Industry

Industry holds an indispensable relationship with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) formulated by the United Nations, illuminating the fact that sustainable industrial development plays a vital role in achieving these global objectives. Industry, particularly manufacturing, serves as a critical driver for economic growth, employment, and technological advancement. SDG 9, specifically, underlines the importance of industry, innovation, and infrastructure, underscoring the need for resilient infrastructure, inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and fostering innovation. However, the intricate interlinkages between industry and other SDGs must not be overlooked.

For instance, clean and sustainable industrial processes contribute significantly to SDG 13, aiming at climate action, by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving energy efficiency, and adopting clean and environmentally sound technologies. Similarly, SDG 12, responsible consumption and production, demands the industries to promote resource and energy efficiency, sustainable infrastructure, and provide access to basic services, green and decent jobs, and a better quality of life for all. It motivates industries to adopt sustainable practices and to integrate sustainability information into their reporting cycle.

The role of industries extends to SDG 8 (Decent work and Economic Growth) as industries stimulate economic activities that lead to job creation and thus, improve living standards. Also, in respect to SDG 5 (Gender Equality), industrial sectors have the potential to provide opportunities for women in the workforce and help bridge the gender wage gap.

Nevertheless, the transformation to a more sustainable industry is not without challenges. The demands of rapid technological changes, the need for significant capital investments in green technologies, and the transition to a circular economy are some of the hurdles industry faces. Further, this transformation requires a multilevel and multi-stakeholder approach, calling for cooperation among governments, private sectors, academia, and civil society to pave the path to achieving SDGs.

This report examines the real estate sector’s impact in relation to the UN Global Compact’s four focus areas of human rights, labour standards, the environment and anti-corruption, relating to Goal 9 and Goal 17.
A responsible supply chain, and eliminating corruption in the supply chain, are important elements of goals 10 and 16. This report, updated in 2016, outlines common supply chain corruption scenarios and provides a framework and set of tools for addressing them.
Project Clean Cow
This special report focuses on getting the most out of your innovation effort. A close focus on several key areas can help. Product innovation can open up new markets for producers and enable them to maintain competitiveness in increasingly competitive global markets. This fits well with the SDG 9 of Industry Innovation, also Technology, Production & Consumption.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon and Mike Walsh, CEO of LexisNexis Legal & Professional
The Business for the Rule of Law Framework (B4RoL) was launched by the UN GC in June 2015, building on the work started by LexisNexis Legal & Professional and the Atlantic Council in 2013. The B4RoL Framework is a call to action and guide for businesses around the world in taking proactive, voluntary actions to support the rule of law in everyday operations and relationships. Engaging business in the rule of law is critical to SDG 16.3 to promote the rule of law at the national and international levels and SDG 17 Partnerships for the goals.
This report demonstrates how companies can help to advance all 17 SDGs by operating responsibly in alignment with universal principles and finding opportunities to innovate to address societal challenges. Through a commitment to the UN Global Compact, companies are taking the first step to contribute to achieving the SDGs and have access to a range of tools to scale up their efforts.
This report sets out five defining features of corporate sustainability, which the Global Compact asks businesses to strive towards – looking at why each element is essential, how business can move forward and what the Global Compact is doing to help. It aligns with most of the SDGs but primarily goal 8 on decent work and economic growth and goal 17 on partnership for the goals.
SDG Compass - The guide for business action on the SDGs
The SDG Compass guides companies on how they can align their strategies as well as measure and manage their contribution to the realization of the SDGs. The SDG Compass presents five steps that assist companies in maximizing their contribution to the SDGs: understanding the SDGs, defining priorities, goal setting, integrating sustainability and reporting.
Linking to Goal 16, this report provides guidance on how to initiate and implement anti-corruption collective action initiatives while showcasing various examples from collective action projects worldwide.
Research, development and commercialisation are three important stages in pharmaceuticals and to advancing goal 3. This chapter explores the role of biophysical characterisation in this process.
Elsevier,

Sustainable Materials and Technologies, Volume 1, December 01, 2014

This paper looks ahead, beyond the projected large-scale market penetration of vehicles containing advanced batteries, to the time when the spent batteries will be ready for final disposition. It describes a working system for recycling, using lead-acid battery recycling as a model. Recycling of automotive lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries is more complicated and not yet established because few end-of-life batteries will need recycling for another decade. There is thus the opportunity now to obviate some of the technical, economic, and institutional roadblocks that might arise.

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