Advancing the SDGs through Collaboration

BSR | ADVANCING THE SDGs THROUGH COLLABORATION DECEMBER 2023 Advancing the SDGs through Collaboration How business-led multi-stakeholder collaborations can accelerate progress towards the 2030 agenda 1

BSR | ADVANCING THE SDGs THROUGH COLLABORATION Introduction When the 17 Sustainable Development Drawing on BSR’s extensive expertise Goals (SDGs) were adopted by the in incubating, designing, and facilitating United Nations in 2015 as a global call collaborative initiatives, the purpose of this to action and universal roadmap to end report is to explore how business-led multi- global poverty and protect the planet, stakeholder collaboration can help to advance they promised to deliver a future in which the SDGs and contribute to poverty reduction. no one would be left behind by 2030. The report leverages concrete examples of collaborative initiatives incubated through Halfway to its deadline, progress on the 2030 the CoLab SDGs program, a partnership Agenda is weak and socioeconomic inequality with the Swedish International Development continues to grow. The UN predicts in its latest Cooperation Agency (Sida). progress report that at current rates, over half a billion people will still live in extreme poverty by 2030, and only around a third of nations How BSR de昀椀nes “business-led 1 will reduce national poverty levels by half. multi-stakeholder collaboration” These gloomy projections beg an important question: Who will step up to act on these BSR de昀椀nes business-led multi- global challenges? stakeholder collaborations as voluntary The answer to this question is re昀氀ected in the efforts that engage multiple participants SDGs themselves as well as represented in a primarily from the private sector in non- standalone goal, namely SDG 17—Partnerships commercial, pre-competitive collaboration for the Goals. To fully achieve the SDGs, the to achieve positive sustainable outcomes. world needs partnerships of unprecedented While the collaborations may include scale and ambition between the private sector, participants from civil society or the public governments, and civil society. sector—making them a multi-stakeholder Multi-stakeholder collaborations are already effort—business actors are the primary well established and a key part of the solution. decision-makers, and solutions developed or In fact, the SDG Actions Platform shows nearly identi昀椀ed in the collaborations leverage the 8,000 commitments and partnerships made by resources and assets of the private sector. stakeholders in support of the implementation of the SDGs2. 1 The-Sustainable-Development-Goals-Report-2023.pdf (un.org) 2 2 SDG Actions Platform | Department of Economic and Social Affairs (un.org)

BSR | ADVANCING THE SDGs THROUGH COLLABORATION About the CoLab SDGs Program In October 2020, BSR, in partnership world needs to achieve the SDGs and build with Sida, launched the CoLab SDGs resilience in communities that are vulnerable to program. This 昀椀ve-year partnership the impacts of climate change. seeks to increase and deepen the BSR has launched over 50 collaborative initiatives effective contribution of the private and currently manages around 20 collaborations sector to achieving the 2030 agenda. that bring together more than 430 organizations The implementation of the program is from diverse business sectors to drive progress guided by two objectives. on issues including human rights, women’s First, the partnership aims to generate and empowerment, and more. incubate ideas to establish up to 10 new impactful multi-stakeholder collaborations in service of the SDGs. Second, the program seeks to strengthen and harmonize existing Disclaimer coalitions to drive greater impact, e.g., through the development of two or three BSR publishes occasional papers as a meta-collaborations. Meta-collaborations are contribution to the understanding of the collaborations that align existing initiatives role of business in society and the trends with shared objectives and strategies and related to corporate social responsibility and improve coordination. To date, the CoLab SDGs responsible business practices. BSR maintains program has resulted in the launch of four a policy of not acting as a representative of new collaborations, including the support of its membership, nor does it endorse speci昀椀c two collaborations not hosted by BSR, and the policies or standards. The views expressed in formation of two meta-collaborations. this publication are those of its authors and The CoLab SDGs program is supported by BSR’s do not re昀氀ect those of BSR members. 30 years of experience in designing and growing This report was written by Laura Hansson and business-led collaborations that successfully Nicolas Ronderos. The authors wish to thank create systemic change in pursuit of a more just Charlene Collison, Cameron Steagall, Ouida and sustainable world. BSR focuses on ideating, Chichester, Christine Svarer, and Emilie Van designing, and facilitating initiatives that inspire Landeghem for their insights. companies and their stakeholders to engage in collective action, aiming for the changes the 3

