What's SDGs
The essence of SDGs
What are SDGs?
If you search for SDGs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the United Nations Development Program will be displayed in the search word, and the following will be stated in the site.
SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) It is an acronym for Sustainable Development Goals.
193 UN member states were unanimously adopted in September 2015, consisting of 17 major goals for 2030 to achieve a sustainable world and 169 targets to achieve them. Our philosophy is "no one will be left behind."
You may have a huge image when you associate it with the United Nations, but in reality, each country takes the initiative rather than being led by the United Nations, and all countries are working to solve economic, environmental, and social problems such as energy problems and marine resource problems. It will be an effort to solve the problems that should be tackled.
What are Sustainable Development Goals?
Development that meets the needs of the current generation without impairing the ability of future generations to meet their needs, and the improvement and harmony of the three main elements of economy, environment, and society are essential for achieving this.
As the economy develops, economic activities will progress, people and logistics will move faster, and our lives will become more convenient, such as the development of transportation infrastructure and new businesses. However, is there any oxygen left for us to breathe due to environmental destruction, air pollution, ecosystem destruction, etc. due to the increase in CO2 emissions?
Is there any safe food left for us to eat? What is the future of the next generation?
To protect the environment, stopping economic activities will improve the environment and improve the environment in which we live.
On the other hand, if the economy stops, the wave of recession will come and the economic loss due to bankruptcy, job loss, and tax revenue reduction will be immeasurable. What impact will the increase in crime rates have on the society in which we live?
Supply chain responsibility
From production to consumption and final disposal, our products and services are now held responsible for subcontracting, subcontracting, raw material supply, and subsequent disposal.
If you compare it with food, where did it livestock, and did you use genetically modified grains for food? To give an example in manufacturing, a company placed an order with a subcontractor factory at the stage of making a product, but upon receiving the order, the factory is working on ESG and SDGs with products that meet the approval criteria.
However, it was carried out at a subcontract factory in a manufacturing process that puts a heavy burden on the environment. In addition, child labor was used to reduce costs.
There were also major companies that had this kind of reality.
If the actual situation such as counterfeiting is discovered, will the major companies not know because they have received an order from a subcontract factory?
When a company places an order with a subcontractor, we are entering an era in which we must take responsibility for the process by which our products and services are made.
The supply chain's work of responsibility created by the SDGs in our business activities is an important factor.
Lana Plaza tragedy
The reality of the fashion industry, how cheap products are made and sales are the top priority, and sales costs are reduced under dire control, with more than 1,130 dead, more than 2,500 injured, and more than 500 missing. A catastrophe has occurred.
The building houses a garment factory for 27 well-known Western clothing brands, with about 4,000 staff.
The strength of the building was problematic as the cost was reduced to meet the demand from Western companies and the production volume was increased, and illegal extensions were repeated many times without using reinforcing bars. Even though cracks had already been found in the entire building the day before the accident, raising production was a top priority, abandoning responsibility for hygiene and safety management, and allowing staff to evacuate. Instead, he was forced to continue operations by threatening to "do not pay the monthly salary unless he worked."
The catastrophe caused consumers to recognize that indirect murder had taken place, resulting in non-buying activities. Large companies can't do without knowing it by leaving it to a subcontractor factory.
How would you feel if your loved one was killed here?
Isn't it the responsibility of consumers to buy as well as the responsibility of making and using?
Japanese-style management = SDGs
Japan has the longest history of 2020 (currently) 2680.
And there are 50,000 companies in Japan that have been around for 100 years, which is unprecedented in the world.
Now, comparing the characteristics of Japanese and Western management, as a result of the global rhythm and short-term profit pursuit that have gone too far in Western-style rational management, companies such as Enron and Wargocom have been window-dressing and falsely accounting for trillions of yen. If the company manages with the profit-first principle of short-term thinking such as concealment, the governance has collapsed throughout the company.
Also, to give an example of a major factor, the term of office of the CEO (president) will be shortened, and raising sales during his term of office will become a priority issue, which will lead to invisible value and investment in the future. It seems that the situation has become difficult to look at.
In other words, it is no exaggeration to say that Japanese-style management and the nature of the Japanese people themselves are SDGs.
The SDGs are completed by adding the idea of "good for yourself, good for the other person, good for the world" to "Let's value the prosperity of descendants" in "Sampo Yoshi". The important thing is to actively publicize the SDGs once they are undertaken. In other words, it is important to change to "outgoing three-way goodness".
ESG investment
ESG is an acronym for Environment, Social, and Governance.
ESG investment has been widely covered in newspapers and other media.
One Kyen of money is being used for investment in the world.
Of this amount, 25%, or 2500 trillion yen, goes into ESG investment.
There is a growing awareness of ESG investment among organizations that recognize that investment is rational and that invest in the overall and long-term.
