Decent Work and Economic Growth

In an increasingly interconnected, complex and turbulent world, business is navigating uncharted waters. Amidst this uncertainty, the global community came together in a global call to action to guide all stakeholders– including business– in building a more sustainable, equitable and inclusive society. While the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were designed for and approved by governments, they also constitute a global framework for measuring business contributions to society – how companies can ‘win with purpose’.

Columbia Pulp LLC, headquartered in tiny Dayton, Washington, is commercializing an innovative but proven way to turn waste plant material into high-quality pulp that can be used to make consumer paper and packaging products – combatting air pollution in the process.

Taking a market systems approach is one of the most promising routes to linking complex interventions and generating sustainable impact. Using this approach, we must continue the effort to make economic growth more inclusive and resilient and also to make health; nutrition; and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) interventions more sustainable.

For the past six years, I have been a recruiter for Tetra Tech International Development Services (IDS), where my primary responsibility is to find professionals who perfectly match requirements dictated by Tetra Tech’s clients. Typically, I have about 30 days to find ideal candidates; establish relationships with them; review their documents; run reference checks; and negotiate salary and benefits packages.

The finalists, three from each of the company’s southern Africa producer countries of Botswana, Namibia and South Africa, were selected from more than 130 entries.

As part of Bechtel’s commitment to contribute 100 ideas to support the United Nation’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), this case study examines how large-scale construction projects can be transformative by shifting from local content programs to long-term economic development. This change enables governments to organize business partnerships more strategically, broaden local participation, and promote systemic change across national workforce policies and programs.

As General Motors continues scaling its efforts to restore, protect and promote biodiversity, 11 more sites have earned Conservation Certification from the Wildlife Habitat Council. The company is using its land, resources and partnerships to help address pressing global biodiversity issues.

Retired U.S. Army veteran James Davis recently received a life-changing gift – the keys to a newly renovated home in metro Atlanta. Surrounded by a small crowd of his family, friends, neighbors, employees from PNC and the Military Warriors Support Foundation, Davis accepted the keys to the family’s new home during a presentation ceremony in McDonough, Ga.

Today, we take for granted how easy and seamless it has become to conduct business with one another and trade online. We order food on a mobile app from almost any restaurant and it arrives at our door within an hour; we get in a stranger’s car for a ride across town; we spend our family vacations in some other stranger’s home. It’s all so normal now -- no big deal. But in 1995, when Mark Fraser of Salt Spring Island, Canada, sent $14.83 to a person he’d never met (Pierre) —never even spoken with —to buy a laser pointer he saw on a website, it was a remarkable act and started an even more remarkable movement.

The LIXIL Group is committed to enhancing quality of life and wellbeing for everyone in society, including the elderly and the physically disabled, through LIXIL products and services. In addition, we are harnessing the intelligence and perspectives of LIXIL’s diverse workforce as an engine for growth and innovation.