SDGs Are Destined to Change the Conversation between Companies and Governments, Says Alicia Bárcena

Speaking today in New York, Alicia Bárcena (Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean - ECLAC) said that, against the global backdrop of economic stagnation, rising inequality and environmental destruction, there was an urgent need to change the conversation between the business world and governments to achieve sustainable development.

On Tuesday, while moderating a panel of the SDG Business Forum as part of the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, the most senior ECLAC representative said that the importance of changing the conversation between the public and private sectors was well known, and that the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were the means needed to achieve that.

Panel participants included Lord Mark Malloch-Brown, Chair of the Business and Sustainable Development Commission, and Gavin E. R. Wilson, Chief Executive Officer at IFC Asset Management Company, who discussed the role that the private sector should play in implementing the 2030 Agenda and the 17 SDGs that were adopted in September 2015 by the international community.

During the session, Alicia Bárcena stated that the 2030 Agenda clearly showed that the prevailing development model was unsustainable, and that we must change how we produce, consume and relate to each other. She said that there needed to be a new equation between State, market and society, as she lamented the growing disconnect between the financial economy and the real economy.

The senior United Nations official emphasized that rights-based employment was a fundamental part of the virtuous circle needed to achieve more inclusive and environmentally friendly development, and called on the business world to increase innovation in production for low-carbon purposes.   

The most recent ECLAC document, Horizons 2030: Equality at the Centre of Sustainable Development, puts forward a progressive structural change with an environmental big push in Latin America and the Caribbean involving new public and private investment to narrow the energy and infrastructure gaps; the use of cleaner production and consumption patterns; and a move towards knowledge-intensive sectors to create decent and quality employment.

The SDG Business Forum, which brought together business and government leaders, as well as representatives of the United Nations system, international agencies and civil society, was organized by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN-DESA), and the United Nations Global Compact in collaboration with the Global Business Alliance (GBA) for 2030.

The opening involved the participation of Oh Joon, President of the United Nations Economic and Social Council Social (ECOSOC); Jan Eliasson, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations; Simón Gaviria, Director General of Planning in Colombia; Carolyn Miles, President of the NGO Save the Children; and John Danilovich, Secretary General of the International Chamber of Commerce.