How CMOs Can Help The UN Meet Its Sustainable Development Goals

In 2012, world leaders at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro began to discuss a set of universal goals that would meet the environmental, political and economic challenges of the modern world. In 2015, these goals were collected into 17 large themes to ensure development around the world. These goals make up the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the UN is making a push to accomplish them on time.

Five years from the deadline, progress has been slow, to put it mildly. Last week the UN released its annual report on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), finding that only 35% of targets are on track or making moderate progress. Close to half are moving too slowly, and 18% are actually trending in reverse.

One way to raise awareness of the SDGs and get more people to work toward making them a reality is by increasing exposure. I’ve personally seen references to the SDGs in many places in just the last few months. For their end-of-the-year projects, students at my daughter’s elementary school presented ways to raise awareness of one of the SDGs. (Her class selected Life Below Water, and my daughter now considers herself a fifth-grade expert on stopping water pollution.) And I recently toured the ruins of the lost city of Pompeii, where informative placards explained how the Romans who once lived there epitomized some of the SDGs even then, including Clean Water and Sanitation through their central public baths, as well as Peace, Justice And Strong Institutions by listening to other citizens at the Comitium, where public meetings took place.

While education at schools and historical sites are helpful ways to share a message, there’s a much more powerful and effective method in today’s society: marketing. At Cannes Lions this year, the UN Global Compact presented a high-level report to tell CMOs how they can use their brands’ voices to further the SDGs. Getting this messaging out there could represent a huge opportunity for brands. Harris Poll research commissioned by Google Cloud in 2022 found that 52% of consumers are interested in supporting sustainable brands, with two-thirds seeking out products that are environmentally friendly. More than half say they’re willing to pay more for something sustainable.

Today’s Forbes CMO newsletter is taking a deep dive into the UN Global Compact’s report, what it says, and how CMOs can use it to spotlight the good that their brands are doing—as well as encourage their companies to do more to reach these goals. After all, 90% of executives recognize the importance of sustainability, according to a report from Climate Champions.

I spoke to Sue Allchurch, the UN Global Compact’s chief of outreach and engagement, and its head of marketing Claudia Kirwald, about the report, its ramifications, and how the right kind of messaging can help your brand make a lasting impact.

This is the published version of Forbes’ CMO newsletter, which offers the latest news for chief marketing officers and other messaging-focused leaders. Click here to get it delivered to your inbox every Wednesday.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

The UN’s SDGs do have something to do with sustainability in the U.S. way of thinking, in which the term is usually associated with actions to protect and improve the environment. But these goals are actually much broader, and together aim to eliminate global poverty and hunger through accomplishing a set of economic, social and environmental norms.

The 2030 Agenda For Sustainable Growth says the overarching goal is “to end poverty and hunger everywhere; to combat inequalities within and among countries; to build peaceful, just and inclusive societies; to protect human rights and promote gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls; and to ensure the lasting protection of the planet and its natural resources. We resolve also to create conditions for sustainable, inclusive and sustained economic growth, shared prosperity and decent work for all, taking into account different levels of national development and capacities.”

This is a huge agenda to attempt to accomplish in a generation, let alone 15 years. Allchurch told me that progress is not being made quickly enough. In just one aspect that is familiar to many in the U.S., the gender pay gap still sees men being paid 20% more than women—a gap that will take 152 years to close if the current rate of progress continues.

“We thought, okay, how do we really help speed up the process?” she said. “We developed the Blueprint then in order to help the marketing community really partner and engage with sustainability.”

The UN Global Compact teamed up with WFA and Kantar to research how brands were implementing sustainability messaging, and it uncovered clear barriers, Allchurch said. Long-term goals and short-term pressures were at odds, and some companies were looking at their internal sustainability goals as a box-checking measure rather than an opportunity to showcase a larger message to customers.

The UN has worked with CEOs, CFOs, corporate legal staff and chief sustainability officers in pursuit of the goals. But CMOs are the ones with the best view on real business opportunities, Allchurch said.

“Putting them at the heart of a company’s sustainability agenda can only help the sustainability team,” she said. CMOs can also help “the finance team when they’re looking for access to capital, driving return on some of these investments and looking for business opportunities. We want to make sure that we are rethinking growth.”

HOW TO DO IT

To develop the CMO Blueprint For Sustainable Growth, the UN Global Compact worked with a strategic working group of global CMOs, asking them about the areas where they saw an opportunity to make a difference. Their answers coalesced around five pillars: growth strategy; brand strategy; innovation; communications, advertising and media; and collaboration and partnerships. The report defines the pillars and provides examples of brands that have successfully highlighted each one in their marketing and strategy.

Allchurch said this structure is important because the CMO’s influence and participation in big strategic discussions varies from company to company. These are all areas in which any CMO could feel empowered to speak up and make a difference, Kirwald pointed out.

In general, CMOs want to highlight how their brands are displaying the full range of their sustainability actions, as well as take advantage of opportunities to do more, Allchurch said. But they tend to get stymied when it comes to appropriate language, and they also don’t know how far to go with initiatives: Will consumers think this is greenwashing and be turned off?

“Our goal with the CMO Blueprint is to actually enable them [to make progress] by giving them inspiration and case studies, but also tools for them to be able to actually get started, because there was a lot of intent,” Kirwald said. “Our goal is: Let’s get them from intent to action with some of the tools that are available.”

EXAMPLES OF SUCCESS

The blueprint highlights two case studies from companies that have taken action based on each of the five pillars, breaking down the action, the impact and the payoff.