BSR | ADVANCING THE SDGs THROUGH COLLABORATION Theory of Change | CoLab SDGs The work of the CoLab SDGs program is guided by the following theory of change (TOC). KEY ASSUMPTIONS • There is a big potential for impact if collaborations follow the IDEAS (ideate, design, explore, accelerate, and scale) phases and collaborations are developed and accelerated. BSR supports the phases ideate and design, but explore, accelerate, and scale depend on partners and external in昀氀uences. • If multi-stakeholder public private partnerships are well established (SDG 17), they will contribute to reaching other SDGs. • The support provided by Sida will enable BSR to leverage additional 昀椀nancial support from the private sector and other donors. • Partners value the bene昀椀t and the enhanced impact in meta-collaborations, although there can be challenges aligning the objectives, resources, etc. WORKSTREAMS OBJECTIVES OUTPUTS OUTCOMES EXPECTED IMPACT Landscape assessment of potential collaborations Multi-stakeholder collaborations including Incubation of Generate and Problem de昀椀nition and on gender equality, new innovative incubate ideas for ToC outlining SDGs climate resilience, and collaborations impactful collaborations and rights/needs to be inclusive growth are in pursuit of the SDGs addressed established and ready for implementation to Events to test ToC deliver on SDGs and problems Accelerate and deepen multi-stakeholder collaboration to Establish advisory achieve the SDGs Increase coalition group to provide Meta-collaborations by generating building, knowledge strategic guidance developed bringing new collaborations sharing, and cooperation together existing in support of in support of more Establish structure and initiatives for enhanced effective coalitions governance for meta- ef昀椀ciency and impact the SDGs and collaborations strengthening and Strengthening of harmonizing existing existing coalitions, collaborations to knowledge sharing drive greater impact Outreach campaign Enhanced to drive investment and knowledge sharing participation Enhanced knowledge and learning among sharing and learning project stakeholders, Research to share among stakeholders collaboration partners, effective methodologies and in Sida and in Sida from Sida & CoLab’s experience KEY RISKS • Companies do not see the value of partnerships and do not allocate resources for partnerships. Competing interests in collaborations prevent the establishment of collaborations and meta-collaborations. 4

BSR | ADVANCING THE SDGs THROUGH COLLABORATION Collaboration in the Context of the SDGs From addressing growing socioeconomic inequality to tackling Collaborations in the CoLab the devastating impacts of climate SDGs Program & their change, multi-stakeholder collaboration Contributions to the SDGs is needed to ful昀椀ll the objectives laid out in the SDGs. NEW COLLABORATIONS Business needs to play a leadership role in these collaborations for a number INCUBATED BY BSR SUPPORTED BY BSR of reasons. First, unlike the Millennium Development Goals, which were focused on government, the SDGs intentionally call out the role for business. It’s widely recognized that business is affected by and affects sustainable development by creating employment, shaping policy environments, or providing access to critical services where government regulation or action may be limited. Second, businesses, working together with stakeholders, have the power to tackle systemic challenges related to the SDGs such as climate change, economic inequality, and gender inequality through the mobilization of META-COLLABORATIONS resources, expertise, and innovation. Finally, due to the complexity of today’s global challenges, it is essential that business leaders participate as an active partner alongside governments, foundations, civil society, and other key stakeholders, going beyond good intentions to build high-impact collaborations that can deliver systemic change to meet these ambitious targets. 5

BSR | ADVANCING THE SDGs THROUGH COLLABORATION Examples of Collaborations Contributing to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development The key premise of the SDGs is to reduce voice, and respect for human rights, a lack of poverty and ensure that even the world’s poorest opportunities and choice, and a lack of human and most marginalized can fully participate in or security, among other factors. Aligned with 3 bene昀椀t from global development, innovation, Sida’s concept of multidimensional poverty, and economic growth. While poverty is widely this section explores how business-led multi- understood as the lack of material resources, stakeholder collaborations can impact poverty the concept of multifaceted poverty applied by reduction, human rights, gender equality, climate Sida also de昀椀nes poverty as the lack of power, and environment, and peace and con昀氀ict. Collaboration Impacts on the 2030 Agenda Private-sector led collaborations play a critical role in global poverty reduction, and have a strong impact in the following areas: Multidimensional Poverty Address key aspects related to multi-dimensional poverty including access to resources, power, and opportunities for productive employment. Gender Equality Understand differentiated impacts on men and women and outline their different roles, challenges, and barriers in the just transition. Human Rights Identify impacts on human rights and key rightsholders including vulnerable groups and understand role of duty bearers in ful昀椀lling rightsholders’ rights. Climate & Environment Assess opportunities to positively contribute to environmentally sustainable development and mitigate potential adverse impacts on the environment or climate vulnerability. Con昀氀ict Bring together key stakeholders in a cooperative manner and manage potential con昀氀icts and competing interests of collaboration partners. 6 3 Sida-priority-perspectives.pdf

