SDG Align – Tools for Sustainable Development

Our challenge was how to engage at scale in an effective way to make a measurable impact on Sustainable Development. We prioritise our efforts in the Built Environment because by 2050 2/3 of the global population will be living in urban areas and is currently responsible for 75% of all carbon emissions. The industry, as a whole, is siloed in its support for the SDGs and has low levels of data on sustainable development performance. Businesses and their representative Industry Associations are unaware of their current impact on environment, society and economy, due to the lack of agreed measurement frameworks.

Our digital Ready Reckoner (RR) tool asks 40 questions - most are to agree or disagree with a statement using a slider. After a brief ten-minute engaging set of questions the business owner is provided with a traffic light dashboard indicating strengths and weaknesses of the business in terms of: 1) their current impact on social, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainable development as well as 2) from a 'business perspective' such as internal processes, finance, innovation and customers. Please see the accompanying video shows the Ready Reckoner Design Solution.

Industry associations play a leading role in supporting and educating their SME members on issues of global importance. With their advocacy role and ensuring their social license to operate there is no greater challenge than achieving a sustainable future by 2050. The Ready Reckoner's aggregate reporting provides associations with real time data on their member's contribution to Sustainable Development and an aggregate measure of their sector impact. This enables the planning of interventions to reach large numbers of SMEs wishing to make a positive impact. We therefore help our partner associations to leverage their position to compound this positive impact.

Through the consideration of Sustainable Development, the awareness of the social and economic elements of sustainable development are highlighted in addition to the environmental focus which tends to dominate the current narrative. By recognising that most business are already making a positive contribution and highlighting areas for improvement we make practical recommendations to further engage businesses to increase their impact. [see image 1: Survey] We help businesses to align their organisation from four dimensions (finance, internal processes, innovation and customers) with a measurable contribution to sustainable development and in the future fill gaps in skills issues through training and credentialing. The simple 'traffic light' design indicates areas to celebrate as well as areas for improvement. Whichever way the tool is navigated, each interrogation ends with rich information on what to do next. The downloadable report provides a personalised benchmark for the business and identifies practical next steps to take at their own pace. [see Image 2: Overview and Image 3: Economy] The backend (algorithm) of the Ready Reckoner maps measurement frameworks and concepts, such as Balanced Scorecard analysis, with the Global Reporting Framework for SDG disclosures and units of competency from the Australian vocational training system.