“A lot of the work in here is, look at CMOs who are really driving it: How it’s affected their growth, their KPIs, their ultimate business results. And that’s been a win for them,” Allchurch said. “…It’s not just something over here that has to be done while I’m doing growth. Okay, I see how it can help me deliver my goals as well.”

For example, under growth strategy, the blueprint talks about how companies can make sustainability a key part of their core business strategies—both to serve the business and potential consumers—and make storytelling about it central to a brand’s narrative. One of the examples is New Zealand kiwi producer Zespri, which has embedded sustainability KPIs for its production and business growth plans, while guaranteeing fair returns to its growers. Key teams for Zespri’s management are evaluated not just on financial results, but on contributions to health, social and environmental outcomes.

The brand strategy pillar calls on CMOs to define the brand’s purpose and see how it aligns with the SDGs, as well as translate larger corporate sustainability goals to brand-level commitments. The report highlights Diageo’s commitment to water replenishment in Mexico through its Don Julio spirit brand. Diageo firmly positioned Don Julio around the mission of replenishing water in parched soils in Jalisco, both by working with specialists to design the brand and supply chain to preserve and replenish water as well as creating campaigns around the initiative highlighted by an art installation during Mexico City Art Week.

The innovation pillar reminds CMOs to advocate for sustainability-focused products and initiatives in all areas, including packaging, supply chain and digital. An example is Brazilian cosmetics company Natura’s Ekos Castanha Concentrated Moisturizer, to which consumers add water—leading to a smaller bottle using 81% less plastic, producing 55% less waste and cutting transportation emissions by 38%. Campaigns highlighted the moisturizer’s effectiveness as well as how the purportedly inconvenient step of adding water actually enhances sustainability.

Under communications, advertising and media, the blueprint urges educating everyone who works on the marketing team with information about sustainability—and not to forget ensuring that these activities also have sustainability footprints. One example looks at how cosmetics giant L’Oreal worked with experts to lower the carbon footprint of its digital advertising by cutting back on the energy it used to deliver online messages through steps like reduced image resolution and delivering campaigns at times in which renewable energy is more available.

For collaboration and partnerships, the blueprint recommends brands work with partners who have the same goals, and try to add the SDGs to agreements with them. An example is MasterCard, which combined its own data with government statistics and housing and job data to create a “Where to Settle” platform for Ukrainian refugees seeking new homes in Poland after their home country was invaded by Russia. The platform helped the refugees, but it also boosted MasterCard’s favorability and usage intent by double digits.

STAYING POWER

Allchurch said that the UN’s study shows that the SDGs can lead to benefits for all. They work well for brands when the SDGs are really baked into their bedrock purposes. Kirwald agreed.

“They’re aligning their core sustainability strategy at the core level clearly with their brand strategy, and they’re backing it up with data, so it’s really authentic and it builds trust. And I think trust is what we’re seeing,” Kirwald said. “The companies that have that high trust, then they’re able to increase brand loyalty. They’re able to increase revenue and preference.”

And even though political powers may be pushing sustainability to the margins, that doesn’t mean companies are—or should—be moving away from these metrics. Allchurch said that if the SDGs are truly core to a brand’s business, its culture will shift. Despite any political pressure and deprioritization of sustainability goals from the Trump Administration, she said, studies have indicated companies are continuing with their goals. It makes sense; business commitments tend to be long term and not easily changed.

In the U.S. in particular, Allchurch said, there’s much more interest in the SDGs right now. Companies from around the world join the UN Global Compact by committing to implement the goals. She added that this year has seen the highest-ever number of companies from the U.S. Tech companies make up the largest proportion of signups, which Allchurch said shows that they’re thinking about big issues like the massive amount of energy needed for generative AI.

Kirwald said this also shows that, as far as companies are concerned, they’re beyond the idealism and surface-level performative interest in the SDGs.

“Right now, it’s the core: the strength of sustainability to really drive innovation, drive growth,” she said. “And so I think what we’re seeing in talking to companies is that’s the focus: That real, true business case that actually is good for the planet and people, but clearly good for business as well. I think that’s been strengthened because of some of the backlash that it has received.”

COMINGS + GOINGS

• IT services provider Presidio appointed Tina McNulty as chief marketing officer. McNulty most recently worked as CMO at ScienceLogic, and has also held senior marketing roles at BitSight, Cisco and BMC.
• Defense contractor QinetiQ US hired Scott McGleish as chief growth officer, effective July 14. McGleish previously worked as president and general manager of Weibel Scientific North America, as well as Raytheon Technologies and Booz Allen Hamilton.
• HR systems provider HiBob tapped Sophie Chesters to be its next chief marketing officer. Chesters joins the firm after having worked in senior leadership roles at Google, DoubleClick, Medallia and UserZoom.

STRATEGIES + ADVICE

Traditional leaders are the kind that you’d read about in a book from decades ago: In control and valuing a company’s hierarchy and employee conformity. Times have changed, and many now look to the authentic leader, or someone grounded in self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and a commitment to leading with purpose and ethics. Here are some key differences between how the two perform on the job, and tips to help shift your leadership style.

If you’re looking for ways to increase your business success, you may not have to look farther than ChatGPT. Here are five prompts to get suggestions to do things differently—and maybe move to the next level.

QUIZ

What product announcement did beverage giant Coca-Cola make this week?

A. It’s launching a U.S.-made version of Coca-Cola with cane sugar

B. It’s partnering with Diageo on a new spirit flavored with Coca-Cola

C. It’s bringing back Honest Tea

D. It’s launching a canned Costa Coffee beverage in the U.S.

See if you got it right here.