Sustainable development and business is united by Danish companies

21 ambitious companies want to unite business and sustainable development. This is the first step in the project “The UN Global Goals – From Philanthropy to Business”. With the project the companies hope that they can inspire and motivate others to venture into a new growth area.

Already two years ago the heads of government and state from 193 countries adopted the 17 global goals for sustainable development.  Never before have all countries come together in support of a collective goal and overall plan for our planet. And never before has the private sector been written so thoroughly into that plan.

The project “The UN Global Goals – From Philantrophy to Business”,  represents an ambitious attempt from the Confederation of Danish Industry, the Danish Industry Foundation and Global Compact Network Denmark to contribute to an important global agenda that may simultaneously strengthen the competitiveness of Danish businesses in the long run.

The Sustainable Development Commission estimates that the UN’s global goals represent new market opportunities worth USD 12 billion within food, energy, sustainable cities and health.

“Companies that succeed in integrating sustainability into their business will be the winners of tomorrow”, says Thomas Bustrup, Coo Confederation of Danish Industry

Development of sustainable business models

The project is implementing development in 21 companies, that represent a wide segment of the Danish business community. The purpose of the project is to train companies to understand and translate world goals into new business opportunities. They learn to match relevant world goals to their individual opportunities, set goals and measure themselves against them, identify new market needs, develop business models, find partnerships and funding opportunities, and realize the goals. 

Participating companies

Bobles, Dupont, Egmont, Fischer Lighting, FLSmidth, GEHL Architects, Haldor Topsøe, Hempel, Herning Vand, Kamstrup, Kopenhagen Fur, Krüger, LE34, Orana, Peter Larsen Kaffe, Pluspack, Roskilde Festival, Royal Greenland, Stena Recycling, Stjernholm, Tasso.

Follow the development of the project here.
Watch the movie about the project here.

Source: Confederation of Danish Industry
Photo credit: NN norden.org