This white paper, developed jointly by PwC, GMIS and UNIDO, sets out the business imperative for manufacturing businesses of achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and why global manufacturing organisations must align their strategy with the SDGs.

Of course businesses cannot achieve the SDGs by themselves. That is not their role. That is the role of government. But individual businesses – including global manufacturers - can help (or hinder) governments in achieving them.

Governments will also turn to business to help them achieve the SDGs, not primarily through donations or philanthropic activity (although that will help too), but by reviewing and seeking inputs that help shape government policies and procedures impacting businesses.

For global manufacturing players, this means (a) recognising the relevance of the SDGs to their business activities, and then (b) moving away from “business-as-usual” in the way they deliver and create products and services.

Manufacturers should look closely at the targets that underpin SDG goals 7, 8, 9, 12 and 13 in particular, as these may well be where their greatest opportunities (and their biggest contribution) lie. UNIDO, which focuses particularly on SDG 9, believes that the structural shift toward more innovation and technology-oriented industrial activities will significantly change the nature of competition, redefine work and redraw traditional industrial boundaries. As such, the arrival of the new industrial revolution promises considerable opportunities for inclusive and sustainable development for manufacturers as they align their business models with the achievement of the SDGs.

The recent ‘Better Business, Better World’ report revealed that pursuing sustainable and inclusive business models could unlock economic opportunities worth at least US$12 trillion a year by 2030 and generate up to 380 million jobs, mostly in developing countries. But the total economic prize from implementing the Global Goals could be two to three times larger still, assuming that the benefits are captured across the whole economy and accompanied by much higher labour and resource productivity.