VIP event to celebrate Danish business leaders for their commitment to achieving the SDGs

March 19, 2018

As a kickstart for the new SDG Accelerator programme, UNDP and The Danish Industry Foundation invite all companies in the programme to a VIP event where we will inspire and celebrate the innovative and visionary business leaders who want to work strategically with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through SDG Accelerator.

Time and place: March 20, 2018 at. 15-18 in Asia House, Indiakaj 16, Copenhagen.

On September 25, 2015, world leaders gathered at the United Nations in New York to adopt the 17 SDGs – a truly universal, and transformative global development agenda. This 15 year agenda aims to guide the international community and national governments on a pathway towards sustainable development, leaving no one behind. The SDGs give renewed hope for the future and now.

By 2015, the Heads of State and Government of the World Council adopted the UN's World Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which, by 2030, should pave the way for more sustainable development for companies, people and the planet we live in. World goals give renewed hope for the future. Now it is necessary to take on the gloves and to work in concrete terms with the World Goals as they are a real starting point for what would like to be a global race for especially companies that have the ability and potential to deliver products and solutions that may be included to solve the world's most pressing challenges and thus achieve the goals.

Some of these challenges are attempting to resolve the companies in SDG Accelerator. For example, some researchers believe that the total weight of plastic will be greater than the weight of all the fish of the sea by 2050. One of the 15 companies in the program, Desmi Ro-Clean, will use its oil-solving know-how to solve this challenge. Desmi Ro-Clean has newly developed equipment, which has now been tested and offered commercially to areas where the problem is greatest, especially in Asia. Another challenge concerns internet access. According to figures from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), 52 percent of the world's population today has no access to the Internet. In Africa, it is 82 percent. Bluetown, who participates in the program, will help solve this challenge by putting solar powered satellite dishwashers supplying Internet connections into remote villages, especially in Africa and India. This allows the population to access the Internet at an affordable price, which can help local health clinics drastically, as 80 percent of all diagnostic errors can be avoided if local clinics get internet access, according to the McKinsey Global Institute.

There are great potentials for delivering sustainable business models and solutions in the world's emerging economies, which are unconventional markets for many Danish companies. There are hard markets to work in, but it is among other things Also in these markets, there is a great need for sustainable solutions.

"Business is a vital player in all 17 world goals. Economic growth, trade, entrepreneurship, innovation and the creation of decent jobs are tasks that are largely based on the private sector's efforts. Danish companies are far advanced in several areas, such as cleantech and urban development, and the strength position can be utilized even better, "says Mads Lebech, CEO of the Industrial Fund, which, together with UNDP, is behind the new project SDG Accelerator.

And that's exactly what companies in SDG Accelerator want to do. Generally, there is great will and interest among Danish companies. However, it is difficult to translate abstract world goals into concrete actions and make them part of business business development. To do this, it is necessary to identify the individual company's potential and needs and operationalize the World Goals in specific business models and products.

"We participate in SDG Accelerator because we want to develop new solutions and business models that can contribute to the achievement of the World Goals. Together with experts from the United Nations system and Deloitte, we hope to do this, so that we can also share the $ 12 trillion US $, which is of business opportunity in the world targets annually by 2030, "said Peter Ib, CEO of Bluetown.

For the VIP event, all business executives will present why they have entered the project and what they actually expect to get out of the program. In addition, investor, serialist and author Lars Tvede will share his views on the great trends of the future that will affect Danish companies.

SDG Accelerator is a new project to assist small and medium-sized Danish industrial companies using the UN's World Objectives for developing new sustainable products and business models, as well as strengthening employee commitment to sustainability at all levels of business. The program is run by UN Development Program UNDP's Nordic Office, and the project is funded by Industriens Fond. The project is being implemented in cooperation with Monitor Deloitte and Development Fund for Developing Countries (IFU). The purpose of the project is, among other things, to develop and test the SDG Accelerator model in collaboration with 30 small and medium Danish industrial companies over a period of two years.

For further information:

Valdemar Røjle Christensen, UNDP, telephone: 26 28 81 51 or mail: valdemar.christensen@undp.org

Ole Østrup, Industriens Fond, telephone: 23 80 06 60 or mail: oos@industriensfond.dk