to institutionalize sustainability planning does not obviate the fact that attempting to do so in complex institutions, whether a for-profit business or an international agency, is not without meaningful challenges. These barriers to sustainability are 1. economic, 2. technical, and 3. cultural. An organization is a shadow of its leadership, and the ruthlessness of the market does not go away because we have good intentions. Accordingly, in order to overcome the three barriers to sustainability, an institution must benefit from authentic support from its leadership, including adequate investment of financial resources and personnel.

Without authentic support by its leadership, the shift in culture and operations needed to implement sustainability will be stymied.  Indeed, as Tables 1 and 2 below indicate, the single most important attribute of a successful sustainability plan is support from senior leadership, while a lack of leadership support and resources is the number one reason that sustainability plans fail.

Table 1

Why Sustainability Initiatives Succeed

Senior leadership support
Employee engagement and interest
Clear goals and metrics
Effective internal communication
Introduction of environmentally friendly policies[2]

Table 2

Why Sustainability Initiatives Fail

Lack of investment of resources
Competing priorities
Culture change challenges
Organizational obstacles
Lack of a compelling Case for change

 As the chemistry of the atmosphere continues to change, as climate impacts evolve, as government policies change, and as ecological and social challenges expand, the need for institutions to promote the UN SDGs could not be more urgent. Promoting sustainability planning and collaboration by all institutions—government agencies, for-profit, and NGO alike—can help all institutions, indeed all people, plan for the inevitable worsening climate impacts we should expect.

[1] “What Boards Need to Know About Sustainability Ratings,” Silder Wall Spitzer and John Mandyck, Harvard Business Review, May 30, 2019

[2] Table One and Table Two are excerpted from “Sustainability Business Cases,” December 2019 version, slides 38 & 39, published by Sustainability Advantage exclusively for “Master Slide Decks” subscribers.

PHOTO: Iswanto Arif | Unsplash

About the Author:

Allen Hershkowitz, PhD
Founding Director & Chairman, Sport and Sustainability International
Environmental Science Advisor, New York Yankees