SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY County Wexford Chamber supports Sustainable Development Goals 3. COLLABORATE AND CREATE: Put in place a plan to aligning your business and work practices with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Along with our nationwide network, County Wexford Chamber signed Chambers Ireland’s pledge in September 2019 to adopt and support the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as part of the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. These Goals are a commitment ‘to end poverty and hunger, in all its forms and dimensions, ensuring that all human beings can fulfil their potential with dignity, equality and in a healthy environment.’
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Partnership is a vital component in achieving the 2030 targets set out for the SDGs, which is why every Chamber in our network is involved in helping to promote the SDGs and support their members to embrace the Goals in their work, communities, and home life. The targets for these Goals are ambitious, but they will have long-lasting effects on our future and will safeguard the planet and livelihoods of generations to come. With commitment and dedication, we can work together to make a real impact. Many businesses wonder where to start and how best to incorporate the SDGs into their companies. Alongside Chambers Ireland, County Wexford Chamber will be releasing an SDG Toolkit for business members in the coming weeks, which will help guide businesses through assessing and adopting the SDGs. Our Toolkit has been created to foster ideas and offer guidance on becoming more sustainable and responsible within the workplace.
Look at business opportunities that could help to benefit your business and others. Assess your supply chains and how the companies that you already work with engage with the SDGs. Encourage partners to align with the SDGs or look at sourcing alternative suppliers that are already engaging with the Goals and implementing more sustainable and responsible business practices in their workplace. 4. MEASURE AND REVIEW:
Getting started with SDGs If you wish to take the first steps towards building awareness of the SDGs in your business, here is an outline of where to get started: 1. IDENTIFY AND COMMIT: Look at all 17 SDGs, what they mean and how they relate to your business. Identify one or two of these Goals which best align with your vision for your business and how they correlate with where you wish to take it in the future. Discuss your chosen Goals with employees, partners, your Board and stakeholders, and publicise your commitment to supporting these SDGs as this will help keep you accountable and on track. 2. SET TARGETS: Outline key performance indicators for each chosen Goal and a timeline in which you hope to accomplish them. These targets can be as simple as increasing interest and engagement with an SDG to making changes to how your business is conducted. Clearly communicate your ambitions to your staff and outline ways in which they can contribute to overall progress and reaching these targets.
Continue to measure, assess and report changes relating to the SDGs at regular intervals. Review your work and commitment to the Goals annually, and see where you can improve your actions to keep your targets on track. Look at where you have succeeded and the areas where you haven’t made much progress and come up with solutions to these issues. 5. ALIGN POLICY AND STRATEGY: Committing to the SDGs is a longterm responsibility and an ongoing process. Aligning your company’s corporate strategy with the Goals ensures that the SDGs stay at the heart of business operations for years to come. Keep an eye out for our SDG Toolkit – launching soon! We will be sharing more advice and ways to incorporate the SDGs in your business.
