SDG Business Forum

Redefining Business Leadership in a COVID-19 World

This year — five years after the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the start of the Decade of Action and Delivery of the SDGs — has presented a new set of unforeseen challenges. The social and economic cost of the pandemic have been exacerbated in many countries by environmental stressors and social unrest.

As companies struggle to maintain their footing in a COVID-19 world, some commentators have suggested the outlook for the global economy may have a chilling effecting on the adoption of sustainable business practices.

But, to the contrary, a new form of leader has emerged in this crisis – a generation of executives and rising professionals who understand that there are no successful businesses in a failed world. In this context, the private sector – in partnership with governments and civil society leaders – is leveraging the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals to respond to immediate threats in their communities, prepare for long term sustainability, and remedy the three critical fragilities which have been exposed by events of 2020: climate change and nature loss; social inequality; and economic exclusion.

The 2020 SDG Business Forum, held virtually on the margins of the 75th UN General Assembly, the 2020 Biodiversity Summit and the Beijing +25 Conference, is a platform for all stakeholders to come together for meaningful dialogue on the role of the private sector in addressing the current economic landscape and to co-create lasting solutions for a more sustainable future.

Learn more and register.