Sustainable Development Goals: A Practical Guide for Corporate Innovators – Runway Innovation Hub
Defining Social Impact Targets
While it’s now common for organizations to target environmental goals such as those above, selecting targets and indicators for SDGs related to social impact can be more challenging. Nevertheless, defining KPIs for related initiatives is crucial to measuring and achieving progress. The following example can serve as a guide:
SDG 1 (No Poverty) possesses a related target, Target 1.2, that seeks to “reduce at least by half the proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions.” Possible quantitative and qualitative indicators include:
Collect Data and Set Baselines
Once targets and indicators have been identified, it’s important to collect data to understand performance and potential. Stakeholders should also use current and historical data to define a baseline that serves as a point of comparison for each goal.
For example, in its Travel with Purpose program highlighted above, Hilton will measure increases in social impact investments against its 2017 baseline, the year before which its goals were announced.
However, as illustrated in the case of one Kimberly-Clark goal, baselines will not always come easily. Sometimes, further work is required to assess impact. Here, transparency is key to showing progress.
In the 2019 report that launched their goals, they describe the difficulty of defining a baseline to gauge the carbon impacts of their supply chain’s forestry activities. In the following year’s report, they evidence progress against this goal, in part, by describing their new work with a sustainability consultant to further assess the product lifecycle and determine an adequate baseline.
Set Goals
With past performance data against KPIs in hand—and your company’s level of ambition in mind—it’s time to put pen to paper and set down your goals.
The UN Global Compact and GRI’s SDG Compass outlines two typical methods of goal-setting:
The outside-in method of goal-setting is more likely to lead to the transformational change that is the foundation of the SDGs. Setting benchmarks using this method can be more challenging, but companies may turn to resources like those provided below for support: