‘Business with a Heart’ campaign launched

On Monday 24th of April, Deloitte Malta and SOS Malta, together with the support of the Core Platform (Corporate Citizenship for Responsible Enterprises) launched“Business with a Heart” at the Deloitte offices in Mriehel.

In September 2015, world leaders committed to 17 Global Goals for Sustainable Development (or SDGs), with the aim ending poverty, protecting the planet, ensuring prosperity for all, and are all part of a new sustainable development agenda. Each goal has specific targets to be achieved over the next 15 years. More info at: http://www.globalgoals.org/

“Business with a Heart” is inspired by the recognition that, for business to be ready to face future challenges successfully, they must engage more fully with finding solutions to global issues and engaging with these goals. As Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, President of Malta stressed in her opening speech, “If we truly want a better future for all of us, in particular, for our children we cannot afford to ignore any of these goals.”

To achieve the global goals, partnership between government, business and civil society is needed. As the driving force behind economic growth, business is uniquely positioned to help establish a more equitable, inclusive and sustainable society. President ColeiroPreca explained that these global concerns also apply to Malta, stating that businesses must “work in synergy with civil society, to respond, to the needs of our communities, in a practical way”.

However, a transformative change requires all companies to integrate environmental, social and good governance approaches.

Some of the challenges faced by companies in engaging with the global goals include primarily a lack of knowledge of the goals and how to apply them to business. The aim of “Business with a Heart” is to address these barriers through increasing knowledge and awareness of the business sector regarding its role in contributing to the SDGs using a targeted social media and information campaign to encourage and stimulate businesses to engage in tackling the SDGs.

“Business with a Heart” kicked off with a survey being distributed to local businesses which aimed to identify the level of knowledge and commitment to the SDGs.This report highlights that business do wish to engage more on sustainable development and social issues: 87% of the respondents declared being concerned or strongly concerned with the SDGs.

Furthermore 96 % of the respondents think businesses should engage with the sustainable development agenda and adopt ethical or responsible behaviour within their companies. However, when it comes to more precise and defined practices, it seems that businesses still have progress to make, with the majority not have a defined policy on SDGs issues (80%) or a written CSR policy (70%) .

The survey showed that businesses have not yet engaged, not because they are reluctant to, nor because of economic implications, but primarily due to a lack of knowledge. The results of the survey highlight the importance of this innovative campaign which will help overcome the knowledge barrier and help more businesses move towards a more necessary and concrete engagement on the sustainable development agenda.

In his address, Malcolm Booker, CEO at Deloitte Malta highlighted the importance that Deloitte places on the Sustainable Development Goals, and said that the goals need to shape the way that businesses are designed and run – applying three golden rules: authenticity, balance and consistency. As part of its global commitment to sustainable development, Deloitte seeks to endorse the goals in its business practice.

Malcolm Booker went on to say “Deloitte is a key player in various leading industries and by endorsing this project, we feel we can encourage other businesses to come forward to do the same”. He ended his address by saying that engaging with the SDGs is “good for business and good for the world”.