BSR | ADVANCING THE SDGs THROUGH COLLABORATION Examples of Collaborations Contributing to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Multidimensional Poverty Gender Equality Despite signi昀椀cant progress, poverty remains Sida stipulates that gender equality is not only widespread. According to the UN, in 2015, a matter of human rights, but also a prerequisite more than 736 million people lived below the for eradicating poverty in the world. However, 4 international poverty line of US$1.90 per day. in 2022, a report by UN Women estimated that In addition, it is estimated that the Covid-19 it would take close to 300 years to achieve full pandemic reversed much of the progress made gender equality at current rates of progress.5 on global poverty reduction. These 昀椀gures clearly demonstrate that there is a While poverty reduction was not expressed as long way to go to end discrimination and violence an explicit objective, many of the collaborations against women and ensure their full and effective incubated as part of the CoLab SDGs program participation in economic opportunities. indirectly contributed to poverty reduction Several of the collaborations incubated or resulting from job insecurity and actual or supported under the program have placed potential job losses; poor working conditions gender equality at the core of their vision and and labor exploitation; or a lack of access to mission. For example, the Watch & Jewellery physical assets, 昀椀nancial services, or economic Initiative 2030 (WJI2030), a collaboration that opportunities. aims to create a fully sustainable watch and The Sustainable Coconut Platform (SCP)—a jewelry industry that is resilient to climate change, global membership organization working toward preserves resources and fosters inclusiveness, a responsible and resilient coconut sector that supports the UN Women’s Empowerment drives positive impact for farmers’ livelihoods, Principles (WEPs), and requires its members to the climate and the environment—recognizes sign the WEPs and develop a workplan to pursue the interconnectedness between production gender equality in their operations and value challenges in the coconut sector as a result of chain.6 RISE (formerly Empower@Work) is another environmental challenges and poor farming example of a collaboration that aims to remove practices and farmers’ livelihoods. systemic barriers for women workers in global By bringing together more than 80 actors garment supply chains. across the coconut supply chain, SCP identi昀椀es Through workplace training programs on solutions and makes shared investments to reproductive health and 昀椀nancial literacy, RISE ensure the sustainability of coconut for current tackles underlying challenges such as gender and future generations of farmers. discrimination, violence in the workplace, sexual harassment, and traditional gender roles, ensuring that women can thrive in the workplace and in their communities. 4 Ending Poverty | United Nations 5 Press release: Achieving full gender equality is still centuries away, warns the United Nations in a new report | UN Women—Headquarters 7 6 Watch & Jewellery Initiative 2030