In the past, companies have been chosen because of how profitable they were and because they can also make a profit as an investment target. Recently, investment in invisible values that are not reflected in financial statements, such as investment in the environment and investment in society, has become widespread, and pension funds are also managing enormous amounts.
The pension fund is also trying to put their investment funds into companies that are doing well in ESG investment, environment, society and governance.
Japan's ESG investment ratio is supported by 0.2% in 2012 → 3.4% in 2016 → 18.3% in 2018.
ESG equity funds outperform investment returns
Environmental problems that spread around the world and human rights problems that abuse workers. ESG investment is expanding to prevent these issues. This is the reason why investment funds are collected by companies that focus on environmental society and governance, and investment funds are withdrawn from companies that do not give due consideration.
I built a building with asbestos. I made it cheaply. However, when it comes to removal, it costs a lot of money, and even in long-term management, raising the stock price is not the job of a listed company. Now, even if you make a profit, if you become a manager who is destroying the environment, the stock price will not rise.
Looking at Nikkei, not only is it profitable from full-scale advertising, but it is also a PR to shareholders that they are also engaged in sustainable activities.
Evolutionary history
The era of mercantilist
It was an economic paradigm of colonizing many parts of the world, procuring raw materials through trade, processing them in their own country to add value, and exporting them to obtain gold and silver from other countries. And the conquest and suppression of African and Asian countries and the exploitation of people. Wealth and power of European countries before the Industrial Revolution were built.
The era of industrial capitalism
The invention and widespread use of steam engines through new technological innovations created a new economic society, gradually shifting from the Industrial Revolution to industrial capitalism.
The introduction of a steam locomotive weaving machine required the labor of 500 people, but it became possible by one person. It was a revolutionary change in speed.
The key stakeholders of the enterprise of this era were the capitalists who invested in securing land, manufacturing equipment and labor. The role expected of companies was to "realize a prosperous consumer society."
The era of sustainable economy
CSR management, sustainability management, CSV, ESG, and SDGs.
It is a new concept since the 1980s, and it is pointed out that the dysfunction of the economic development model so far lurks in the background.
For example, only profitable companies can carry out CSR activities, or people who are engaged in CSR activities but are working are not aware of their efforts. How do companies work in a densely populated global society? It can be said that we have entered the great "era of re-questioning" in the present age when we are demonstrating our economic power while maintaining the global environment and healthy society that can support human life.
Paradigm shift
In the latter half of the 20th century, humankind made remarkable progress, but the pollution problems represented by Minamata disease in Japan, global warming that began to be highlighted in the 1980s, the destruction of the ecosystem that has been attracting particular attention since the 1990s, and sub New social and environmental issues, such as child labor in the rye chain, have become more frequent.
The 200-year-old development of industrial capitalism has ceased to work on a planet with a rapidly rising population density. And, of course, the role of the economic leader company began to be questioned in essence.
The significance of the company's existence, the social issues that need to be addressed in the future, all of which are approaching the time of overhaul.
As the times change as shown in the figure, the demands of problem-solving type, innovation, co-creation with stakeholders, investment market, and customer market are increasing, and companies are moving to solve social problems from a long-term perspective. Innovative contributions are expected, and a paradigm shift of the times is occurring.
New era of consumers
Future consumption by millennials and Zet generations, a major factor in the wave of SDGs, is changing.
Characteristically, this generation experienced the sudden economic downturn after the burst of the bubble economy, and is said to be a digital native whose internet was already widespread when it was born. I have no hope.
On the other hand, I had a desperate experience because I was an adult after the worst employment difficulty in the past after the Lehman shock, but I survived.
And it seems that many people are more conscious of social service, etc., based on their experiences such as 9/11 and 3.11. For example, they are not interested in things that previous generations wanted, such as brands and career advancement, and they buy sympathy and experience for money rather than things.
It can be said that the number of users of SNS such as Facebook and Instagram has increased rapidly because the millennial generation has become the core of consumption.
The rapid growth of the sharing economy, including Uber and Airbee & Bee, is also a factor.
Values to be emphasized
Starbucks, a major US coffee chain, has announced that it will eliminate the use of disposable plastic straws in stores around the world by 2020.
This is because attention has been focused on the problem of plastic disposal and the problem of marine pollution. The cost of straws is said to be about 10 times higher at this stage. However, it will lead to the strategy of the company that thinks that there will be a big return in the long term even if it costs so much and the value increase of the company.
It's costly, but if you keep using plastic straws, drinking coffee at Starbucks was fashionable and cool, so it could be a mess to pollute the ocean.
Starbucks has created the image of a cool company that protects the environment even at a high cost.
In terms of consumption, not only cheapness and functionality, but also design and story have become criteria, so I want to use something that does not burden the environment even if it is a little expensive, and that kind of thinking is increasing. I think that the millennial generation and the Zet generation will play a central role.