BSR | ADVANCING THE SDGs THROUGH COLLABORATION Examples of Collaborations Contributing to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Human Rights Climate & Environment While not expressly de昀椀ned as a goal, human From clean water and sanitation to climate action, rights underpin the entirety of the SDGs. The 2030 environmental and climate issues are central to the agenda for sustainable development is deeply 2030 agenda for sustainable development. And grounded in international human rights standards while there is signi昀椀cant reason for concern—six 8 and norms and seeks to ensure that the human of the nine boundaries have been transgressed rights of all are realized. and the physical impacts of climate change will In fact, most of the collaborations incubated or continue to worsen dramatically without strong supported via the CoLab SDGs program have climate action—business-led multi-stakeholder human rights at their core. For example, Energy collaborations can play a key role in addressing for a Just Transition, a collaboration that brings climate change. together energy, utilities, and related companies The Sustainable Freight Buyers Alliance (SFBA), to support a worker and community-centered a meta-collaboration that empowers companies transition to a net-zero economy, recognizes to reach net-zero freight logistics carbon emissions that climate change has profound negative no later than 2050 in line with a 1.5°C maximum implications for human rights, posing serious global temperature increase, provides a promising threats to the right to life itself, through adverse example. Transportation is recognized as one of impacts on the rights to food, health, and housing, the largest sources of emissions around the world. among others. SFBA works to decarbonize this hard-to-abate On the other hand, a transition toward a low- sector via collective action, demand pooling, carbon economy may also have signi昀椀cant adverse transparent reporting, and scaling innovation, human rights impacts such as forced labor in ultimately contributing to fewer emissions, fewer renewables supply chains, exploitation of migrant toxins in the air and water, and better overall workers, socioeconomic impacts, or adverse health for people and the planet. impacts on Indigenous or local communities with In the agricultural sector, SCP seeks to promote regard to Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC). good agricultural practices and reduce climate Therefore, the initiative has integrated respect vulnerability, demonstrating that productivity and for human rights, including social dialogue and sustainability can go hand in hand. meaningful stakeholder engagement, as a central aspect of its work, as expressed in the recently published Just Transition Planning guidance 7 document. The guidance, which was informed by stakeholders including labor unions, UN agencies, and just transition experts, points out that assessing, prioritizing, and mitigating the human rights impacts of the transition is a fundamental step in just transition planning. 7 BSR-Just-Transition-Planning-Toolkit.pdf 8 8 Planetary boundaries—Stockholm Resilience Centre

BSR | ADVANCING THE SDGs THROUGH COLLABORATION Examples of Collaborations Contributing to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Con昀氀ict The 昀椀nal element of Sida’s perspective focuses Overall on con昀氀ict. Con昀氀ict in the context of a business- led multi-stakeholder collaboration can occur The SDGs highlight the interconnectedness if objectives are misaligned or decision-making of the well-being of business, society, and processes are unclear; it must be prevented the environment and acknowledge that all or addressed to ensure the ef昀椀ciency of the societal sectors—governments, business, and collaboration. The collaborations incubated and civil society alike—are key actors in advancing launched under this program manage con昀氀ict in sustainable development. various ways. Similarly, the various collaborations linked For example, the Resilience Fund for Women in to the CoLab SDGs program seek to Global Value Chains, a collaboration that invests identify and act on opportunities to contribute in community-based, women-led organizations to to the various interlinked dimensions of advance women’s empowerment and resilience, sustainable development in a holistic and seeks to prevent and reduce con昀氀ict via its inclusive manner. 9 inclusive governance model. While impacts of these collaborations need The collaboration’s Advisory Board features a to be carefully tracked over time, it is clear balanced representation of investors and civil that designing business-led multi-stakeholder society/women’s fund leaders, which guides collaborations with the SDGs in mind will lead the initiative through decisions about grants, to positive contributions to the 2030 agenda expansion to new regions, governance processes, in the short and long run. board membership and terms, and other strategic oversight. Strong governance is a key lever in addressing con昀氀ict between business and non- business stakeholders alike. 9 Governance Model—The Resilience Fund 9

BSR | ADVANCING THE SDGs THROUGH COLLABORATION Lessons Learned from the Program After more than three years of implementing the CoLab SDGs program, it is clear that business-led multi-stakeholder collaborations are critical to advancing the 2030 agenda. On the following pages are some of the key lessons learned from incubating, launching, and harmonizing collaborations under the partnership with Sida. 10

BSR | ADVANCING THE SDGs THROUGH COLLABORATION Lessons Learned from the Program 1 Striking the right balance The framework is particularly useful in the between participation context of business-led collaborations, in which and decision-making: companies can decide whether to open the collaboration and governance seats to other Good governance is a fundamental aspect of stakeholders. For example, the Sustainable collaboration as it enables successful partnerships, Coconut Partnership makes decisions via a fair decision-making, and transparency about steering committee made up of industry/ the roles and responsibilities of actors involved business members but allows participation of in collaborations. In addition, good governance diverse stakeholders in the collaboration. There creates legitimacy. Based on its work with the is no one-size-昀椀ts-all approach to governance, CoLab SDGs program, BSR has developed a and governance models need to be carefully governance framework that is based on two designed based on the vision, mission, intended factors—decision-making and participation— outcomes, and participants of the collaboration. 10 and results in four distinct governance models. BSR COLLABORATION GOVERNANCE FRAMEWORK Multi-Stakeholder Multi-Stakeholder Decision-Making & Decision-Making & AKEHOLDERS Direct Participation Representative Participation T AKING S M CISION- S DE ANIE Company Company MP Decision-Making & Decision-Making & O Direct Participation Representative Participation C DIRECT REPRESENTATIVE PARTICIPATION 10 Advancing Multi-Stakeholder Collaboration: Four Governance Models for Business | Blog | Sustainable Business Network and Consultancy | BSRFund 11

BSR | ADVANCING THE SDGs THROUGH COLLABORATION Lessons Learned from the Program 2 Centering the rightsholder others. In addition, the initiative’s governance perspective: model also includes nonbusiness stakeholders such as civil society or subject matter experts The SDGs pursue the vision of a world in which (e.g., in the Multi-Stakeholder Engagement no one is left behind. However, business-led Committee and the Multi-Stakeholder Action 12 collaborations developed to address the SDGs Committees, respectively). RISE is a strong frequently run the risk of designing solutions example of a collaboration that centers the for and catering to those rightsholders most in voices of key rightsholders. The initiative need without actually including their voices in includes the perspectives of women workers the process in a meaningful way. It is therefore through continuous engagement in their native critical for collaborations to map their stakeholders language and via local partner organizations and rightsholders carefully; design engagement or representatives. RISE also guarantees that approaches that are appropriate, culturally women workers are represented at every level, sensitive, and accessible; and consult or engage from governance to project implementation, them systematically throughout the entire ensuring that the work responds to their real collaboration lifecycle, from ideation to launch and needs and priorities. Only by understanding the daily operations. This is critical to ensuring that the realities of the nature of work and challenges collaboration’s interventions and programs actually that women workers face, RISE can bring about bene昀椀t rightsholders in the short and long term. positive change in the global garment, footwear, The Watch & Jewellery Initiative 2030 integrates and home textiles industries. To conclude, stakeholder engagement and partnerships integrating the voices of multiple and diverse as one of its collaboration principles and has stakeholders—particularly those of bene昀椀ciaries or 11 rightsholders—either directly or via representatives published an extensive stakeholder report, summarizing insights from its engagement of over such as labor unions or grassroots organizations, is more than 80 stakeholders including business, critical to ensuring that collaborations contribute civil society, academia, trade associations, and effectively to sustainable development for all. 12 11 Stakeholder Report 2023 Launch—Watch & Jewelry Initiative 2030pdf 12 Governance—Watch & Jewelry Initiative 2030Centre

BSR | ADVANCING THE SDGs THROUGH COLLABORATION Lessons Learned from the Program 3 Measuring collaboration is that measuring collaboration success must impacts in a systematic manner: be a systematic endeavor, considering not only the direct outcomes (i.e., whether an While a key objective and success factor of initiative has been established or not) but the CoLab SDGs program is to establish 10 understanding that positive bene昀椀ts and impacts new initiatives, not all ideas for partnerships can play out in a number of different ways. result in formal business-led multi-stakeholder collaborations. Even ideas that are discarded during the initial landscape assessment—a While these three process undertaken to understand potential collaboration impacts and ensure that the initial lessons may potential collaboration addresses unmet needs stand out, BSR looks and avoids duplication—may result in an increased understanding of the context and forward to sharing collaboration challenge, yield concrete proposals for alternative solutions, or result in timebound more detailed insights projects or one-off stakeholder discussions and takeaways that can help advance knowledge on critical sustainability issues. For example, through about business-led Keeping Workers in the Loop, a project that multi-stakeholder explored the impact of circularity on jobs in the fashion industry, stakeholders across the fashion collaborations in a industry uncovered the need for further research on the ecological, social, and economic impact of future report, to be global used-textile product 昀氀ows. While no formal published in 2024. business-led collaboration has been established as a result of initial discussions, a clear need to further understand the multifaceted challenge has been identi昀椀ed. Ultimately, further research in this 昀椀eld will help advance the foundation for solutions and innovative approaches to the global issue of textile waste. What this example demonstrates 13

BSR | ADVANCING THE SDGs THROUGH COLLABORATION About BSR BSR is a sustainable business network and consultancy focused on creating a world in which all people can thrive on a healthy planet. With of昀椀ces in Asia, Europe, and North America, BSR provides its 300+ member companies with insight, advice, and collaborative initiatives to help them see a changing world more clearly, create long-term value, and scale impact. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. Copyright © 2023 by Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) www.bsr.org 14